Publishing a post containing a navigation block with a menu stuck in draft state does not save the draft menu

[mboynes]

Description

Similar to #59684, and following #59685 and #59688, if a user inserts a draft menu into a navigation block and publishes that post, the draft menu doesn't save (and there is no opportunity to do so). On the published post, a fallback menu is rendered, which is a confusing experience.

Step-by-step reproduction instructions

1. Create a new post
2. Insert navigation block
3. Select a draft menu (see Navigation menus can get stuck in a draft state and cannot be saved without making edits #59688 as an example of how to create a draft menu)
   • Note: do not make any changes to the menu
4. Click "Publish" and proceed through the process of publishing the post
5. Observe that the editor at no point prompted you to save the draft menu, as it does if you were to newly-import a classic menu or if you modified the menu
6. Open your published post on your site
7. Observe that the post rendered the site's fallback menu, not the menu you selected in step 3

Screenshots, screen recording, code snippet

Environment info

Tested on 6.4.3 as well as 6.5 RC1

Please confirm that you have searched existing issues in the repo.

Yes

Please confirm that you have tested with all plugins deactivated except Gutenberg.

Yes

[annezazu]

Thanks so much for opening these various issues @mboynes! @scruffian tagging you in for this issue along with #59684 #59685 and #59688 in case you can take a look.

[getdave]

Part of this Issue seems to be resolved with recent releases.

I tested by

• Creating a new Post
• Adding a Nav block
• Selecting a "Draft" Menu
• Adding some items
• Clicking "Save" on the Post
• Seeing that both the Post and the Navigation are published.

It's now quite difficult to create a draft Navigation without publishing it.

Screen.Capture.on.2024-11-21.at.10-16-30.mp4

@mboynes Has the situation improved or did I miss something from your process?

Note that I think discussions regarding Classic Menus should be discussed on #59685 as this seems like a related but separate Issue.

[mboynes]

@getdave thanks for hopping in to take a look at this! Testing with the latest version of WordPress (6.7.1), this issue persists. In your video, you modified the menu, which sets the editor to a dirty state, prompting you to make the save. If you select a draft menu and do not modify it, you'll experience the behavior. I'll edit the description of the issue to note not to modify the menu after selecting it!

I'll also add a note to #59685 on what in the UX has changed and improved (I agree, that issue is related but separate).