Variable $ancestorOrSelf not working on unpublished pages

[ventea]

When specifying language node in the Language Nodes XPath field I have been using the variable $ancestorOrSelf to find the startpage of the site. This works fine when first creating a page, but when choosing to just save the page, not publish, the languages disappear from my properties. If I choose to publish the page the languages are displayed again.

This is my xpath:
$ancestorOrSelf/ancestor-or-self::StartPage

I'm using Vorto 1.5.3 and Umbraco 7.5.7.

[lssweatherhead]

I am also seeing this issue (Umbraco v7.7.2 and Vorto 1.5.3) using the $ancestorOrSelf path to signpost languages in use.

Furthermore to the behaviour descried by @ventea, if a user tries to publish a node but has other erroring mandatory fields (specifically missing mandatory RJP links) which saves the node but prevents publish, the installed languages never re-load.

This behaviour means that in some cases - where vorto fields are mandatory - it is completely impossible to carry on using the unpublished node at all as it can never meet the required input in order to be published.

Is there a suggested work-around for this? I would rather not remove all mandatory flags, if possible :)

[mattbrailsford]

PR merged in