Handle ajax failure when doing actions on themes/plugins

[mirkolofio]

When maintenance mode is active or the server is unresponsive for any reason, there are some ui issues in ajax-related messages like:

• When trying to delete a plugin: "Deleting..." forever. No error shown.
• When trying to enable auto-updates on a plugin: "Enabling..." forever. "The request could not be completed" error is shown. Same for disabling.
• When trying to delete a theme: "Deletion failed: undefined" error shown.
• When trying to enable a theme: "Enabling..." forever. "The request could not be completed." error shown. Same for disabling.

Check the screenshots attached below.

I tried to stay short in title description but I'm not sure it's 100% clear.

[mirkolofio]

Plugin delete failure

[mirkolofio]

Plugin enable auto-updates failure

[mirkolofio]

Theme delete failure

[mirkolofio]

Theme enable failure

[mirkolofio]

• When trying to delete a plugin: "Deleting..." forever. No error shown.

There an error there: "Deletion failed: Briefly unavailable for scheduled maintenance. Check back in a minute."

It's on the top of the page, I missed it.

[azouamauriac]

Hello there, welcome to WordPress's trac! Thanks for the report, this seems to be an expected behavior.

If you think I'm wrong feel free to reopen the ticket and may be explain more deeply what's the bug.

Thanks.

[mirkolofio]

Reopening this. It's not expected at all, let me better explain.

Example on Plugin enable auto-updates failure

Current behaviour:

• Button switched to "Deleting..." forever
• Error message shown: "The request could not be completed"

Expected behavior:

• Button switched to "Deleting..."
• Error message should be: "The request could not be completed. Please retry."
• The button should be switched back to "Delete"

Another example on Theme delete failure

Current behaviour:

• Error message shown "Deletion failed: undefined"

Expected behaviour:

• At least we don't want to show "undefined" for sure.

And so on...

[mirkolofio]

Since maintenance is frequently due to a plugin/theme/core update in progress and it's usually a matter of seconds, the messages should be clear enough to permit the user to retry just a second later.

Please not that if you click on the "Deleting..." button once again it works, it's not a matter of feature though, it's just some bad/confusing UI/UX.

[rogermedia]

Suggestion in Comment #3 above to add an action that suggests the user either try the action again, or potentially restart their server, seems reasonable.

## What changed

• Restore plugin and theme deletion controls when an Ajax request fails.
• Avoid showing an undefined theme deletion error for invalid responses.
• Restore auto-update toggle labels after failed requests and suggest retrying.
• Add focused QUnit coverage for maintenance-mode and network failure responses.

## Why

Plugin and theme actions can receive an invalid response while maintenance mode is active or when the server is unavailable. The existing handlers could leave controls displaying a permanent loading state or expose undefined as the error message.

## Testing

• grunt jshint:core --file=wp/updates.js
• grunt jshint:tests
• npm run typecheck:js
• QUnit source mode: 541/541 passed
• QUnit compiled mode: 541/541 passed

[arkaprabhachowdhury]

Opened [PR #12654](​https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/pull/12654) to address this ticket. What changed - Restore plugin and theme deletion controls when an Ajax request fails. - Avoid showing an undefined theme deletion error for invalid responses. - Restore auto-update toggle labels after failed requests and suggest retrying. - Add focused QUnit coverage for maintenance-mode and network failure responses. Why Plugin and theme actions can receive an invalid response while maintenance mode is active or when the server is unavailable. The existing handlers could leave controls displayi The PR includes focused regression coverage, and its validation details are recorded in the PR description.

I picked this up because the ticket describes a concrete core behavior or edge case that remains relevant in current WordPress. The proposed change is intentionally scoped to the ticket and is submitted here for code review, with the technical discussion remaining on this ticket.