Misleading error message on bulk actions, if no action has been selected

[Presskopp]

When on the posts (pages) page several posts (pages) have been marked and you click on "Apply" without selecting any action, the following error will be triggered:

Please select at least one item to perform this action on.

But the true issue is that no action was selected.

Related #41080, #62430

Improve the bulk action validation notice by distinguishing between:

• No bulk action selected.
• No items selected.

This prevents misleading feedback when clicking Apply without choosing a bulk action.

Trac ticket: #64659.

## Use of AI Tools
ChatGPT was used to check the correctness of the patch and guide me on the way.

[joedolson]

Given the scope of this change, I'm going to go ahead and milestone for 7.0.

[r1k0]

Patch Testing Report

Patch Tested: ​https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/pull/10978

Environment

• WordPress: 7.0-alpha-20260219.175647
• PHP: 8.4.17
• Server: PHP.wasm
• Database: WP_SQLite_Driver (Server: 8.0.38 / Client: 3.51.0)
• Browser: Chrome 145.0.0.0
• OS: Windows 10/11
• Theme: Twenty Twenty-Five 1.4
• MU Plugins: None activated
• Plugins:
  • Test Reports 1.2.1

Steps taken

1. In your admin dashboard, head over to Posts.
2. Click the top checkbox to select items, and then click Apply.
3. Observe the error message displayed before applying and after applying the patch.
4. ✅ Patch is solving the problem.

Expected result

• The error message displays "Please select a bulk action before clicking Apply." after clicking Apply without selecting a bulk action.

Additional Notes

• The error message is now more descriptive when a user doesn't select a bulk action.

Screenshots/Screencast with results

Before:

After:

Trac ticket:

## Use of AI Tools

[pratiknawkar94]

@joedolson I’ve addressed your review comment and pushed an updated PR to help move this ticket forward. Please let me know if anything else is needed.

[joedolson]

In 61771:

Quick/Bulk Edit: Fix misleading error on bulk edits.

The same error message was returned whether a user attempted bulk edit without selecting an action or attempted without selecting any posts. These two situations need different messages.

Return error messages appropriate to the actual user error.

Props Presskopp, r1k0, pratiknawkar94, joedolson.
Fixes #64659.

In https://core.trac.wordpress.org/changeset/61771

Closed in https://core.trac.wordpress.org/changeset/61771