I've been thinking about how to approach this and I'm still not sure what the best solution is.

We discussed adding some asserts in the short term, but there's actually a pretty long list of strings accessed by cr-network-list-item (at least 13). Also we already assert in loadTimeData.getString. So adding additional asserts in the item (of which there could be many) seems like it would just add extra work at load time.

Maybe we should set up a different directory for elements that are shared across web uis (e.g. settings and OOBE), but that are not "drop-in" elements, e.g. they make assumptions about available strings (or possibly handlers?).

as long as you can guarantee these strings will exist for your code, it doesn't matter where.  you could create these strings in some other handler if you'd like.

re: assert -- yes, there's a runtime error when you attempt to access strings that don't exist via loadTimeData.  but that doesn't mean these strings are accessed super often.  that's the difference between assert() on startup vs assert() in random policy/extension-controlled cases.

I'm not sure I understand the first half of comment #3. We are providing the strings for Settings and OOBE (now). The concern would be about continued maintenance.

WRT when we assert, I agree that there is some risk in not checking all possible strings at load time, but I question whether it is worth the overhead, which would be incurred for every instance of the control (which, in the case of policy indicators, is rather frequent).

stevenjb@: meaning, right now we add a bunch of strings in 2 different places (settings, OOBE).  what we could do instead is extract the strings needed from both places and make a new handler (or method of injecting these strings) that lives in ui/webui, closer to the shared UI components themselves.

does that make more sense?

Ah, yes, that makes sense. I am fine with moving the strings to a shared / separate handler. The code has already been structured to make it easy for OOBE to use the strings defined for Settings.

What priority would you place this cleanup? Pre or post shipping MD Settings?

Marking this for 58 unless we decide it is a priority.

This also needs to be done fro cr_elements/policy.

The following revision refers to this bug:
  https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/src.git/+/7482287f45c241d6fa567c6037c87382ec7b79a1

commit 7482287f45c241d6fa567c6037c87382ec7b79a1
Author: stevenjb <stevenjb@chromium.org>
Date: Thu Jan 12 01:08:21 2017

Eliminate loadTimeData dependency from cr_elements/policy

BUG= 670767 
CQ_INCLUDE_TRYBOTS=master.tryserver.chromium.linux:closure_compilation

Review-Url: https://codereview.chromium.org/2624043002
Cr-Commit-Position: refs/heads/master@{#443100}

[modify] https://crrev.com/7482287f45c241d6fa567c6037c87382ec7b79a1/chrome/browser/resources/settings/settings_ui/compiled_resources2.gyp
[modify] https://crrev.com/7482287f45c241d6fa567c6037c87382ec7b79a1/chrome/browser/resources/settings/settings_ui/settings_ui.js
[modify] https://crrev.com/7482287f45c241d6fa567c6037c87382ec7b79a1/ui/webui/resources/cr_elements/policy/compiled_resources2.gyp
[modify] https://crrev.com/7482287f45c241d6fa567c6037c87382ec7b79a1/ui/webui/resources/cr_elements/policy/cr_policy_indicator_behavior.js
[modify] https://crrev.com/7482287f45c241d6fa567c6037c87382ec7b79a1/ui/webui/resources/cr_elements/policy/cr_policy_network_indicator.js
[modify] https://crrev.com/7482287f45c241d6fa567c6037c87382ec7b79a1/ui/webui/resources/cr_elements/policy/cr_policy_pref_indicator.js

The following revision refers to this bug:
  https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/src.git/+/693b38c3882550aabf0ad1d706635e3c7810d855

commit 693b38c3882550aabf0ad1d706635e3c7810d855
Author: stevenjb <stevenjb@chromium.org>
Date: Thu Jan 19 17:36:43 2017

WebUI: Remove i18n from cr_elements/network

This includes changes in cr_onc_types.js to allow enums to be
used as @param types.

BUG= 670767 
CQ_INCLUDE_TRYBOTS=master.tryserver.chromium.linux:closure_compilation

Review-Url: https://codereview.chromium.org/2627023006
Cr-Commit-Position: refs/heads/master@{#444772}

[modify] https://crrev.com/693b38c3882550aabf0ad1d706635e3c7810d855/chrome/app/chromeos_strings.grdp
[modify] https://crrev.com/693b38c3882550aabf0ad1d706635e3c7810d855/chrome/app/settings_strings.grdp
[modify] https://crrev.com/693b38c3882550aabf0ad1d706635e3c7810d855/chrome/browser/resources/chromeos/login/oobe_welcome.js
[modify] https://crrev.com/693b38c3882550aabf0ad1d706635e3c7810d855/chrome/browser/resources/chromeos/network_ui/network_ui.js
[modify] https://crrev.com/693b38c3882550aabf0ad1d706635e3c7810d855/chrome/browser/resources/settings/internet_page/internet_detail_page.js
[modify] https://crrev.com/693b38c3882550aabf0ad1d706635e3c7810d855/chrome/browser/resources/settings/settings_resources.grd
[modify] https://crrev.com/693b38c3882550aabf0ad1d706635e3c7810d855/chrome/browser/resources/settings/settings_ui/compiled_resources2.gyp
[modify] https://crrev.com/693b38c3882550aabf0ad1d706635e3c7810d855/chrome/browser/resources/settings/settings_ui/settings_ui.html
[modify] https://crrev.com/693b38c3882550aabf0ad1d706635e3c7810d855/chrome/browser/resources/settings/settings_ui/settings_ui.js
[modify] https://crrev.com/693b38c3882550aabf0ad1d706635e3c7810d855/chrome/browser/ui/BUILD.gn
[modify] https://crrev.com/693b38c3882550aabf0ad1d706635e3c7810d855/chrome/browser/ui/webui/chromeos/login/oobe_ui.cc
[add] https://crrev.com/693b38c3882550aabf0ad1d706635e3c7810d855/chrome/browser/ui/webui/chromeos/network_element_localized_strings_provider.cc
[add] https://crrev.com/693b38c3882550aabf0ad1d706635e3c7810d855/chrome/browser/ui/webui/chromeos/network_element_localized_strings_provider.h
[modify] https://crrev.com/693b38c3882550aabf0ad1d706635e3c7810d855/chrome/browser/ui/webui/chromeos/network_ui.cc
[modify] https://crrev.com/693b38c3882550aabf0ad1d706635e3c7810d855/chrome/browser/ui/webui/settings/md_settings_localized_strings_provider.cc
[modify] https://crrev.com/693b38c3882550aabf0ad1d706635e3c7810d855/chrome/browser/ui/webui/settings/md_settings_localized_strings_provider.h
[modify] https://crrev.com/693b38c3882550aabf0ad1d706635e3c7810d855/ui/webui/resources/cr_elements/network/compiled_resources2.gyp
[modify] https://crrev.com/693b38c3882550aabf0ad1d706635e3c7810d855/ui/webui/resources/cr_elements/network/cr_network_list_item.html
[modify] https://crrev.com/693b38c3882550aabf0ad1d706635e3c7810d855/ui/webui/resources/cr_elements/network/cr_network_list_item.js
[modify] https://crrev.com/693b38c3882550aabf0ad1d706635e3c7810d855/ui/webui/resources/cr_elements/network/cr_network_select.js
[modify] https://crrev.com/693b38c3882550aabf0ad1d706635e3c7810d855/ui/webui/resources/cr_elements/network/cr_onc_types.js