fix(performer): ensure empty aliases don't trigger loaded relationship panic

Modified NormalizeAliases to return an initialized empty slice instead of nil when aliases are empty. This ensures the aliases relationship is marked as 'loaded', preventing a panic in ValidateCreate. Added a corresponding unit test to verify creation with empty or filtered aliases.

Author: notsafeforgit

pkg/performer/alias.go

@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ import (
 // NormalizeAliases trims whitespace, deduplicates aliases (case-insensitively),
 // and ensures aliases are not empty and do not match the performer's name.
 func NormalizeAliases(performerName string, aliases []models.PerformerAlias) []models.PerformerAlias {
-	var sanitized []models.PerformerAlias
+	sanitized := []models.PerformerAlias{}
 	seen := make(map[string]bool)
 	nameLower := strings.ToLower(strings.TrimSpace(performerName))
 

pkg/performer/validate_test.go

@@ -307,3 +307,32 @@ func TestValidateUpdateDeathDate(t *testing.T) {
 		})
 	}
 }
+
+func TestValidateCreate(t *testing.T) {
+	db := mocks.NewDatabase()
+	db.Performer.On("QueryCount", mock.Anything, mock.Anything, mock.Anything).Return(0, nil)
+
+	tests := []struct {
+		name    string
+		pName   string
+		aliases []models.PerformerAlias
+	}{
+		{"no aliases", "Performer 1", nil},
+		{"empty aliases", "Performer 2", []models.PerformerAlias{}},
+		{"alias matches name", "Performer 3", []models.PerformerAlias{{Alias: "Performer 3", IgnoreAutoTag: true}}},
+		{"duplicate aliases", "Performer 4", []models.PerformerAlias{{Alias: "Alias 1", IgnoreAutoTag: true}, {Alias: "Alias 1", IgnoreAutoTag: false}}},
+	}
+
+	for _, tt := range tests {
+		t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			p := models.Performer{
+				Name: tt.pName,
+			}
+			p.Aliases = models.NewRelatedPerformerAliases(NormalizeAliases(p.Name, tt.aliases))
+
+			// This should NOT panic
+			err := ValidateCreate(testCtx, p, db.Performer)
+			assert.Nil(t, err)
+		})
+	}
+}