ListView SetDataSource locks main thread if missing DataBinder

[haywirephoenix]

Issue:

The editor started locking up on play.

To Reproduce:

public void Start()
{
    EnsureDataSourceInitialized();
    
    //comment out this line to cause freeze (or set your ItemView Visuals to None)
    gridView.AddDataBinder<AppInfo, AppVisuals>(Bind); 

    gridView.AddGestureHandler<Gesture.OnPress, AppVisuals>(Press);
    gridView.AddGestureHandler<Gesture.OnRelease, AppVisuals>(Release);
    gridView.AddGestureHandler<Gesture.OnCancel, AppVisuals>(Cancel);

    gridView.SetSliceProvider(ProvideSlice);

    gridView.SetDataSource(apps);
}

Only when forcing the main thread to exit, you can see the error:

Unable to find a corresponding prefab type for data object of type AppInfo. Make sure any desired databind handlers are registered before calling SetDataSource.
UnityEngine.Debug:LogError (object,UnityEngine.Object)
Nova.ListView:InternalMethod_2059 (int,Nova.ItemView&) (at Assets/Nova/Scripts/Public/Components/ListView.cs:1365)
Nova.ListView:InternalMethod_229 (bool) (at Assets/Nova/Scripts/Public/Components/ListView.cs:1321)
Nova.GridView:InternalMethod_1858 (bool) (at Assets/Nova/Scripts/Public/Components/GridView.cs:371)

The Cause:

After tracing it back to ListView.SetDataSource, it turns out that somehow the ItemViews inside the prefabs has lost their Serialized Reference, reverting Visuals field back to "None (Unassigned)". (You can also cause the freeze by setting that to None.)
This is concerning because no classes or types on those ItemViews/Visuals were touched nor the prefabs edited prior.

Discussion:

Although Nova needs a tweak to circumvent the lockup, I can see that this could be a Unity problem. My inclination is to avoid using ItemViews altogether while SerializedReference is still in it's infancy. Is there a way to prevent those references from being lost again while still using ItemViews?

Unity 2022.3.5f1.0.15175
Microsoft Windows 11 Pro 10.0.22621 Build 22621

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The fix for this issue has been published in Nova v2.0.1!