[HOLD on #24041] [$1000] User B's LHN is not updated with money request message sent by User A to User B

[kavimuru]

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Action Performed:

1. Login as User A on one device.
2. Login as User B on another device.
3. With User A, request money from User B (click on FAB > Request money).

Expected Result:

User B's LHN should be updated with the message 'You owe $xxx'.

Actual Result:

Often, the LHN does not update and continues to display the previous message.

Workaround:

Can the user still use Expensify without this being fixed? Have you informed them of the workaround?

Platforms:

Which of our officially supported platforms is this issue occurring on?

• Android / native
• Android / Chrome
• iOS / native
• iOS / Safari
• MacOS / Chrome / Safari
• MacOS / Desktop

Version Number:
Reproducible in staging?: needs reproduction
Reproducible in production?: needsreproduction
If this was caught during regression testing, add the test name, ID and link from TestRail:
Email or phone of affected tester (no customers):
Logs: https://stackoverflow.com/c/expensify/questions/4856
Notes/Photos/Videos: Any additional supporting documentation

new.issue.mp4

Expensify/Expensify Issue URL:
Issue reported by: @ygshbht
Slack conversation: https://expensify.slack.com/archives/C049HHMV9SM/p1690024821911749

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[melvin-bot]

Triggered auto assignment to @twisterdotcom (Bug), see https://stackoverflow.com/c/expensify/questions/14418 for more details.

[melvin-bot]

Bug0 Triage Checklist (Main S/O)

• This "bug" occurs on a supported platform (ensure Platforms in OP are ✅)
• This bug is not a duplicate report (check E/App issues and #expensify-bugs)
  • If it is, comment with a link to the original report, close the issue and add any novel details to the original issue instead
• This bug is reproducible using the reproduction steps in the OP. S/O
  • If the reproduction steps are clear and you're unable to reproduce the bug, check with the reporter and QA first, then close the issue.
  • If the reproduction steps aren't clear and you determine the correct steps, please update the OP.
• This issue is filled out as thoroughly and clearly as possible
  • Pay special attention to the title, results, platforms where the bug occurs, and if the bug happens on staging/production.
• I have reviewed and subscribed to the linked Slack conversation to ensure Slack/Github stay in sync

[kavimuru]

Proposal from contributor

Please re-state the problem that we are trying to solve in this issue.

There is an inconsistency with the preview message update in the Left Hand Navigation (LHN) when money is requested between users.

What is the root cause of that problem?

The LHN preview message is determined based on reportActions. However, the display message only recalculates when the report or some other data changes, not the reportActions. Thus, if the server sends a report update first and reportActions update later, the display message does not update.

App/src/components/LHNOptionsList/OptionRowLHNData.js

Lines 72 to 82 in b7d17e0

	const optionItemRef = useRef();
	const optionItem = useMemo(() => {
	// Note: ideally we'd have this as a dependent selector in onyx!
	const item = SidebarUtils.getOptionData(fullReport, personalDetails, preferredLocale, policy);
	if (deepEqual(item, optionItemRef.current)) {
	return optionItemRef.current;
	}
	optionItemRef.current = item;
	return item;
	}, [fullReport, personalDetails, preferredLocale, policy]);

App/src/libs/OptionsListUtils.js

Lines 396 to 399 in b7d17e0

	*/
	function getLastMessageTextForReport(report) {
	const lastReportAction = lastReportActions[report.reportID];
	let lastMessageTextFromReport = '';

What changes do you think we should make in order to solve the problem?

To resolve this, we need to recalculate the display message in LHN when reportActions changes as well. This can be accomplished by including reportActions as a dependency in the useMemo hook, like so:

const optionItem = useMemo(() => {
    // Note: ideally we'd have this as a dependent selector in Onyx!
    const item = SidebarUtils.getOptionData(fullReport, personalDetails, preferredLocale, policy);
    if (deepEqual(item, optionItemRef.current)) {
        console.log('Deep equal');
        return optionItemRef.current;
    }
    optionItemRef.current = item;
    return item;
}, [fullReport, personalDetails, preferredLocale, policy, reportActions]);

This adjustment ensures that whenever a change in reportActions occurs, the display message will be recalculated, resulting in an accurate preview message in the LHN.

What alternative solutions did you explore? (Optional)

An alternate solution could be to pass reportActions as argument to the getOptionData function and any nested functions that require the lastReportAction. This way, these functions can directly access the latest reportActions, ensuring that they always operate on the most recent data. This change could help maintain accurate and updated preview messages in the Left Hand Navigation (LHN) section.

[ygshbht]

Thanks kavimuru.

Here's another video demonstrating the issue. If doesn't happen always but roughly a third of the times

copy_of_2023-07-25.18-45-30.mp4

[ygshbht]

Here's the solution video.

2023-07-22.17-00-27.mp4

[twisterdotcom]

We have some internal API updates going on right now. I'm asking if they might solve this: https://expensify.slack.com/archives/C03SDMF9YJ2/p1690475932707729

[ygshbht]

Do contributors have access to the link https://expensify.slack.com/archives/C03SDMF9YJ2/p1690475932707729?
If you ask me, I don't think it's the backend issue here. Backend sends all the messages - if reportActions reaches client first, there is no issue, however if it reaches post the report message, you don't see the message in LHN as it depends on the reportActions and calculation to show message preview on LHN only happens when report changes. That being said, i'm really curious to see if backend tweaking is really the solution here

[twisterdotcom]

They do not. Okay, we should open this up!