[hold for payment 2025-05-06] [$250] Expense - RBR when missing category, not shown on track expense preview until opening report

[mitarachim]

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Version Number: 9.1.27-0
Reproducible in staging?: Yes
Reproducible in production?: Yes
If this was caught on HybridApp, is this reproducible on New Expensify Standalone?: Yes, reproducible on both
If this was caught during regression testing, add the test name, ID and link from TestRail: N/A
Email or phone of affected tester (no customers): ibellicotest+542@gmail.com
Issue reported by: Applause Internal Team
Device used: Motorola MotoG60 - Android 12 - Chrome / Windows 10 - Chrome
App Component: Money Requests

Action Performed:

Prerequisite: Member must categorize all expenses, enabled on workspace.

1. Open the Expensify app.
2. Tap on FAB and select "Create Expense"
3. Complete the creation flow and submit it to Self DM.
4. On system message, select "Share it with my accountant"
5. Select a workspace with "Member must categorize all expenses" enabled.
6. Add a merchant and leave the "Category" field empty.
7. Submit the expense.
8. Dismiss RHP.
9. Once navigated to chat, note that expense preview doesn´t show a RBR on it.
10. Open the expense report.
11. Note that a "Missing Category" error is displayed.
12. Return to conversation.
13. Note that RBR is now displayed on expense preview.

Expected Result:

RBR on the expense for missing category should be automatically displayed on track expense preview after creation.

Actual Result:

RBR about missing category on expense, is not automatically displayed on preview when submitting an uncategorized track expense to workspace. RBR appears after opening and closing report.

Workaround:

Unknown

Platforms:

• Android: Standalone
• Android: HybridApp
• Android: mWeb Chrome
• iOS: Standalone
• iOS: HybridApp
• iOS: mWeb Safari
• MacOS: Chrome / Safari
• MacOS: Desktop

Screenshots/Videos

Bug6798968_1744335347750.RBR.mp4

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Upwork Automation - Do Not Edit

• Upwork Job URL: https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~021910737636702291975
• Upwork Job ID: 1910737636702291975
• Last Price Increase: 2025-04-18
• Automatic offers:
• daledah | Contributor | 107030565

Issue Owner

Current Issue Owner: @JS00001

[melvin-bot]

Triggered auto assignment to @joekaufmanexpensify (Bug), see https://stackoverflow.com/c/expensify/questions/14418 for more details. Please add this bug to a GH project, as outlined in the SO.

[daledah]

🚨 Edited by proposal-police: This proposal was edited at 2025-04-11 03:58:14 UTC.

Proposal

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

RBR about missing category on expense, is not automatically displayed on preview when submitting an uncategorized track expense to workspace. RBR appears after opening and closing report.

What is the root cause of that problem?

When calling shareTrackedExpense, we already have logics to add transaction violations to optimistic data. However, right before making request, we have this logic:

App/src/libs/actions/IOU.ts

Lines 4790 to 4795 in bee2cb5

	const {
	optimisticData: moveTransactionOptimisticData,
	successData: moveTransactionSuccessData,
	failureData: moveTransactionFailureData,
	modifiedExpenseReportActionID,
	} = getConvertTrackedExpenseInformation(

App/src/libs/actions/IOU.ts

Line 4805 in bee2cb5

optimisticData?.push(...moveTransactionOptimisticData);

Which is used to clean up old transactions data. This includes removing transaction violation data of the old tracked expense:

App/src/libs/actions/IOU.ts

Lines 2652 to 2656 in bee2cb5

	optimisticData.push({
	onyxMethod: Onyx.METHOD.SET,
	key: `${ONYXKEYS.COLLECTION.TRANSACTION_VIOLATIONS}${transactionID}`,
	value: null,
	});

Since we use Array.push here:

App/src/libs/actions/IOU.ts

Line 4805 in bee2cb5

optimisticData?.push(...moveTransactionOptimisticData);

The newly added transaction violation update is placed before the remove transaction violation update. So when applying optimistic data transaction violation update will be cleared instantly.

When opening the report, transaction violation is sent again from BE, so RBR is shown.

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

We should change order of applying optimistic data here:

App/src/libs/actions/IOU.ts

Line 4805 in bee2cb5

optimisticData?.push(...moveTransactionOptimisticData);

optimisticData?.unshift(...moveTransactionOptimisticData);

Same with success data and failure data.

Screen.Recording.2025-04-11.at.10.53.54.mp4

What specific scenarios should we cover in automated tests to prevent reintroducing this issue in the future?

It's optimistic data order placement bug so I think we don't need one. But we can test for shareTrackedExpense functionality in IOUTest

What alternative solutions did you explore? (Optional)

Alternate solution to address this comment

We need to make the category required, same as merchant. We will implement logics same as merchant in this case

First, create a new translation:

iou.error.invalidCategory: "Please enter a correct category."

Check for missing category here:

App/src/components/MoneyRequestConfirmationList.tsx

Line 837 in 7d49c51

const confirm = useCallback(

if (isCategoryRequired && (isCategoryEmpty || (shouldDisplayFieldError && isCategoryMissing(transaction)))) {
      setFormError('iou.error.invalidCategory');
      return;
}

We should update shouldDisplayFieldError and implement isCategoryMissing based on policy?.requiresCategories

Add a prop isCategoryEmpty to MoneyRequestConfirmationListFooter, pass it from MoneyRequestConfirmationList.

const isCategoryEmpty = useMemo(() => !iouCategory || isCategoryMissing(transaction), [iouCategory, transaction]);

this prop will be used to display errors on category field

App/src/components/MoneyRequestConfirmationListFooter.tsx

Line 491 in 7d49c51

<MenuItemWithTopDescription

brickRoadIndicator={shouldDisplayCategoryError ? CONST.BRICK_ROAD_INDICATOR_STATUS.ERROR : undefined}
                    errorText={shouldDisplayCategoryError ? translate('common.error.fieldRequired') : ''}
                    rightLabel={isCategoryRequired && !shouldDisplayCategoryError ? translate('common.required') : ''}
                    

The above suggested changes can be improved further in the PR phase.

Screen.Recording.2025-04-12.at.00.23.50.mov

Reminder: Please use plain English, be brief and avoid jargon. Feel free to use images, charts or pseudo-code if necessary. Do not post large multi-line diffs or write walls of text. Do not create PRs unless you have been hired for this job.

[joekaufmanexpensify]

Hmm, I think the root cause here might be that we're allowing you to create the expense without adding a category when categories are required. We just shouldn't let you proceed with the creation flow if you don't add a category. Discussing.

[joekaufmanexpensify]

We decided the solution here is to prevent manually creating an expense without adding a category or tag when categories or tags are required. This would obviate the scenario where we are missing an RBR after manually creating the expense without the category because you wouldn't be able to do that.

Note: we should only make this change for manual cash and distance expenses. We don't want to make any changes to the receipt scan flow in app, or when you snap a photo of a receipt, or email one in.

[joekaufmanexpensify]

Updated OP to reflect this!

[melvin-bot]

Job added to Upwork: https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~021910737636702291975