[$250] android-Expense-Whisper message for track expense is not shown in LHN.

[mitarachim]

If you haven’t already, check out our contributing guidelines for onboarding and email contributors@expensify.com to request to join our Slack channel!

---

Version Number: V9.1.42-0
Reproducible in staging?: Yes
Reproducible in production?: Yes
If this was caught during regression testing, add the test name, ID and link from TestRail: https://expensify.testrail.io/index.php?/tests/view/6071234
Email or phone of affected tester (no customers): Slottwo1 sivappa2@gmail.com
Issue reported by: Applause Internal Team
Device used: Redminote note 10s android 13
App Component: Money Requests

Action Performed:

1. Select an image from phone and share it to expensify
2. Tap submit - self DM
3. Tap create expense
4. Note track expense created in self DM
5. Navigate to LHN and note the chat

Expected Result:

Whisper message for track expense must be shown in LHN.

Actual Result:

Whisper message for track expense is not shown in LHN.

Workaround:

Unknown

Platforms:

• Android: App
• Android: mWeb Chrome
• iOS: App
• iOS: mWeb Safari
• iOS: mWeb Chrome
• Windows: Chrome
• MacOS: Chrome / Safari
• MacOS: Desktop

Screenshots/Videos

Bug6825251_1746685053608.Screenrecorder-2025-05-08-11-40-53-465.mp4

View all open jobs on GitHub

Upwork Automation - Do Not Edit

• Upwork Job URL: https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~021922690058617553603
• Upwork Job ID: 1922690058617553603
• Last Price Increase: 2025-07-09

Issue Owner

Current Issue Owner: @Julesssss

[melvin-bot]

Triggered auto assignment to @lydiabarclay (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.

[rohit9625]

What is a whisper message? Can you please explain what should be visible in the LHN, @mitarachim?

[mitarachim]

@rohit9625 the last message in LHN should be what would you like to do with this expense? as whisper message in last message in the self DM, but the actual result is This is personal space...

[rohit9625]

Oh! got it. Thanks @mitarachim, I didn't know that was the whisper message.

[rohit9625]

Hi @mitarachim, should this be the expected output?

[mitarachim]

Yes , QA team expect to see your mentioned output

[rohit9625]

🚨 Edited by proposal-police: This proposal was edited at 2025-05-15 11:10:48 UTC.

Proposal

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

Whisper message for track expense is not shown in LHN.

What is the root cause of that problem?

We use the getOptionData function to get the data to be displayed in the LHN preview, from where we get the alternateText prop to display in the LHN row.

App/src/components/LHNOptionsList/OptionRowLHNData.tsx

Line 43 in 819bf62

const item = SidebarUtils.getOptionData({

But we don't have any condition to check for ACTIONABLE_TRACK_EXPENSE_WHISPER which is the last action in our case. Hence, we hit this else block:

App/src/libs/SidebarUtils.ts

Lines 677 to 684 in 819bf62

	if (!lastMessageText) {
	lastMessageText = formatReportLastMessageText(getWelcomeMessage(report, policy).messageText ?? translateLocal('report.noActivityYet'));
	}
	if (shouldShowLastActorDisplayName(report, lastActorDetails, lastAction) && !isArchivedReport(reportNameValuePairs)) {
	result.alternateText = `${lastActorDisplayName}: ${formatReportLastMessageText(Parser.htmlToText(lastMessageText)) || formattedLogin}`;
	} else {
	result.alternateText = formatReportLastMessageText(Parser.htmlToText(lastMessageText)) || formattedLogin;
	}

Here:

• The lastMessageText is initialized with lastMessageTextFromReportProp passed to the function
• The lastMessageText was empty because lastMessageTextFromReportProp was passed as empty string
• So, we called the getWelcomeMessage function
• Which returns the This is your personal space... text
• At last the text assigned to the result.alternateText and ready to display in LHN preview

We're passing the lastMessageTextFromReport prop when calling getOptionData:

App/src/components/LHNOptionsList/OptionRowLHNData.tsx

Line 53 in 819bf62

lastMessageTextFromReport,

We get the text by calling getLastMessageTextForReport here:

App/src/components/LHNOptionsList/LHNOptionsList.tsx

Line 208 in 819bf62

const lastMessageTextFromReport = getLastMessageTextForReport(itemFullReport, lastActorDetails, itemPolicy, itemReportNameValuePairs);

But, the function returns empty string because don't have any condition for actionable whisper messages. Hence, lastMessageTextFromReport returned as it was initialized, and report.lastMessageText was also undefined

App/src/libs/OptionsListUtils.ts

Line 834 in 819bf62

return lastMessageTextFromReport || (report?.lastMessageText ?? '');

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

We can add a condition to check for whisper messages using the isActionableWhisper or isActionableTrackExpense(for track expense whisper messages only) function.

} else if (isActionableTrackExpense(lastReportAction)) {
    lastMessageTextFromReport = CONST.ACTIONABLE_TRACK_EXPENSE_WHISPER_MESSAGE;
    // Or use translatedLocal if prefer translations, 
   // translateLocal(CONST.ACTIONABLE_TRACK_EXPENSE_WHISPER_MESSAGE)
}

For the desired behavior as mentioned in this comment:

• Modify the logic to find lastActorActorAccountID here:
  

  App/src/libs/SidebarUtils.ts

  Line 539 in 9e0ae4f

  const lastActorAccountID = report.lastActorAccountID || lastAction?.actorAccountID;

  
  To this:

  const lastActorAccountID = lastAction?.actorAccountID || report.lastActorAccountID;

Because, the value of report.lastActorAccountID was equalt to User's Account ID even when the lastAction was created by Concierge.

• After above change, getLastActorDisplayName() function here, will gave us the correct display name, i.e., Concierge in our case.
• To show the last action display name for self DMs, we should also modify the condition here:
  

  App/src/libs/OptionsListUtils.ts

  Line 581 in 9e0ae4f

  reportUtilsIsSelfDM(report) ||

  
  To this:

  (reportUtilsIsSelfDM(report) && lastActorDetails?.accountID !== CONST.ACCOUNT_ID.CONCIERGE) ||

• After above changes, we can see the desired behavior as shown in the screenshot.

Results:

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

I didn't find any unit tests for the getLastMessageTextForReport function. However, if we have any then we can consider a case for isActionableTrackExpense.

What alternative solutions did you explore? (Optional)

• Add if condition to return ACTIONABLE_TRACK_EXPENSE_WHISPER_MESSAGE as mentioned in the main solution.
• Update shouldShowLastActorDisplayName() function as suggested in the main solution.
• Make sure that the report.lastActorAccountID is updated with the CONST.ACCOUNT_ID.CONCIERGE when last action, i.e., ACTIONABLE_TRACK_EXPENSE_WHISPER is created, maybe from BE side.

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.

[lydiabarclay]

@Expensify/design just want to double-check this one!

[truph01]

🚨 Edited by proposal-police: This proposal was edited at 2025-05-15 11:27:06 UTC.

This issue is a duplicate of #58014, so I re-post my proposal here.

Proposal

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

• android-Expense-Whisper message for track expense is not shown in LHN

What is the root cause of that problem?

• The LHN message originates from::
  

  App/src/libs/SidebarUtils.ts

  Line 646 in 45a28c0

  result.alternateText = formatReportLastMessageText(Parser.htmlToText(lastMessageText)) || formattedLogin;

• The lastMessageText is retrieved from::

App/src/libs/SidebarUtils.ts

Line 525 in 45a28c0

let lastMessageText = Str.removeSMSDomain(lastMessageTextFromReport);

• The lastMessageTextFromReport is sourced from:

App/src/components/LHNOptionsList/LHNOptionsList.tsx

Line 175 in 45a28c0

const lastMessageTextFromReport = getLastMessageTextForReport(itemFullReport, lastActorDetails, itemPolicy);

• Inside the function getLastMessageTextForReport, the lastReportAction in:
  

  App/src/libs/OptionsListUtils.ts

  Line 624 in 45a28c0

  const lastReportAction = reportID ? lastVisibleReportActions[reportID] : undefined;

  
  is ACTIONABLETRACKEXPENSEWHISPER, so finally, the last message comes from report?.lastMessageText in:
  

  App/src/libs/OptionsListUtils.ts

  Line 735 in 45a28c0

  return lastMessageTextFromReport || (report?.lastMessageText ?? '');

• In case of this bug, BE returns incorrect report?.lastMessageText, so the What would you like to do with this expense? message isn't shown.

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

• We should add an additional if else block in here to handle the case the last message is ACTIONABLETRACKEXPENSEWHISPER:

    } else if(isActionableTrackExpense(lastReportAction)){
        lastMessageTextFromReport = CONST.ACTIONABLE_TRACK_EXPENSE_WHISPER_MESSAGE
    }

• We need to add translation for the above message.

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

• To ensure this issue does not reoccur, we should add unit tests for the getLastMessageTextForReport function, covering the following cases:

1. When the report's last message is a tracked expense.
2. When the report's last message is ACTIONABLETRACKEXPENSEWHISPER.

What alternative solutions did you explore? (Optional)

• We can consider updating:
  

  App/src/libs/OptionsListUtils.ts

  Line 581 in 731370b

  reportUtilsIsSelfDM(report) ||

        (reportUtilsIsSelfDM(report) && lastActorDetails.accountID === currentUserAccountID) ||

• Update this logic:

    if (lastActorDetails?.accountID === CONST.ACCOUNT_ID.CONCIERGE) {
        return CONST.CONCIERGE_DISPLAY_NAME;
    }

• BE needs to make sure the report.lastActorAccountID is correctly returned.
• Implement the main solution.

[dubielzyk-expensify]

Given it's a normal message (not a whisper) from Concierge, I believe it should show in LHN like this comment says. But @Expensify/design for gut check

[shawnborton]

Sounds about right, though I wonder if the preview line should actually be Concierge: What would you like... since the message is coming from Concierge?

Although do we show whispers in other chats as part of the LHN preview?

[dannymcclain]

Agree with the above. I think it should be Concierge: What would you like....

Also worth noting as Jon pointed out that this is not a whisper. This is just a message from Concierge. I do not believe whispers show up in the LHN (but again, this isn't a whisper, so this one should).