[Due for payment 2025-06-09] [$250] On the room chat, system message that the room description was updated displayed - though we didn't change room description.

[m-natarajan]

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Version Number: 9.1.43-7
Reproducible in staging?: Y
Reproducible in production?: Y
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
Expensify/Expensify Issue URL:
Issue reported by: @jayeshmangwani
Slack conversation (hyperlinked to channel name): #Expensify Bugs

Action Performed:

1. Open the app.
2. Tap the "+" button at the bottom and select "Start Chat".
3. Go to the Room tab, enter any room name and a (Multiline)description like:
   some
   test
4. Then tap Create Room.
5. Open the room details, go to the Room Description, make no changes, and press Save.

Expected Result:

There should be no system message for a room description update if the description hasn't actually changed.

Actual Result:

On the room chat, system message that the room description was updated displayed - though we didn't change room description.

Workaround:

Unknown

Platforms:

Select the officially supported platforms where the issue was reproduced:

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

Platforms Tested:

On which of our officially supported platforms was this issue tested:

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

Screenshots/Videos

Add any screenshot/video evidence

bug-4.mov

Recording.1216.mp4

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Upwork Automation - Do Not Edit

• Upwork Job URL: https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~021922962512913373033
• Upwork Job ID: 1922962512913373033
• Last Price Increase: 2025-05-15
• Automatic offers:
• QichenZhu | Reviewer | 107395614
• nkdengineer | Contributor | 107395616

Issue Owner

Current Issue Owner: @sonialiap / @muttmuure

[melvin-bot]

Triggered auto assignment to @sonialiap (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.

[m-natarajan]

Proposal by @jayeshmangwani

Proposal

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

In the room chat, a system message appears indicating that the room description was updated — even though we didn't actually change anything.

What is the root cause of that problem?

On the RoomDescriptionPage, we're passing both previousValue and newValue to the updateDescription function.

App/src/pages/RoomDescriptionPage.tsx

Lines 59 to 63 in 3d6c64b

	const submitForm = useCallback(() => {
	const previousValue = report?.description ?? '';
	const newValue = description.trim();
	updateDescription(report.reportID, previousValue, newValue);

Inside updateDescription, we return early if both values are the same.

App/src/libs/actions/Report.ts

Lines 2460 to 2464 in 3d6c64b

	function updateDescription(reportID: string, previousValue: string, newValue: string) {
	// No change needed
	if (previousValue === newValue) {
	return;
	}

The catch here is that previousValue is passed as raw HTML, while newValue is in Markdown format. Because of this mismatch, (previousValue === newValue) will always return false — especially when the previous value contains formatting like newlines, bold, or italics.

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

To fix this, when passing previousValue to updateDescription, we should convert it to Markdown first using Parser.htmlToMarkdown(getReportDescription(report)) or Parser.htmlToMarkdown(previousValue).

App/src/pages/RoomDescriptionPage.tsx

Lines 60 to 63 in 3d6c64b

	const previousValue = report?.description ?? '';
	const newValue = description.trim();
	updateDescription(report.reportID, previousValue, newValue);

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

If we want to add a test for this, we can include few cases in tests/actions/ReportTest.ts below for updateDescription:

We can cover a few test cases:

• A test where previousValue is in HTML and newValue is in Markdown, but both represent the same content.

• A test where both previousValue and newValue are in Markdown and are identical.

• A test where previousValue and newValue have the same content but differ in formatting (e.g., hello world, hello bold).

• A test where previousValue and newValue differ in content.

What alternative solutions did you explore? (Optional)

N/A

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.

[melvin-bot]

Job added to Upwork: https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~021922962512913373033

[melvin-bot]

Triggered auto assignment to Contributor-plus team member for initial proposal review - @QichenZhu (External)

[nkdengineer]

Proposal

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

On the room chat, system message that the room description was updated displayed - though we didn't change room description.

What is the root cause of that problem?

The report description is stored as HTML tag.

App/src/pages/RoomDescriptionPage.tsx

Line 45 in 731370b

const [description, setDescription] = useState(() => Parser.htmlToMarkdown(getReportDescription(report)));

When we pass the previousValue and newValue to updateDescription function here, the previousValue is HTML and newValue is markdown

App/src/pages/RoomDescriptionPage.tsx

Lines 60 to 64 in 731370b

	const previousValue = report?.description ?? '';
	const newValue = description.trim();
	updateDescription(report.reportID, previousValue, newValue);
	goBack();

Then this condition is always false even if we don't change anything.

App/src/libs/actions/Report.ts

Lines 2469 to 2471 in 731370b

	if (previousValue === newValue) {
	return;
	}

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

We should compare Parser.htmlToMarkdown(previousValue) with newValue here instead or to ensure we can convert both of them to markdown before comparing. We shouldn't pass Parser.htmlToMarkdown(previousValue) here because if the API fails, the description is reverted to previousValue here which should be the markdown value

App/src/libs/actions/Report.ts

Lines 2469 to 2471 in 731370b

	if (previousValue === newValue) {
	return;
	}

OPTIONAL: I think we can remove previousValue and reportID param, instead we should pass report param and use report.description to get the description.

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

Add test case for updateDescription to verify that it works correctly when we pass previousValue as HTML and newValue as markdown.

What alternative solutions did you explore? (Optional)

We can pass newValue param as getParsedComment(newValue, {reportID}) then we can remove this variable.

App/src/pages/RoomDescriptionPage.tsx

Lines 60 to 64 in 731370b

	const previousValue = report?.description ?? '';
	const newValue = description.trim();
	updateDescription(report.reportID, previousValue, newValue);
	goBack();

Or we can pass Parser.htmlToMarkdown(getReportDescription(report)) as previousValue param here

App/src/pages/RoomDescriptionPage.tsx

Lines 60 to 64 in 731370b

	const previousValue = report?.description ?? '';
	const newValue = description.trim();
	updateDescription(report.reportID, previousValue, newValue);
	goBack();

and when we reset description, we can get the report description or parsed value of previousValue

App/src/libs/actions/Report.ts

Line 2502 in 731370b

description: previousValue,

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.