[Due for payment 2025-12-19] [$250] chat-Thread header is not showing the exact message sent

[nlemma]

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Version Number: V9.2.19-0
Reproducible in staging?: Yes
Reproducible in production?: Yes
If this was caught during regression testing, add the test name, ID and link from TestRail: #70777
Email or phone of affected tester (no customers): slottwo1@gmail.com
Issue reported by: Applause Internal Team
Device used: Redminote 10s android 13 phone
App Component: Chat Report View

Action Performed:

1. Launch app
2. Open a chat
3. Send a message - <div>test<div>
4. Long press and open reply thread
5. Note thread header

Expected Result:

Thread header must show the exact message sent.

Actual Result:

Thread header is not showing the exact message sent.

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

Bug6957298_1758951562559.Screenrecorder-2025-09-27-11-06-10-467.mp4

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• nkdengineer | Contributor | 109106055

Issue Owner

Current Issue Owner: @trjExpensify

[melvin-bot]

Triggered auto assignment to @trjExpensify (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.

[lorretheboy]

Proposal

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

Thread header is not showing the exact message sent.

What is the root cause of that problem?

The title is created by calling Parser.htmlToText(fullTitle) which converts HTML to plain text, stripping out the HTML tags.

App/src/components/DisplayNames/index.tsx

Line 21 in 413fee6

const title = StringUtils.lineBreaksToSpaces(Parser.htmlToText(fullTitle)) || translate('common.hidden');

App/src/components/DisplayNames/index.native.tsx

Lines 21 to 29 in 74e6205

	{titleContainsTextAndCustomEmoji ? (
	<TextWithEmojiFragment
	message={StringUtils.lineBreaksToSpaces(Parser.htmlToText(fullTitle)) || translate('common.hidden')}
	style={textStyles}
	/>
	) : (
	StringUtils.lineBreaksToSpaces(Parser.htmlToText(fullTitle)) || translate('common.hidden')
	)}
	{renderAdditionalText?.()}

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

Update to use raw title (We may have minor changes like adding condition to only show html tag for specific conditions in PR stage if needed)

    const title = StringUtils.lineBreaksToSpaces(fullTitle) || translate('common.hidden');

Similar to native file, we need to remove Parser.htmlToText

We may need to update this as well and check all other similar places

App/src/libs/ReportUtils.ts

Line 4712 in 6fc056a

return translateLocal('iou.threadExpenseReportName', {formattedAmount, comment: Parser.htmlToText(comment)});

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

NA

What alternative solutions did you explore? (Optional)

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.

[nkdengineer]

Proposal

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

Thread header is not showing the exact message sent.

What is the root cause of that problem?

We are parsing from html to text here

App/src/components/DisplayNames/index.tsx

Line 21 in 413fee6

const title = StringUtils.lineBreaksToSpaces(Parser.htmlToText(fullTitle)) || translate('common.hidden');

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

We added parse.htmlAsTest in this PR to remove markdown symbol in report header and report details page

1. We should create a new props like shouldParseFullTitle and set the default value as true

function DisplayNames({
    ...
    shouldParseFullTitle = true,
    ...
}: DisplayNamesProps)

2. Update title to use raw text

    const title = StringUtils.lineBreaksToSpaces(shouldParseFullTitle ? Parser.htmlToText(fullTitle) : fullTitle) || translate('common.hidden');

3. Pass shouldParseFullTitle as false when we don't need to show html to text

App/src/pages/home/HeaderView.tsx

Lines 289 to 293 in 3a10c20

	<DisplayNames
	fullTitle={title}
	displayNamesWithTooltips={displayNamesWithTooltips}
	tooltipEnabled
	numberOfLines={1}

App/src/pages/ReportDetailsPage.tsx

Lines 647 to 651 in 3a10c20

	<DisplayNames
	fullTitle={reportName}
	displayNamesWithTooltips={displayNamesWithTooltips}
	tooltipEnabled
	numberOfLines={isChatRoom && !isChatThread ? 0 : 1}

App/src/components/LHNOptionsList/OptionRowLHN.tsx

Lines 259 to 263 in 3a10c20

	<DisplayNames
	accessibilityLabel={translate('accessibilityHints.chatUserDisplayNames')}
	fullTitle={optionItem.text ?? ''}
	displayNamesWithTooltips={optionItem.displayNamesWithTooltips ?? []}
	tooltipEnabled

And in MenuItem component, we should pass it as !shouldRenderAsHTML

App/src/components/MenuItem.tsx

Lines 597 to 600 in 3a10c20

	<DisplayNames
	fullTitle={title}
	displayNamesWithTooltips={titleWithTooltips}
	tooltipEnabled

We also need to check DisplayNames file native as well

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

None

What alternative solutions did you explore? (Optional)

NA

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.

[trjExpensify]

This feels like it was on purpose to strip the HTML tags. Tagging a few people involved from PRs etc linked to help confirm:

#70777 - @bernhardoj @QichenZhu @pecanoro
#59328 - @daledah @s77rt @suneox @iwiznia

[s77rt]

This is a bug. It's probably External.

[trjExpensify]

If we're stripping HTML tags from report headers and LHN previews per those issues above, can you help me understand why this would be a bug? 🤔

[QichenZhu]

@trjExpensify, the two issues focus on different aspects. #70777 deals with user-typed HTML (displaying as-is), while #59328 deals with HTML generated by the markdown engine (stripping them).

[s77rt]

We only strip html tags to unstyle styles text. We still don't want html tags to be rendered though. The user typed <div>test<div> and we should consider this either as:

• Plaintext, in which case we pass it as is <div>test<div>
• Html: in which case we pass it encoded as <div>test<div>

In both cases the user shall see same text in message, in header

[trjExpensify]

Ah gotcha, so plain text then probably? @iwiznia @pecanoro?