[Payment due] [$250] Report - Empty report is shown briefly after adding a message and disappeared in Reports - Chats

[jponikarchuk]

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Version Number: V9.2.48-1
Reproducible in staging?: Yes
Reproducible in production?: Yes
If this was caught during regression testing, add the test name, ID and link from BrowserStack: https://test-management.browserstack.com/projects/2219752/test-runs/TR-1894/folder/13176730/41237110/1005354562
Email or phone of affected tester (no customers): Slottwo1@gmail.com
Issue reported by: Applause Internal Team
Device used: Redminote 10s android 13
App Component: User Settings

Action Performed:

1. Launch app
2. Create a workspace
3. Create a empty report
4. Go to Reports - Chats
5. Note empty report is not shown
6. Open workpace chat - empty report
7. Send a message
8. Go to Reports - Chats
9. Note empty report is shown briefly and disappeared

Expected Result:

In Reports- chat section, empty report must be shown and musn't be disappeared.

Actual Result:

In Reports- chat section, empty report is not shown initially. But empty report is shown briefly after adding a message and disappeared.

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

1.mp4

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Issue Owner

Current Issue Owner: @

Upwork Automation - Do Not Edit

• Upwork Job URL: https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~022013999089358876405
• Upwork Job ID: 2013999089358876405
• Last Price Increase: 2026-01-21

Issue Owner

Current Issue Owner: @garrettmknight

[melvin-bot]

Triggered auto assignment to @garrettmknight (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.

[dmkt9]

🚨 Edited by proposal-police: This proposal was edited at 2025-12-05 06:51:26 UTC.

Proposal

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

In Reports- chat section, empty report is not shown initially. But empty report is shown briefly after adding a message and disappeared.

What is the root cause of that problem?

1. When creating a new report, the preview reportAction for the snapshot data of Reports > Chats is not added to optimisticData, so we don’t see it appear immediately. Currently, we only add this for EXPENSE_REPORT.
   

   App/src/libs/actions/Report.ts

   Lines 2971 to 2981 in 51e330f

   	const currentSearchQueryJSON = getCurrentSearchQueryJSON();
   	if (currentSearchQueryJSON?.type === CONST.SEARCH.DATA_TYPES.EXPENSE_REPORT) {
   	// @ts-expect-error - will be solved in https://github.com/Expensify/App/issues/73830
   	optimisticData.push({
   	onyxMethod: Onyx.METHOD.MERGE,
   	key: `${ONYXKEYS.COLLECTION.SNAPSHOT}${currentSearchQueryJSON.hash}` as const,
   	value: {
   	data: {[`${ONYXKEYS.COLLECTION.REPORT}${reportID}`]: optimisticReportData},
   	},
   	});
   	}

2. When a comment is added to a report, the preview reportAction gets updated. Since we previously opened Reports > Chats, it also gets included in the snapshot.

3. However, when the Search API successfully fetches data, the preview reportAction disappears because the Search API returns shouldShow === undefined for preview reportAction.
   

   App/src/libs/SearchUIUtils.ts

   Line 1459 in 51e330f

   !shouldReportActionBeVisible(reportAction, reportAction.reportActionID, canUserPerformWriteAction(report, isReportArchived)) ||

   
   

   App/src/libs/ReportActionsUtils.ts

   Lines 935 to 937 in 51e330f

   	if (!isVisiblePreviewOrMoneyRequest(reportAction)) {
   	return false;
   	}

   
   

   App/src/libs/ReportActionsUtils.ts

   Line 1089 in 51e330f

   const isHiddenReportPreviewWithoutPendingAction = isReportPreviewAction(action) && action.pendingAction === undefined && !action.shouldShow;

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

1. Since the Search API always returns shouldShow === undefined for all preview reportAction, we need to update the backend to return shouldShow = true.

2. We should also add the preview reportAction to the snapshot so that it can work in offline mode.
   

   App/src/libs/actions/Report.ts

   Line 2982 in 51e330f

+    if (currentSearchQueryJSON?.type === CONST.SEARCH.DATA_TYPES.CHAT) {
+        // @ts-expect-error - will be solved in https://github.com/Expensify/App/issues/73830
+        optimisticData.push({
+            onyxMethod: Onyx.METHOD.MERGE,
+            key: `${ONYXKEYS.COLLECTION.SNAPSHOT}${currentSearchQueryJSON.hash}` as const,
+            value: {
+                data: {
+                    [`${ONYXKEYS.COLLECTION.REPORT_ACTIONS}${parentReport?.reportID}`]: {[reportPreviewReportActionID]: {...optimisticReportPreview, reportID: parentReport?.reportID}},
+                    [`${ONYXKEYS.COLLECTION.REPORT}${reportID}`]: optimisticReportData,
+                },
+            },
+        });
+    }

What alternative solutions did you explore? (Optional)

N/A

[melvin-bot]

Job added to Upwork: https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~021988352893482786090

[melvin-bot]

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

[eVoloshchak]

As a result, even before the Search API successfully fetches data, the preview reportAction already contains complete information and won’t be excluded at this point.
For example, we could either filter out empty preview reportActions or exclude all preview reportActions entirely.

@dmkt9, but the expected result is for the empty report to be displayed in all of the cases: In Reports- chat section, empty report must be shown and musn't be disappeared.

[dmkt9]

@eVoloshchak Oh. It seems I misunderstood. Hehe.
If that’s the case, then I think this is a BE issue.