[Due for payment 2025-04-16] [$250] LHN - 1:1 chats, change preview to "This chat is with" when returning to "Most Recent" mode.

[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: 9.1.16-0
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+431@gmail.com
Issue reported by: Applause Internal Team
Device used: Motorola MotoG60 - Android 12 - Chrome / Windows 10 - Chrome
App Component: Left Hand Navigation (LHN)

Action Performed:

1. Open the Expensify app.
2. Tap on FAB and select "Create Chat"
3. Start an individual chat with another user.
4. Create an expense in it.
5. Repeat steps 2 to 5 with one or more chats.
6. Note that the preview on the individual chats, display the sent expense information.
7. Navigate to settings and select "Preferences"
8. Change the priority mode to "Focus"
9. Change it again to "Most Recent"
10. Return to inbox.
11. Check the message displayed on preview of individual chats after this last action.

Expected Result:

Preview on individual chats, should still display the expense information after changing priority mode.

Actual Result:

Preview on individual chats, changes from expenses information to "This chat is with..." message, after returning to "Most Recent" as priority mode.

Workaround:

Unknown

Platforms:

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

Screenshots/Videos

Bug6777570_1742519148887.This.mp4

View all open jobs on GitHub

Upwork Automation - Do Not Edit

• Upwork Job URL: https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~021903057016679168675
• Upwork Job ID: 1903057016679168675
• Last Price Increase: 2025-03-21

Issue Owner

Current Issue Owner: @dylanexpensify

[melvin-bot]

Triggered auto assignment to @dylanexpensify (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.

[melvin-bot]

Job added to Upwork: https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~021903057016679168675

[melvin-bot]

Triggered auto assignment to Contributor-plus team member for initial proposal review - @eh2077 (External)

[mustafapsd]

🚨 Edited by proposal-police: This proposal was edited at 2025-03-22 19:43:44 UTC.

Proposal

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

When switching priority modes in the Left Hand Navigation (LHN), chat previews change from showing expense information to "This chat is with..." messages.

What is the root cause of that problem?

The problem occurs in two connected parts:

1. In LHNOptionsList.tsx , the component calls:

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

2. Inside OptionsListUtils.ts , when processing report preview actions, the following chain of operations fails:

const iouReport = getReportOrDraftReport(getIOUReportIDFromReportActionPreview(lastReportAction));
const lastIOUMoneyReportAction = iouReport?.reportID
    ? allSortedReportActions[iouReport.reportID]?.find(
          (reportAction, key): reportAction is ReportAction<typeof CONST.REPORT.ACTIONS.TYPE.IOU> =>
              shouldReportActionBeVisible(reportAction, key, canUserPerformWriteAction(report)) &&
              reportAction.pendingAction !== CONST.RED_BRICK_ROAD_PENDING_ACTION.DELETE &&
              isMoneyRequestAction(reportAction),
      )
    : undefined;
const reportPreviewMessage = getReportPreviewMessage(
    !isEmptyObject(iouReport) ? iouReport : null,
    lastIOUMoneyReportAction,
    true,
    reportUtilsIsChatReport(report),
    null,
    true,
    lastReportAction,
);

The issue stems from getReportOrDraftReport returning undefined because chats aren't added to the allReports collection until you click on them. Looking at the getReportOrDraftReport function in ReportUtils.ts:

function getReportOrDraftReport(reportID: string | undefined, searchReports?: SearchReport[]): OnyxEntry<Report> | SearchReport {
    const searchReport = searchReports?.find((report) => report.reportID === reportID);
    const onyxReport = allReports?.[`${ONYXKEYS.COLLECTION.REPORT}${reportID}`];
    return searchReport ?? onyxReport ?? allReportsDraft?.[`${ONYXKEYS.COLLECTION.REPORT_DRAFT}${reportID}`];
}

This causes the following chain of events:

1. iouReport is undefined
2. lastIOUMoneyReportAction becomes undefined
3. reportPreviewMessage doesn't get properly formatted
4. "reportPreviewMessage" becomes an empty string.

When a chat hasn't been clicked on yet, it's not in allReports, so onyxReport is undefined. This causes the function to return undefined or fall back to a draft report, which doesn't contain the correct preview text information.

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

The current solution tries to get the full report, but we can simplify it by just formatting the message from the lastReportAction object directly if there is no report. I need to get actorDetails because there is a user email instead of their name in the last message. Here's how we can modify the code:

lastMessageTextFromReport = formatReportLastMessageText(reportPreviewMessage);

if (!lastMessageTextFromReport) {
    const lastReportActionMessage = getReportActionMessageText(lastReportAction);
    lastMessageTextFromReport = lastReportActionMessage;

    // Get the actor's display name instead of using email
    const actorAccountID = lastReportAction?.actorAccountID;
    const actorDetails = actorAccountID ? allPersonalDetails?.[actorAccountID] : null;

    if (actorDetails) {
        const actorDisplayName = getLastActorDisplayName(actorDetails);
        const actorLastName = getLastActorLastName(actorDetails);

        const actorName = actorLastName ? `${actorDisplayName} ${actorLastName}` : actorDisplayName;

        // Format the message with the display name if available
        if (actorDisplayName && actorDetails.login) {
            lastMessageTextFromReport = lastMessageTextFromReport.replace(actorDetails.login, actorName);
        }
    }
}

This solution uses two helper functions:

1. getLastActorDisplayName - Gets the first name or display name of the actor (Exists)
2. getLastActorLastName - Gets the last name of the actor (I added):

function getLastActorLastName(lastActorDetails: Partial<PersonalDetails> | null) {
    if (!lastActorDetails) {
        return '';
    }

    return lastActorDetails.accountID !== currentUserAccountID
        ? // eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/prefer-nullish-coalescing
          lastActorDetails.lastName || ''
        : '';
}

Together, these functions ensure that when there's no formatted report preview message, we still get a properly formatted message with full names instead of email addresses.

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

1. Test switching between priority modes and verify that chat previews remain consistent
2. Test that unclicked chats maintain their preview text when switching priority modes
3. Test that expense information in chat previews is preserved when switching priority modes
4. Test that display names are shown instead of email addresses in chat previews

What alternative solutions did you explore? (Optional)

None at this time, as the proposed solution directly addresses the issue.

[melvin-bot]

📣 @mustafapsd! 📣
Hey, it seems we don’t have your contributor details yet! You'll only have to do this once, and this is how we'll hire you on Upwork.
Please follow these steps:

1. Make sure you've read and understood the contributing guidelines.
2. Get the email address used to login to your Expensify account. If you don't already have an Expensify account, create one here. If you have multiple accounts (e.g. one for testing), please use your main account email.
3. Get the link to your Upwork profile. It's necessary because we only pay via Upwork. You can access it by logging in, and then clicking on your name. It'll look like this. If you don't already have an account, sign up for one here.
4. Copy the format below and paste it in a comment on this issue. Replace the placeholder text with your actual details.
   
   Format:

Contributor details
Your Expensify account email: <REPLACE EMAIL HERE>
Upwork Profile Link: <REPLACE LINK HERE>

[mustafapsd]

Contributor details
Your Expensify account email: mustafa.psd@yandex.com
Upwork Profile Link: https://www.upwork.com/freelancers/~017e55aa8c5c909f87

[melvin-bot]

✅ Contributor details stored successfully. Thank you for contributing to Expensify!

[eh2077]

@mustafapsd Thanks for your proposal!

I'm not following your RCA. Can you explain in detail why it doesn't work as expected and how your solution fix the root cause?