[NoQA] Add eslint rule to prevent adding new backTo params to screen type definitions by WojtekBoman · Pull Request #70647 · Expensify/App

WojtekBoman · 2025-09-16T11:23:27Z

Explanation of Change

This PR adds an eslint rule to prevent adding new backTo types in the Navigation/types.ts file and adds a contributing guide to NAVIGATION.md on how to properly remove backTo from url

Screen.Recording.2025-10-09.at.12.23.32.mov

Fixed Issues

$ #67284
PROPOSAL:

Tests

Verify that no errors appear in the JS console

Offline tests

QA Steps

// TODO: These must be filled out, or the issue title must include "[No QA]."

Verify that no errors appear in the JS console

PR Author Checklist

I linked the correct issue in the ### Fixed Issues section above
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Screenshots/Videos

Android: Native

Android: mWeb Chrome

iOS: Native

iOS: mWeb Safari

MacOS: Chrome / Safari

MacOS: Desktop

…finitions

jmusial · 2025-10-10T08:39:34Z

    - [Finding the code that calls the navigation function](#finding-the-code-that-calls-the-navigation-function)
-  - [Using `backTo` route param](#using-backto-route-param)
+  - [How to remove backTo from URL](#how-to-remove-backto-from-url)
+    - [Separate routes for each screen instance](#separate-routes-for-each-screen-instance)


Suggested change

- [Separate routes for each screen instance](#separate-routes-for-each-screen-instance)

- [Separating routes for each screen instance](#separate-routes-for-each-screen-instance)

For consistency, most other bullets are in this form

jmusial · 2025-10-10T08:43:06Z

+    const customAction = () => {
+        if(route.name === SCREENS.SEARCH.REPORT_RHP) {
+            // do something when screen is SCREENS.SEARCH.REPORT_RHP
+        }else {


Suggested change

}else {

} else {

jmusial · 2025-10-10T08:46:57Z

+
+3. Custom component behavior depending on the current route
+
+If we want the component's behavior to change based on the current route, we can implement this using the `route` property. We can use it to specify the correct return route after a refresh.


Didn't see this in the codebase before. In my implementations I was going more towards creating a common components with minimal number of props and reusing it across multiple files as it seemed cleaner and the actual page can be collocated in the codebase with the feature we're using.

Example src/pages/settings/VerifyAccountPageBase.tsx

jmusial · 2025-10-10T08:49:34Z

+- LastNamePage: `/example-form/:firstName/:lastName`
+- DateOfBirthPage: `/example-form/:firstName:/:lastName/:dateOfBirth`
+
+Thanks to this structure, we are able to easily recreate the order of screens with the appropriate values in the form.


Would add sth about this approach NOT being recommended for complex form with large number of inputs

codecov · 2025-10-15T09:46:17Z

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✅ All modified and coverable lines are covered by tests.
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melvin-bot · 2025-10-15T10:04:40Z

@allroundexperts Please copy/paste the Reviewer Checklist from here into a new comment on this PR and complete it. If you have the K2 extension, you can simply click: [this button]

allroundexperts · 2025-10-15T18:29:16Z

Reviewer Checklist

I have verified the author checklist is complete (all boxes are checked off).
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- I verified the steps cover any possible failure scenarios (i.e. verify an input displays the correct error message if the entered data is not correct)
- I turned off my network connection and tested it while offline to ensure it matches the expected behavior (i.e. verify the default avatar icon is displayed if app is offline)
I checked that screenshots or videos are included for tests on all platforms
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- I verified proper file naming conventions were followed for any new files or renamed files. All non-platform specific files are named after what they export and are not named "index.js". All platform-specific files are named for the platform the code supports as outlined in the README.
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Screenshots/Videos

Android: HybridApp

Android: mWeb Chrome

iOS: HybridApp

iOS: mWeb Safari

MacOS: Chrome / Safari

Screen.Recording.2025-10-15.at.11.32.16.PM.mov

MacOS: Desktop

mountiny · 2025-10-15T22:24:50Z


 > [!WARNING]
-> **Deprecated**: The `backTo` parameter is deprecated and should not be used in new implementations. Most problems that `backTo` solved can be resolved by adding one or more routes for a single screen. If you don't know how to solve your problem, contact someone from the navigation team.
+> **Deprecated**: The `backTo` parameter is deprecated and should not be used in new implementations. Most problems that `backTo` solved can be resolved by adding one or more routes for a single screen. If you don't know how to solve your problem, contact someone from the navigation team. Old documentation on how to use `backTo` can be found below. 


Suggested change

> **Deprecated**: The `backTo` parameter is deprecated and should not be used in new implementations. Most problems that `backTo` solved can be resolved by adding one or more routes for a single screen. If you don't know how to solve your problem, contact someone from the navigation team. Old documentation on how to use `backTo` can be found below.

> **Deprecated**: The `backTo` parameter is deprecated and should not be used in new implementations. Most problems that `backTo` solved can be resolved by adding one or more routes for a single screen. If you don't know how to solve your problem, contact someone from the navigation team. Old documentation on how to use `backTo` can be found below.

mountiny · 2025-10-15T22:33:01Z

+We should use the following url pattern:
+- FirstNamePage: `/example-form/:firstName`
+- LastNamePage: `/example-form/:firstName/:lastName`
+- DateOfBirthPage: `/example-form/:firstName:/:lastName/:dateOfBirth`


I am not so sure about this approach as it could leak PII data https://github.com/Expensify/App/blob/main/contributingGuides/philosophies/ROUTING.md#--should-use-human-readable-names-before-using-ids

cc @MrMuzyk who is working on the form proposal - what was your idea on how to handle this?

It's super raw but what I had in mind is to just add a subStep param and base it all on static addresses.

Do we want to write any recommendations regarding these forms now?

I'll remove this section from the PR for now, we can add it later when we decide which method we prefer to implement forms

It's super raw but what I had in mind is to just add a subStep param and base it all on static addresses.

@MrMuzyk Sorry, I know we had a couple of discussions about this in Slack, but was this specific step discussed? This would technically violate this guideline https://github.com/Expensify/App/blob/main/contributingGuides/philosophies/ROUTING.md#--should-not-use-query-parameters and I am not sure if this applies as exception

Could you please bring that to slack if you think query param like this is the best appraoch?

but was this specific step discussed? This would technically violate this guideline

We already discussed it briefly and initial response was positive.

Could you please bring that to slack if you think query param like this is the best approach?

Will do :)

WojtekBoman · 2025-10-16T09:34:47Z

@mountiny I formatted NAVIGATION.md and removed the section about forms. Could you check if it looks good now?

mountiny

Thanks!

WojtekBoman · 2025-10-22T14:04:06Z

@mountiny I solved conflicts here, we're should be ready to merge

OSBotify · 2025-10-23T13:08:47Z

🚀 Deployed to staging by https://github.com/mountiny in version: 9.2.37-1 🚀

platform	result
🖥 desktop 🖥	success ✅
🕸 web 🕸	success ✅
🤖 android 🤖	success ✅
🍎 iOS 🍎	success ✅

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🚀 Deployed to production by https://github.com/blimpich in version: 9.2.37-8 🚀

platform	result
🖥 desktop 🖥	success ✅
🕸 web 🕸	success ✅
🤖 android 🤖	success ✅
🍎 iOS 🍎	success ✅

melvin-bot Bot assigned WojtekBoman Sep 16, 2025

WojtekBoman force-pushed the nav/back-to-types-eslint-rule branch 2 times, most recently from 95b8d1b to c286d73 Compare September 16, 2025 13:12

WojtekBoman force-pushed the nav/back-to-types-eslint-rule branch from f2aa050 to f0d0a02 Compare October 3, 2025 12:41

WojtekBoman added 2 commits October 9, 2025 10:46

Add eslint rule to prevent adding new backTo params to screen type de…

5175839

…finitions

Deprecate backTo in NAVIGATION.md

2f3cd5c

WojtekBoman force-pushed the nav/back-to-types-eslint-rule branch from f0d0a02 to 2f3cd5c Compare October 9, 2025 10:12

WojtekBoman changed the title ~~Add eslint rule to prevent adding new backTo params to screen type definitions~~ [NoQA] Add eslint rule to prevent adding new backTo params to screen type definitions Oct 9, 2025

jmusial reviewed Oct 10, 2025

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WojtekBoman added 2 commits October 15, 2025 11:23

Add fixes to NAVIGATION.md

83927d3

Merge branch 'main' into nav/back-to-types-eslint-rule

e459d10

Fix types

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WojtekBoman marked this pull request as ready for review October 15, 2025 10:04

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WojtekBoman added 3 commits October 16, 2025 08:32

Merge branch 'main' into nav/back-to-types-eslint-rule

ac950af

Format NAVIGATION.md

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Remove section: Maintaining the order of screens in forms

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Merge branch 'main' into nav/back-to-types-eslint-rule

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mountiny previously approved these changes Oct 17, 2025

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Fix eslint

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WojtekBoman dismissed mountiny’s stale review via f70c224 October 17, 2025 12:29

mountiny previously approved these changes Oct 17, 2025

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Merge remote-tracking branch 'origin' into nav/back-to-types-eslint-rule

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mountiny merged commit 582e7c5 into Expensify:main Oct 23, 2025
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github-actions Bot mentioned this pull request Oct 23, 2025

Investigate workflow job failing on main: lint / ESLint check #73290

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OSBotify mentioned this pull request Oct 23, 2025

Deploy Checklist: New Expensify 2025-10-23 #73307

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88 tasks

	- [Separate routes for each screen instance](#separate-routes-for-each-screen-instance)
	- [Separating routes for each screen instance](#separate-routes-for-each-screen-instance)


		3. Custom component behavior depending on the current route

		If we want the component's behavior to change based on the current route, we can implement this using the `route` property. We can use it to specify the correct return route after a refresh.

	> Deprecated: The `backTo` parameter is deprecated and should not be used in new implementations. Most problems that `backTo` solved can be resolved by adding one or more routes for a single screen. If you don't know how to solve your problem, contact someone from the navigation team. Old documentation on how to use `backTo` can be found below.
	> Deprecated: The `backTo` parameter is deprecated and should not be used in new implementations. Most problems that `backTo` solved can be resolved by adding one or more routes for a single screen. If you don't know how to solve your problem, contact someone from the navigation team. Old documentation on how to use `backTo` can be found below.

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