[$500] Compose-Sending message page flickers & sending link page shows loading for a second

[izarutskaya]

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Version Number: 1.3.92-0
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: Applause-Internal Team
Slack conversation: @

Action Performed:

1. Launch app
2. Tap on a report
3. Send any message
4. Send any url

Expected Result:

Sending message page must not flicker & sending link page must not show loading for a second also.

Actual Result:

Sending message page flickers & sending link page shows loading for a second

Workaround:

Unknown

Platforms:

Which of our officially supported platforms is this issue occurring on?

• Android: Native
• Android: mWeb Chrome
• iOS: Native
• iOS: mWeb Safari
• MacOS: Chrome / Safari
• MacOS: Desktop

Screenshots/Videos

Android: Native

Bug6252894_1698387558125.load.mp4

Android: mWeb Chrome

iOS: Native

iOS: mWeb Safari

MacOS: Chrome / Safari

MacOS: Desktop

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Upwork Automation - Do Not Edit

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• Automatic offers:
• 0xmiroslav | Reviewer | 27654846

[melvin-bot]

Triggered auto assignment to @bfitzexpensify (Bug), see https://stackoverflow.com/c/expensify/questions/14418 for more details.

[melvin-bot]

Job added to Upwork: https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~01e22aad449d431bed

[melvin-bot]

Bug0 Triage Checklist (Main S/O)

• This "bug" occurs on a supported platform (ensure Platforms in OP are ✅)
• This bug is not a duplicate report (check E/App issues and #expensify-bugs)
  • If it is, comment with a link to the original report, close the issue and add any novel details to the original issue instead
• This bug is reproducible using the reproduction steps in the OP. S/O
  • If the reproduction steps are clear and you're unable to reproduce the bug, check with the reporter and QA first, then close the issue.
  • If the reproduction steps aren't clear and you determine the correct steps, please update the OP.
• This issue is filled out as thoroughly and clearly as possible
  • Pay special attention to the title, results, platforms where the bug occurs, and if the bug happens on staging/production.
• I have reviewed and subscribed to the linked Slack conversation to ensure Slack/Github stay in sync

[melvin-bot]

Triggered auto assignment to Contributor-plus team member for initial proposal review - @0xmiroslav (External)

[tienifr]

Proposal

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

Sending link page shows loading for a second

What is the root cause of that problem?

We'll show the loading in the bottom of the screen whenever we're loading new messages, when we scroll to the bottom of the screen, it will trigger onStartReached which will trigger the loading of newest chats.

The problem is when we send a new message to the chat ourselves, we'll also trigger scrolling to the bottom here, which will also trigger the loading. That's why we see the loading after sending the message, and the flicker.

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

We should not load new chats when the scroll to bottom happens due to automatic scrolling (when we send a new message to the chat ourselves).

We need to set a variable/ref like isAutomaticScrollToBottom to true before we trigger scrolling to bottom, in loadNewerChats, if we see isAutomaticScrollToBottom is true, we'll set it to false, and early return (do not load the newest chats).

What alternative solutions did you explore? (Optional)

NA

[melvin-bot]

@bfitzexpensify, @0xmiroslav Uh oh! This issue is overdue by 2 days. Don't forget to update your issues!

[bfitzexpensify]

How does the proposal in #30495 (comment) look @0xmiroslav?

[melvin-bot]

📣 It's been a week! Do we have any satisfactory proposals yet? Do we need to adjust the bounty for this issue? 💸

[0xmiros]

@tienifr are you still able to reproduce?

[tienifr]

Yes, I can still reproduce

[perunt]

@tienifr, you had mentioned this as a copy of another issue. Here are my thoughts on that. #30729 (comment)

[melvin-bot]

@bfitzexpensify, @0xmiroslav Uh oh! This issue is overdue by 2 days. Don't forget to update your issues!

[bfitzexpensify]

@perunt just to clarify, you see these as two separate issues requiring different solutions, correct? Your comment seems to suggest that @tienifr's solution here wouldn't fully solve the issue reported in #30729

[perunt]

This could be resolved with one PR. The main issue is that onStartReached is automatically called each time we scroll to the bottom (to the newest message). This automatic scroll is triggered because if you scroll slightly and then send a message, the sent message should come into focus – that's the current behavior. Right now, this automatic scrolling is managed by autoscrollToTopThreshold (that's why removing reportScrollManager.scrollToBottom() doesn't broke anything). However, I'm not sure if this will work well with the upcoming Comment Linking feature. Therefore, I would suggest preventing onStartReached from being called during automatic scrolls to the end, instead of disabling the automatic scroll altogether

[melvin-bot]

@bfitzexpensify @0xmiroslav this issue was created 2 weeks ago. Are we close to approving a proposal? If not, what's blocking us from getting this issue assigned? Don't hesitate to create a thread in #expensify-open-source to align faster in real time. Thanks!

[bfitzexpensify]

Still held.

[bfitzexpensify]

Still on hold for #33725

[bfitzexpensify]

Remains held

[roryabraham]

still on HOLD

[roryabraham]

@mountiny assigning to you while I'm on parental leave since I also assigned you to #33725

[muttmuure]

Held on Flashlist change

[mountiny]

Still on hold

[bfitzexpensify]

Still held

[bfitzexpensify]

Still held

[roryabraham]

This is an old issue, and the issue it's held on doesn't seem like it's going to move quickly at all. Requesting retest to see if this is still even happening: https://expensify.slack.com/archives/C9YU7BX5M/p1738202864490269

[mvtglobally]

reproducible on Samsung A50/Android11

0-02-01-4099d9da644440d3d1f250a88a17451e1ac5a43c1bf3d20774485fa2501df7a4_2c1f0c3d4ce6f38a.mp4

not repro on Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 / Android 12

Screenrecorder-2025-01-30-17-09-43-813.mp4

IOS result

7d.mp4

[roryabraham]

Given that this is still reproducible, and it's unclear when or if the issue it's on HOLD for will be addressed, I suggest we take this off HOLD