[HOLD for payment 2023-11-09] [$500] A "New Messages" notification is shown when there is no new message

[m-natarajan]

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Version Number: 1.3.90-2
Reproducible in staging?: Yes
Reproducible in production?: Yes
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: @daveSeife
Slack conversation: https://expensify.slack.com/archives/C049HHMV9SM/p1698164387186969

Action Performed:

1. Open any chat
2. Have enough messages on the chat, so you are able to scroll
3. Mark the last message as unread
4. Start scrolling up and see that the New Messages notification appears
5. Delete the last message
6. Start scrolling up and Notice that New Messages notification is shown

Expected Result:

"New Messages" notification is not shown when there is no new message

Actual Result:

A "New Messages" notification is shown when there is no new message

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

XRecorder_24102023_191913.mp4

Android: mWeb Chrome

XRecorder_24102023_191754.mp4

iOS: Native

t11NewMessage.iosApp.mp4

iOS: mWeb Safari

t11NewMessage.iosSafari.mp4

MacOS: Chrome / Safari

t11NewMessage.macChrome.mp4

New.Msg.mp4

MacOS: Desktop

t11NewMessage.desktop.mp4

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[melvin-bot]

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

[melvin-bot]

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[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 - @ArekChr (External)

[dummy-1111]

Proposal

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

The "New Messages" notification is shown even after all the new messages are deleted

What is the root cause of that problem?

We are setting the currentUnreadMarker when reportActions or report.lastReadTime is changed

App/src/pages/home/report/ReportActionsList.js

Lines 318 to 330 in 38d647e

	useEffect(() => {
	// Iterate through the report actions and set appropriate unread marker.
	// This is to avoid a warning of:
	// Cannot update a component (ReportActionsList) while rendering a different component (CellRenderer).
	_.each(sortedReportActions, (reportAction, index) => {
	if (!shouldDisplayNewMarker(reportAction, index)) {
	return;
	}
	if (!currentUnreadMarker && currentUnreadMarker !== reportAction.reportActionID) {
	setCurrentUnreadMarker(reportAction.reportActionID);
	}
	});
	}, [sortedReportActions, report.lastReadTime, messageManuallyMarkedUnread, shouldDisplayNewMarker, currentUnreadMarker]);

When marking a message unread, the reportActionID of the message is set to currentUnreadMarker.
When removing the message after that, we don't set null to currentUnreadMarker as you can see. So the currentUnreadMarker would have the old value even after the message is deleted

This is the root cause

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

We need to set null to currentUnreadMarker if there is no new messages
Update the above useEffect callback function

        let markerFound = false;
        _.each(sortedReportActions, (reportAction, index) => {
            if (!shouldDisplayNewMarker(reportAction, index)) {
                return;
            }
            markerFound = true;
            if (!currentUnreadMarker && currentUnreadMarker !== reportAction.reportActionID) {
                setCurrentUnreadMarker(reportAction.reportActionID);
            }
        });

        if (!markerFound) {
            setCurrentUnreadMarker(null);
        }

This works as expected

Result

30359.mp4

What alternative solutions did you explore? (Optional)

[ArekChr]

@s-alves10 What if another user deletes a new message when the current user has opened a report with the new message? I think this could not be handled case, but it is a very similar scenario

[dummy-1111]

then reportActions would change by pusher event and the effect callback will be called. I guess the notification message would disappear. I'll test it shortly

[dummy-1111]

@ArekChr

I just tested the case you mentioned and the 'New messages' notification disappears when the other user deletes the new message