[HOLD for payment 2024-06-03] [$250] Expense - Merchant shows "Expense" when merchant is filled then removed when creating expense

[kbecciv]

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Version Number: 1.4.72-0
Reproducible in staging?: y
Reproducible in production?: y
Issue reported by: Applause - Internal Team

Action Performed:

1. Go to staging.new.expensify.com
2. Go to FAB > Submit expense.
3. Submit a manual expense without merchant.
4. Go to transaction thread.
5. Note that Merchant row remains empty.
6. Go to FAB > Submit expense > Manual.
7. Enter amount > Next > Select user.
8. On confirmation page, enter a merchant and save it.
9. Clear the merchant field and save it.
10. Submit the expense.
11. Go to transaction thread.

Expected Result:

Merchant row will remain empty because the expense is submitted without merchant.

Actual Result:

Merchant row is populated with "Expense" when merchant field is filled then removed when submitting the expense.

Workaround:

n/a

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

Add any screenshot/video evidence

Bug6476090_1715268811635.20240509_232837.mp4

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Upwork Automation - Do Not Edit

• Upwork Job URL: https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~01282159a7ab4f2452
• Upwork Job ID: 1789699817742114816
• Last Price Increase: 2024-05-12
• Automatic offers:
• ikevin127 | Reviewer | 0
• bernhardoj | Contributor | 0

Issue Owner

Current Issue Owner: @MitchExpensify

[melvin-bot]

Triggered auto assignment to @MitchExpensify (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.

[kbecciv]

We think that this bug might be related to #wave-collect - Release 1

[kbecciv]

@MitchExpensify FYI I haven't added the External label as I wasn't 100% sure about this issue. Please take a look and add the label if you agree it's a bug and can be handled by external contributors.

[bernhardoj]

Proposal

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

When submtting a new expense with an empty merchant that is previously filled, the merchant shows Expense.

What is the root cause of that problem?

When we start a new money request flow, the default merchant is (none). If it's (none), we show nothing in the merchant field. If we submit an expense with a merchant of (none), the merchant stays as (none).

If we set the merchant to something else first, for example "test", then the transaction draft merchant becomes "test".
merchant: 'test'
Then, if we clear it, then it becomes empty string.
merchant: ''

If we submit an expense with an empty string of merchant, the BE response will return "Expense" as the merchant.

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

Fallback to (none) if the merchant is empty, just like what we did for edit case.

App/src/pages/iou/request/step/IOURequestStepMerchant.tsx

Lines 101 to 103 in db469d6

	if (isEditing) {
	// When creating a new expense, newMerchant can be blank so we fall back on PARTIAL_TRANSACTION_MERCHANT
	IOU.updateMoneyRequestMerchant(transactionID, reportID, newMerchant || CONST.TRANSACTION.PARTIAL_TRANSACTION_MERCHANT, policy, policyTags, policyCategories);

[nkdengineer]

Proposal

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

Merchant row is populated with "Expense" when merchant field is filled then removed when submitting the expense.

What is the root cause of that problem?

The default merchant is (none). But when we clear a merchant and save, we store it as empty string and then BE returns it as expense.

App/src/pages/iou/request/step/IOURequestStepMerchant.tsx

Line 100 in db469d6

IOU.setMoneyRequestMerchant(transactionID, newMerchant ?? '', !isEditing);

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

For the create flow and edit split bill, we should fallback the merchant to CONST.TRANSACTION.PARTIAL_TRANSACTION_MERCHANT when we save it

IOU.setDraftSplitTransaction(transactionID, {merchant: newMerchant || CONST.TRANSACTION.PARTIAL_TRANSACTION_MERCHANT});

App/src/pages/iou/request/step/IOURequestStepMerchant.tsx

Line 89 in db469d6

IOU.setDraftSplitTransaction(transactionID, {merchant: newMerchant});

IOU.setMoneyRequestMerchant(transactionID, newMerchant || CONST.TRANSACTION.PARTIAL_TRANSACTION_MERCHANT, !isEditing);

App/src/pages/iou/request/step/IOURequestStepMerchant.tsx

Line 100 in db469d6

IOU.setMoneyRequestMerchant(transactionID, newMerchant ?? '', !isEditing);

Beside, we shouldn't also call IOU.setMoneyRequestMerchant for the edit flow.

What alternative solutions did you explore? (Optional)

NA

[melvin-bot]

Job added to Upwork: https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~01282159a7ab4f2452

[melvin-bot]

Triggered auto assignment to Contributor-plus team member for initial proposal review - @ikevin127 (External)