[Due for payment 2025-04-02] [$250] Expense - Loading Indicator Shown Before opening create expense Page

[IuliiaHerets]

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Version Number: V9.1.11-0
Reproducible in staging?: Yes
Reproducible in production?: Yes
Email or phone of affected tester (no customers): Slottwo1+ko@gmail.com
Issue reported by: Applause Internal Team
Device used: Redminote 10s android 13
App Component: Money Requests

Action Performed:

1. Launch app
2. Tap fab - create expense

Expected Result:

Tapping Create expense, a loading indicator must not be shown briefly before opening the page.

Actual Result:

Tapping Create expense, a loading indicator is shown briefly before opening the page.

Workaround:

Unknown

Platforms:

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

Update: Tester has a different behavior in mWeb and Android, there is no loading Indicator in mWeb. So behavior is not the same across the different platforms.

Screenshots/Videos

Bug6766876_1741659363891.Screenrecorder-2025-03-11-07-41-01-94.mp4

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• daledah | Contributor | 106568075

Issue Owner

Current Issue Owner: @rojiphil

[melvin-bot]

Triggered auto assignment to @lydiabarclay (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.

[daledah]

Proposal

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

Tapping Create expense, a loading indicator is shown briefly before opening the page.

What is the root cause of that problem?

In

App/src/pages/iou/request/IOURequestStartPage.tsx

Lines 116 to 120 in 76140d4

	if (!transaction?.transactionID) {
	// The draft transaction is initialized only after the component is mounted,
	// which will lead to briefly displaying the Not Found page without this loader.
	return <FullScreenLoadingIndicator />;
	}

we check if transaction?.transactionID is undefined we will show the loading page.

We added this logic in #32849 to prevent showing not found page after creating the request money. But for now, the transaction draft is clear only when users start money request

App/src/libs/actions/IOU.ts

Lines 822 to 823 in 76140d4

	function startMoneyRequest(iouType: ValueOf<typeof CONST.IOU.TYPE>, reportID: string, requestType?: IOURequestType, skipConfirmation = false) {
	clearMoneyRequest(CONST.IOU.OPTIMISTIC_TRANSACTION_ID, skipConfirmation);

so transaction?.transactionID is undefined at the beginning of the money request flow, that leads to show the loading page

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

Since the transaction draft is clear only when users start money request, so we can safely remove these lines

App/src/pages/iou/request/IOURequestStartPage.tsx

Lines 116 to 120 in 76140d4

	if (!transaction?.transactionID) {
	// The draft transaction is initialized only after the component is mounted,
	// which will lead to briefly displaying the Not Found page without this loader.
	return <FullScreenLoadingIndicator />;
	}

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

None

What alternative solutions did you explore? (Optional)

Reminder: Please use plain English, be brief and avoid jargon. Feel free to use images, charts or pseudo-code if necessary. Do not post large multi-line diffs or write walls of text. Do not create PRs unless you have been hired for this job.

[lydiabarclay]

Checking

[shawnborton]

@IuliiaHerets what makes you think this is a bug? Part of me thinks the loading spinner is there on purpose because we're firing up the camera UI. Does that sound right @AndrewGable @Expensify/design ?

So I don't know that this is even a bug personally...

[daledah]

We are showing the FullScreenLoadingIndicator in IOURequestStartPage, not just when firing up the camera UI.

App/src/pages/iou/request/IOURequestStartPage.tsx

Lines 116 to 120 in 76140d4

	if (!transaction?.transactionID) {
	// The draft transaction is initialized only after the component is mounted,
	// which will lead to briefly displaying the Not Found page without this loader.
	return <FullScreenLoadingIndicator />;
	}

If we're firing up the camera UI, we shouldn't show the loading indicator in full screen

[shawnborton]

Did this change recently or something? If so, is there an offending PR that changed the behavior?

[dannymcclain]

Did this change recently or something? If so, is there an offending PR that changed the behavior?

Also curious about this. But I do agree with Shawn that this doesn't really look a bug to me in the video?

[AndrewGable]

If we don't need the loading spinner, than removing it sounds good, but agree if it's needed to load something then we should keep it

[lydiabarclay]

@AndrewGable @shawnborton @dannymcclain based on this conversation, and this comment in Slack, it sounds like we want to move forward with removing it?