[Due for payment 2025-10-01] [$125] IOU - After clearing merchant and saving it, Merchant field reverts to previous value

[lanitochka17]

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Version Number: 9.1.59-0
Reproducible in staging?: Y
Reproducible in production?: Y
If this was caught during regression testing, add the test name, ID and link from TestRail: N/A
Email or phone of affected tester (no customers): dsoisdnjosjosd@gmail.com
Issue reported by: Applause - Internal Team

Action Performed:

1. Go to staging.new.expensify.com
2. Open FAB > Create expense > Manual
3. Submit an expense to any user without merchant (not workspace)
4. Go to transaction thread
5. Click Merchant
6. Enter merchant and save it
7. Click Merchant
8. Empty the merchant and save it

Expected Result:

Merchant field will remain empty

Actual Result:

Merchant field cannot be emptied and it reverts to the previous value

Workaround:

Unknown

Platforms:

Select the officially supported platforms where the issue was reproduced:

• Android: App
• Android: mWeb Chrome
• iOS: App
• iOS: mWeb Safari
• iOS: mWeb Chrome
• Windows: Chrome
• MacOS: Chrome / Safari
• MacOS: Desktop

Platforms Tested:

On which of our officially supported platforms was this issue tested:

• Android: App
• Android: mWeb Chrome
• iOS: App
• iOS: mWeb Safari
• iOS: mWeb Chrome
• Windows: Chrome
• MacOS: Chrome / Safari
• MacOS: Desktop

Screenshots/Videos

Add any screenshot/video evidence

Bug6851284_1749112416795.20250605_162734.mp4

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Issue Owner

Current Issue Owner: @RachCHopkins

[melvin-bot]

Triggered auto assignment to @RachCHopkins (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.

[ganzz4]

Proposal

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

When a user clears the merchant field, the system displays "changed the merchant to "(none)" (previously "Old Merchant")" instead of the more appropriate "removed the merchant (previously "Old Merchant")" message.

What is the root cause of that problem?

The backend standardizes empty merchant values to "(none)", but the UI message logic doesn't recognize this as a "removal" action, treating it as a regular value change instead.

In ModifiedExpenseMessage.ts, the buildMessageFragmentForValue function only checks for empty strings (!newValue) when determining whether to show "removed" vs "changed" messaging. When a merchant is cleared, the system passes "(none)" (the value of CONST.TRANSACTION.PARTIAL_TRANSACTION_MERCHANT) as the new value, which is not caught by the empty string check, so it falls through to the "changed" message logic.

App/src/libs/ModifiedExpenseMessage.ts

Lines 64 to 75 in b255a12

	// In case of a partial merchant value, we want to avoid user seeing the "(none)" value in the message.
	if (!oldValue || isOldValuePartialMerchant) {
	const fragment = translateLocal('iou.setTheRequest', {valueName: displayValueName, newValueToDisplay});
	setFragments.push(fragment);
	} else if (!newValue) {
	const fragment = translateLocal('iou.removedTheRequest', {valueName: displayValueName, oldValueToDisplay});
	removalFragments.push(fragment);
	} else {
	const fragment = translateLocal('iou.updatedTheRequest', {valueName: displayValueName, newValueToDisplay, oldValueToDisplay});
	changeFragments.push(fragment);
	}
	}

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

Update the condition in buildMessageFragmentForValue function in src/libs/ModifiedExpenseMessage.ts to also check for the CONST.TRANSACTION.PARTIAL_TRANSACTION_MERCHANT value. Change the condition from:

App/src/libs/ModifiedExpenseMessage.ts

Line 68 in b255a12

} else if (!newValue) {

to:

} else if (!newValue || newValue === CONST.TRANSACTION.PARTIAL_TRANSACTION_MERCHANT) {

This will properly recognize when a merchant was cleared and show the "removed" message.

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

1. Test merchant clearing message: Verify that when newValue is CONST.TRANSACTION.PARTIAL_TRANSACTION_MERCHANT, the function generates a "removed" message fragment using iou.removedTheRequest.

2. Test normal merchant changes: Ensure that when both old and new values contain actual merchant names, it shows "changed" message correctly.

What alternative solutions did you explore? (Optional)

Result:
Before (current behavior):

After (with fix):

[ganzz4]

I've recorded a quick demo video showing the fix in action:

fix.mp4

[melvin-bot]

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

[RachCHopkins]

Needs triage.

[melvin-bot]

@RachCHopkins Whoops! This issue is 2 days overdue. Let's get this updated quick!

[RachCHopkins]

Merchant names are always required, we would not want someone to change it to blank and save it.