[Due for payment 2025-08-13] [$250] Reports - Message previews show fallback avatar after refreshing the page with report RHP open

[mitarachim]

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Version Number: 9.1.85-2
Reproducible in staging?: Yes
Reproducible in production?: Yes
If this was caught during regression testing, add the test name, ID and link from TestRail: Exp https://test-management.browserstack.com/projects/2148171/test-runs/TR-186/39318076/801699109?q=chats&issue_type=jira
Email or phone of affected tester (no customers): jdsnosjossjodj@gmail.com
Issue reported by: Applause Internal Team
Device used: Mac 15.5 / Chrome
App Component: Search

Action Performed:

1. Go to staging.expensify.com
2. Open any chat and send a message.
3. Go to Reports > Chats.
4. Click on the sent message.
5. With the RHP open, refresh the page.

Expected Result:

Message previews in the background will not show fallback avatar.

Actual Result:

Message previews in the background show fallback avatar after refreshing the page with report RHP open.

Workaround:

Unknown

Platforms:

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

Screenshots/Videos

Bug6897184_1753344080329.20250724_155717.mp4

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• Upwork Job URL: https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~021950149589696240502
• Upwork Job ID: 1950149589696240502
• Last Price Increase: 2025-07-29

Issue Owner

Current Issue Owner: @greg-schroeder

[melvin-bot]

Triggered auto assignment to @greg-schroeder (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.

[Burhan-Rashid]

Proposal

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

Reports - Message previews show fallback avatar after refreshing the page with report RHP open

What is the root cause of that problem?

The issue comes from this PR #65427
The root cause is also similar what was already mentioned here #63300 (comment)
We have added a useFocusEffect in the above PR, which clearly the previous hash only at the time when the page is focused, and in our case the page is not in focus and this useFocusEffect is not running.

App/src/components/Search/index.tsx

Lines 194 to 199 in 8b4ae17

	useFocusEffect(
	useCallback(() => {
	clearSelectedTransactions(hash);
	setCurrentSearchHash(hash);
	}, [hash, clearSelectedTransactions, setCurrentSearchHash]),
	);

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

Instead of running it only at the time of focusing, we need to run it at the time of mounting as well. For that we need a useEffect as well. We can add the following change here:

App/src/components/Search/index.tsx

Lines 194 to 199 in 8b4ae17

	useFocusEffect(
	useCallback(() => {
	clearSelectedTransactions(hash);
	setCurrentSearchHash(hash);
	}, [hash, clearSelectedTransactions, setCurrentSearchHash]),
	);

 const handleFocusOrMount = useCallback(() => {
        clearSelectedTransactions(hash);
        setCurrentSearchHash(hash);
    }, [hash, clearSelectedTransactions, setCurrentSearchHash]);

    // Trigger when screen gains focus
    useFocusEffect(handleFocusOrMount);

    // Trigger once on mount (e.g., on page reload)
    useEffect(() => {
        handleFocusOrMount();
    }, [handleFocusOrMount]);

focus.issue.mp4

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

N/A

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.

[Eskalifer1]

Proposal

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

Reports - Message previews show fallback avatar after refreshing the page with report RHP open

What is the root cause of that problem?

We set the hash only when the screen is in focus:

App/src/components/Search/index.tsx

Lines 194 to 199 in 8b4ae17

	useFocusEffect(
	useCallback(() => {
	clearSelectedTransactions(hash);
	setCurrentSearchHash(hash);
	}, [hash, clearSelectedTransactions, setCurrentSearchHash]),
	);

But when a modal window is open, the screen is not in focus, so the hash does not change.

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

We can change useFocusEffect to a regular useEffect, but to support the screen focus call, add isFocused to deps:

    useEffect(() => {
            clearSelectedTransactions(hash);
            setCurrentSearchHash(hash);
    }, [hash, clearSelectedTransactions, setCurrentSearchHash, isFocused]);

If necessary, we can add a check to see if the screen is focused and call these functions only on the first render or if the screen is focused, but I don't think that's necessary.

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

N/A

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.

[melvin-bot]

Job added to Upwork: https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~021950149589696240502

[melvin-bot]

Triggered auto assignment to Contributor-plus team member for initial proposal review - @c3024 (External)

[c3024]

Thank you for the proposals.

RCA makes sense, and the bug can be handled by setting the hash once when the screen renders using a useEffect with an empty dependency array. A similar solution was suggested by @Burhan-Rashid in his proposal.

We can change the useFocusEffect to useEffect and add isFocused to the dependency array as suggested by @Eskalifer1, but IMO this is not a significant improvement or simplification over the other solution.

I think we can assign @Burhan-Rashid here.

🎀 👀 🎀