[$250] Split- 'Guest' is counted twice in Public room

[lanitochka17]

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Version Number: 1.4.80-9
**Reproducible in staging?:**Y
Reproducible in production?: Y
If this was caught during regression testing, add the test name, ID and link from TestRail: https://expensify.testrail.io/index.php?/tests/view/4605118
Issue reported by: Applause - Internal Team

Action Performed:

Admin (User A):

• go to https://staging.new.expensify.com/
• Click FAB > Chat > Create a public room
• Invite multiple Members to the room
• As the admin of the room > click on the room chat > '+' > Split Expense
• Copy and paste the URL (it will be something like https://staging.new.expensify.com/create/split/start/1/2824600098008267/manual)
• Continue the Split Expense process
• Copy and Paste the URL BEFORE YOU CREATE the split expense (it will be something like https://staging.new.expensify.com/create/split/confirmation/1/2824600098008267)
• Create the Split Expense
• After the Split Expense is created, copy the room URL

'Guest' (User B):

• Go to an incognito window
• paste the room URL
• DO NOT SIGN IN
• Click the URLs in the chat
• Verify you need to sign in when you interact with the room

Admin (User A):

• Check the Room Members to see that there's a Guest

'Guest' (User B):

• Sign in to the room through the incognito window

Admin (user A):

• refresh the browser
• Notice there is still a 'Guest' in addition to the new user

Expected Result:

The 'guest' should be removed as a member of the room since the new user is signed in

Actual Result:

Both the 'guest' and the new user show as members

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

Add any screenshot/video evidence

2024-06-26_14-47-50.mp4

20240627_035355.mp4

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• Upwork Job URL: https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~0175e97fd87039315b
• Upwork Job ID: 1800039533475604449
• Last Price Increase: 2024-07-01

[melvin-bot]

Triggered auto assignment to @Christinadobrzyn (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.

[lanitochka17]

@Christinadobrzyn 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

[lanitochka17]

We think that this bug might be related to #vip-split

[devguest07]

Proposal

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

"Guest" appears as a participant when splitting in a public room after logging in via a public room.

What is the root cause of that problem?

When a public room is opened without any logged account, the API sends a report with an extra user ID, labeled as Guest. This Guest becomes part of the report participants and remains even when the user logs in.

A check on the network request reveals an extra user ID in the participantsList from the API.

But why is it not displayed as hidden?

When the app is opened and the user is not logged in, the API includes this Guest in the personalDetailsList, making the new Guest a part of the user's contacts. Consequently, it will not be displayed as hidden.

As mentioned by anitochka17 in the expected result section, "there will not be an extra 'Guest' member in the participant list". The issue is that this Guest user is not filtered out when there's a split request.

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

The main idea is to filter out the Guest on the MoneyRequestConfirmationList page, preventing this type of user from being part of the split.

This filter can be implemented in various parts of the app, as the process of building the list of split users involves many functions, starting from the creation of the new transaction when clicking on Split Expenses.

I can suggest a way to do this, but I believe the Expensify team may lead this better.

App/src/components/MoneyRequestConfirmationList.tsx

Line 470 in f3bb5a5

const selectedParticipants = useMemo(() => selectedParticipantsProp.filter((participant) => participant.selected), [selectedParticipantsProp]);

In the selectedParticipants function, we can filter out any Guest user to ensure they are not part of the split. The data for this user is as follows:

We can use the firstName: "Guest" and the login ending with expensify.anon to filter out this type of user.

What alternative solutions did you explore?

[melvin-bot]

Job added to Upwork: https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~0175e97fd87039315b

[melvin-bot]

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

[dominictb]

Proposal

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

When splitting expense in public room after logging in via public room, there is an extra "Guest" member in participant list

What is the root cause of that problem?

When the user views the public room when logged out, that one will be considered an "anonymous" user from the back-end. And the data related to that anonymous user will be present in personalDetailList and in the report's participants.

However, when the user logs in as a real user, we're not clearing those anonymous client-side only data from Onyx in successData, so the anonymous user still shows up in the split.

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

When the user was anonymous then logs in as a real user, we should clear anonymous client-side only data (personalDetailList, public room participants, ...) from Onyx in successData (or optimisticData)

when the user logs in

There's a couple of endpoints that need the change, depending on if we sign up or sign in, like SignUpUser, SigninUser. ie. in SignUpUser here, first we check if the current user is anonymous by isAnonymousUser(). If the user is anonymous, get the current anonymous user account id by getCurrentUserAccountID, and use it to clear the anonymous account data in personalDetailList, public room participants, ... accordingly.

What alternative solutions did you explore? (Optional)

NA

[Christinadobrzyn]

hi @allroundexperts can you check these proposals when you have a moment?

[melvin-bot]

Triggered auto assignment to @twisterdotcom (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.

[Christinadobrzyn]

Just a heads up - I'm going to be ooo until June 24th so going to assign a teammate to watch this while I'm away

@twisterdotcom proposals are being reviewed

cc @allroundexperts

[allroundexperts]

Reviewing today!

[allroundexperts]

When should "guest" be used and not the email address? I'm a little confused on when we name a member "Guest" in a public room. @allroundexperts let me know if that's important for this and if you know (or I should ask)

My understanding is that we show the name as guest until the guest sends a message in the channel. Once the message is there, we show the user name. @twisterdotcom can you confirm this for us? Thanks!

[Christinadobrzyn]

I will ask @allroundexperts I'm not 100% sure either. Asking in our project channel - https://expensify.slack.com/archives/C05RECHFBEW/p1718247545080749

@twisterdotcom could you keep an eye on a response and add it here? TY!

[dominictb]

My understanding is that we show the name as guest until the guest sends a message in the channel. Once the message is there, we show the user name.

@allroundexperts I don't think this is the case, after the user logged in, she's no longer "guest". The "Guest" user is a residual from the anonymous session earlier, as explained in detail in my proposal.

You can validate this by try logging out and logging in again without sending anything to the public room. You'll see the "Guest" user will disappear, although nothing is different about "until the guest sends a message in the channel", no message was sent.

[Christinadobrzyn]

@allroundexperts would you be able to take a peek at @devguest07's proposal?

Maybe also checking out this one too to see if it will work with the changed objective

[allroundexperts]

@devguest07 I don't think your proposal would work. You're suggesting to filtering out the guest from the split money expense participant list. In reality, we don't want to show the guest even in the members page of the room (once the guest signs in).

I think this requires a fix from the backend.

[devguest07]

@allroundexperts The issue with guest in the members page of the room has been fixed in the latest main branch. However, there is still a problem with the split functionality, where you will find a guest among the possible split members.

[Christinadobrzyn]

I think this requires a fix from the backend.

@allroundexperts let me know if you think this needs to be an internal label.

[allroundexperts]

@allroundexperts The issue with guest in the members page of the room has been fixed in the latest main branch. However, there is still a problem with the split functionality, where you will find a guest among the possible split members.

Even so, filtering shouldn't be the solution here. We should remove the guest entirely once he signs in.

[allroundexperts]

@allroundexperts let me know if you think this needs to be an internal label.

I think that is the best course here.

[melvin-bot]

📣 It's been a week! Do we have any satisfactory proposals yet? Do we need to adjust the bounty for this issue? 💸

[Christinadobrzyn]

Sounds good @allroundexperts - I added the Internal label and I'll work on finding a volunteer.

[Christinadobrzyn]

waiting for a volunteer

[Christinadobrzyn]

Looking for a volunteer

[Christinadobrzyn]

still looking for a volunteer - https://expensify.slack.com/archives/C05RECHFBEW/p1720475518788529?thread_ts=1719259054.813949&cid=C05RECHFBEW

[Christinadobrzyn]

still looking for a volunteer - https://expensify.slack.com/archives/C05RECHFBEW/p1720475518788529?thread_ts=1719259054.813949&cid=C05RECHFBEW

[mvtglobally]

Issue not reproducible during KI retests. (First week)

[melvin-bot]

@allroundexperts, @Christinadobrzyn Eep! 4 days overdue now. Issues have feelings too...

[Christinadobrzyn]

I'll try to retest this today to see if it's still happening unless you have time to do that @allroundexperts

[Christinadobrzyn]

I'm not going to get to this retest today, I will do it tomorrow

[Christinadobrzyn]

Testing again - I think this is resolved - @allroundexperts would be able to check and see if you're still setting a Guest? I'm not seeing a guest anymore.

[Christinadobrzyn]

I'm going to ask QA if they can retest - https://expensify.slack.com/archives/C9YU7BX5M/p1721241144696699

[mvtglobally]

Issue not reproducible during KI retests. (Second week)

1721031579106.bandicam_2024-07-15_11-15-19-949.mp4

[Christinadobrzyn]

Let's close this - the issue seems to be resolved.