[READY for payment 2025-01-02] [$250] Hybrid - Android - WS Switcher - App is closed when switching workspace and using device back button.

[IuliiaHerets]

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Version Number: 9.0.71-0
Reproducible in staging?: Yes
Reproducible in production?: No
If this was caught on HybridApp, is this reproducible on New Expensify Standalone?: No, reproducible on hybrid only
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): ibellicotest+73@gmail.com
Issue reported by: Applause Internal Team

Action Performed:

1. Launch the Expensify app.
2. Tap on the workspace switcher on the top left corner.
3. Select any workspace.
4. Use the device back button.
5. Verify that now all the chats are displayed again on inbox.

Expected Result:

After switching workspaces and using device back button, all the chats should be displayed again on inbox.

Actual Result:

The app is closed instead of displaying all chats again, when the user switch workspaces and uses device back button. When the app is reopened, all chats are displayed in inbox.

Workaround:

Unknown

Platforms:

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

Screenshots/Videos

Bug6683901_1733291014764.WS_Switch.mp4

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Upwork Automation - Do Not Edit

• Upwork Job URL: https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~021864885051135538956
• Upwork Job ID: 1864885051135538956
• Last Price Increase: 2024-12-06

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.

[RachCHopkins]

Can Repro - When I hit the device back button it closes the app entirely. I am on 9.0.71-1

[melvin-bot]

Job added to Upwork: https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~021864885051135538956

[melvin-bot]

Triggered auto assignment to Contributor-plus team member for initial proposal review - @eh2077 (External)

[ikevin127]

Proposal

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

When the user switches to a specific workspace chats and then uses device back button, the app is closed instead of displaying all chats again (Expensify).

What is the root cause of that problem?

Note

The issue is present on Android: Native as well as on Android: HybridApp (more details below).

In the WorkspaceSwitcherPage we have the selectPolicy function which is called when we switch to a specific workspace chats. If we follow Navigation.navigateWithSwitchPolicyID down to source we arrive to the switchPolicyID function where at the bottom we get to the root cause of why, when we use the device back button the app will close instead of returning back to all chats (Expensify):

App/src/libs/Navigation/switchPolicyID.ts

Lines 150 to 156 in b595f5d

	} else {
	// If the layout is small we need to pop everything from the central pane so the bottom tab navigator is visible.
	root.dispatch({
	type: 'POP_TO_TOP',
	target: rootState.key,
	});
	}

as this block comes into action on narrow layout devices because of this condition:

App/src/libs/Navigation/switchPolicyID.ts

Lines 115 to 116 in b595f5d

	// The correct route for SearchPage is located in the CentralPane
	const shouldAddToCentralPane = !getIsNarrowLayout() || isOpeningSearchFromBottomTab;

Because that block pops all central pane routes out in order for the bottom tab navigator to be visible, this means that the only route present in the stack is BottomTabNavigator which is the same as when we open the app -> which when pressing hardware / device back button it will close the app as expected because there's no other route to go back to.

What's the code responsible for handling the hardware / device back button and close the app on Android ?

We have this android platform specific function setupCustomAndroidBackHandler which is used to dictate the behaviour and if we look at its code, there is this block which is Android: HybridApp specific that tells the app to close when isLastScreenOnStack is true which is the case for our issue:

App/src/libs/Navigation/setupCustomAndroidBackHandler/index.android.ts

Lines 27 to 29 in b595f5d

	if (NativeModules.HybridAppModule && isLastScreenOnStack) {
	NativeModules.HybridAppModule.exitApp();
	}

For Android: Native though we don't have any code in this function to specifically handle behaviour, therefore it defaults to the standard behaviour (close the app) at the end of the function:

App/src/libs/Navigation/setupCustomAndroidBackHandler/index.android.ts

Lines 66 to 67 in b595f5d

	// Handle all other cases with default handler.
	return false;

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

To solve our issue on both Android: Native and HybridApp we have to implement the following changes:

1. Under:

   App/src/libs/Navigation/setupCustomAndroidBackHandler/index.android.ts

   Line 25 in b595f5d

   const isLastScreenOnStack = bottomTabRoutes.length === 1 && rootState?.routes?.length === 1;

add the following logic:

const isWorkspaceHomeOnlyRoute = bottomTabRoutes.every((route) => route.name === SCREENS.HOME && !!(route.params as {policyID?: string})?.policyID);

if (isLastScreenOnStack && isWorkspaceHomeOnlyRoute) {
    navigationRef.dispatch({...StackActions.replace(SCREENS.HOME)});
    return true;
}

Explanation

1. isWorkspaceHomeOnlyRoute checks whether in bottomTabRoutes (array) every Home route has the policyID param
2. If isLastScreenOnStack and isWorkspaceHomeOnlyRoute are both true - this will always be the case when we are on the specific workspace chats home screen since there is only one route in the stack and it is the Home route with policyID param
3. When we go back with device back button and this condition is true -> we will replace the Home screen with policyID param with the Home screen without any params, which is the Expensify home page with all chats.

This will fix the issue as required by the Expected result (see video below) because when we will perform the go back action we will have the Home screen in the stack and will be navigated to Home (all chats), then if we go back again from Home then the app will close as expected.

Additional explanation regarding Android: HybridApp -> under the new logic added above we will keep the Android: HybridApp logic unchanged since in case the newly added condition doesn't pass it means we want to keep the existing NativeModules.HybridAppModule.exitApp() logic because without this I assume the app will not close as the Android: Native app does by default.

cc @adamgrzybowski @Kicu for a take on the proposed solution as they worked on setupCustomAndroidBackHandler

Result video (before / after)

Android: Native

Before	After
before.mp4	after.mp4

[linhvovan29546]

Proposal

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

Android - WS Switcher - App is closed when switching workspace and using device back button.

What is the root cause of that problem?

• The issue originates from this commit in the PR: Migrate E/App to use PlatformStackNavigation.
  • Prior to this change, the problem did not exist.
  • The root cause is the use of the Replace navigation method instead of Push.
  • When switching to another workspace and pressing the back button, the app closes because the stack contains only one entry, which triggers this condition.

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

• When switching workspaces from WorkspaceSwitcherPage, we should use the Push navigation method instead of Replace. To implement we need:
• Update the getActionForBottomTabNavigator function
  • Add an optional prop shouldReplaceHome with a default value of true here
    

    App/src/libs/Navigation/switchPolicyID.ts

    Line 29 in 7925c9b

    function getActionForBottomTabNavigator(action: StackNavigationAction, state: NavigationState<RootStackParamList>, policyID?: string): Writable<NavigationAction> | undefined {

  • And here
    

    App/src/libs/Navigation/switchPolicyID.ts

    Line 76 in 7925c9b

    export default function switchPolicyID(navigation: NavigationContainerRef<RootStackParamList> | null, {policyID, route}: SwitchPolicyIDParams) {

    
    

    App/src/libs/Navigation/switchPolicyID.ts

    Line 102 in 7925c9b

    const actionForBottomTabNavigator = getActionForBottomTabNavigator(action, rootState, policyID);

    App/src/libs/Navigation/switchPolicyID.ts

    Line 29 in 7925c9b

    function getActionForBottomTabNavigator(action: StackNavigationAction, state: NavigationState<RootStackParamList>, policyID?: string): Writable<NavigationAction> | undefined {

• Update the navigateWithSwitchPolicyID function in WorkspaceSwitcherPage:
  • Pass shouldReplaceHome: false .
  • This ensures the navigation method is Push instead of Replace when called from this screen.
  • (Optional) Add a condition to ensure this change only applies to Android.

Results

### Demo Videos

Before	After
back-button-before.mp4	back-button-after.mp4

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

Because this issue come from this, we need to check other related cases.

What alternative solutions did you explore? (Optional)

N/A