[HOLD for payment 2023-07-17] [$1000] Web - App throws 'No content to add' error if we send empty alias for email

[kbecciv]

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Action Performed:

1. Open the app
2. Open any report
3. Type in a link with empty alias eg: [](google.com)
4. Observe that app handles it well
5. Send email with empty alias eg: [](test@test.com)
6. Observe that app throws 'No content to add' for step 5 message

Expected Result:

App should handle empty alias for email in similar way like it does for link

Actual Result:

App throws 'No content to add' error for email with empty alias

Workaround:

Unknown

Platforms:

Which of our officially supported platforms is this issue occurring on?

• Android / native
• Android / Chrome
• iOS / native
• iOS / Safari
• MacOS / Chrome / Safari
• MacOS / Desktop

Version Number: 1.3.30.0

Reproducible in staging?: y

Reproducible in production?: y

If this was caught during regression testing, add the test name, ID and link from TestRail:

Email or phone of affected tester (no customers):

Logs: https://stackoverflow.com/c/expensify/questions/4856

Notes/Photos/Videos: Any additional supporting documentation

No.content.added.error.mp4

Recording.3188.mp4

Expensify/Expensify Issue URL:

Issue reported by: @dhanashree-sawant

Slack conversation: https://expensify.slack.com/archives/C049HHMV9SM/p1686755882619169

View all open jobs on GitHub

Upwork Automation - Do Not Edit

• Upwork Job URL: https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~012e72288a82e6fae6
• Upwork Job ID: 1671920286239043584
• Last Price Increase: 2023-06-29

[eh2077]

Proposal

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

App throws 'No content to add' error if we send empty alias for email.

What is the root cause of that problem?

The root cause of this issue is that below markdown

[](test@gmail.com)

is translated into html

<a href="mailto:test@gmail.com"></a>

by applying email rule

{
    name: 'email',
    process: (textToProcess, replacement) => {
        const regex = new RegExp(
            `\\[([^[\\]]*)]\\(${CONST.REG_EXP.MARKDOWN_EMAIL}\\)`, 'gim'
        );
        return this.modifyTextForEmailLinks(regex, textToProcess, replacement);
    },
    replacement: (match, g1, g2) => `<a href="mailto:${g2}">${g1.trim()}</a>`,
}

The capturing group g1, ([^[\\]]*) , is possible to be empty string and, in the replacement method, we didn't check if g1.trim() is empty or not. So, we get anchor tag with empty text by apply the email rule.

The backend returns an error when we try to save html <a href="mailto:test@gmail.com"></a> to the backend. The error returned by backend is

I think the error from backend makes sense because the backend needs to convert html

<a href="mailto:test@gmail.com"></a>

to text(aka message[0].text) which shouldn't be empty.

So the root cause of this issue is that email rule doesn't avoid creating anchor tag with empty text.

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

To fix this issue, we can skip creating anchor tag with empty text.

To achieve this, we can change the replacement method of email rule from

replacement: (match, g1, g2) => `<a href="mailto:${g2}">${g1.trim()}</a>`,

to

// skip rendering if g1.trim() is empty
replacement: (match, g1, g2) => (!g1.trim() ? match : `<a href="mailto:${g2}">${g1.trim()}</a>`),

Below is the demo video of the solution

Screen.Recording.2023-06-18.at.11.53.49.PM.mov

What alternative solutions did you explore? (Optional)

We can also add a negative lookahead group at the beginning of the regex to skip matching email markdown syntax starts with \[\s*\].

To achieve it, we can change the regex

`\\[([^[\\]]*)]\\(${CONST.REG_EXP.MARKDOWN_EMAIL}\\)`, 'gim'

to

`(?!\\[\\s*\\])\\[([^[\\]]*)]\\(${CONST.REG_EXP.MARKDOWN_EMAIL}\\)`, 'gim'

The negative lookahead group (?!\[\s*\]) will be able to skip matching linkText includes only whitespaces(including linebreaks because the regex has multiple line flag m). See below demo video including more test cases.

Screen.Recording.2023-06-26.at.9.27.25.AM.mov

[melvin-bot]

Triggered auto assignment to @laurenreidexpensify (Bug), see https://stackoverflow.com/c/expensify/questions/14418 for more details.

[melvin-bot]

Bug0 Triage Checklist (Main S/O)

• This "bug" occurs on a supported platform (ensure Platforms in OP are ✅)
• This bug is not a duplicate report (check E/App issues and #expensify-bugs)
  • If it is, comment with a link to the original report, close the issue and add any novel details to the original issue instead
• This bug is reproducible using the reproduction steps in the OP. S/O
  • If the reproduction steps are clear and you're unable to reproduce the bug, check with the reporter and QA first, then close the issue.
  • If the reproduction steps aren't clear and you determine the correct steps, please update the OP.
• This issue is filled out as thoroughly and clearly as possible
  • Pay special attention to the title, results, platforms where the bug occurs, and if the bug happens on staging/production.
• I have reviewed and subscribed to the linked Slack conversation to ensure Slack/Github stay in sync

[laurenreidexpensify]

Checking something internally here https://expensify.slack.com/archives/C01SKUP7QR0/p1687437975259329 about this

[melvin-bot]

Job added to Upwork: https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~012e72288a82e6fae6

[melvin-bot]

Current assignee @laurenreidexpensify is eligible for the External assigner, not assigning anyone new.

[melvin-bot]

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