fix: prevent report field value from referencing itself by NJ-2020 · Pull Request #72375 · Expensify/App

NJ-2020 · 2025-10-11T09:26:41Z

Explanation of Change

Add validation to prevent formulas from referencing themselves

Fixed Issues

$ #70775
PROPOSAL: #70775 (comment)

Tests

Create a workspace if needed
Go to workspace settings, Reports, enable report fields if needed

Initial/Default value

Self Reference

Create new report field named "A"
Attempt to set it's initial value to "{field:A}"
Verify an error is displayed and you can't save that value

Circular Reference

2 circular/references

Create new report field named "A"
Set it's initial value to "{field:B}" (make sure {field:B} or field B is not created yet)
Verify you can save/create the field
Create new report field named "B"
Attempt to set it's initial value to "{field:A}"
Verify an error is displayed and you can't save that value

More than 2 circular/references

Create new report field named "A"
Set it's initial value to "{field:B}" (make sure {field:B} or field B is not created yet)
Verify you can save/create the field
Create new report field named "B"
Set it's initial value to "{field:C}" (make sure {field:C} or field C is not created yet)
Create new report field named "C"
Attempt to set it's initial value to "{field:A}"
Verify an error is displayed and you can't save that value

No references

Create new report field named "A"
Set it's initial value to "{field:B}" (make sure {field:B} is created and the default/initial value is set to empty > "" or no formula circular field)
Verify you can save/create the field

Report field value / report expense

Go to workspace expenses chat
Select/Open any report
Edit the report field value
Type formula value that references itself/circular reference i.e A, A > A, A > B > A
Verify an error is displayed and you can't save that value

Verify that no errors appear in the JS console

Offline tests

Same as Tests

QA Steps

Same as Tests

Verify that no errors appear in the JS console

PR Author Checklist

Screenshots/Videos

Android: Native

Screen.Recording.2025-10-16.at.10.online-video-cutter.com.mp4

Android: mWeb Chrome

Screen.Recording.2025-10-16.at.09.49.55.mp4

iOS: Native

Screen.Recording.2025-10-16.at.10.44.52.mp4

iOS: mWeb Safari

Screen.Recording.2025-10-16.at.10.49.38.mp4

MacOS: Chrome / Safari

Screen.Recording.2025-10-16.at.09.25.18.mp4

MacOS: Desktop

Screen.Recording.2025-10-16.at.09.18.15.mp4

codecov · 2025-10-11T09:41:27Z

Codecov Report

❌ Patch coverage is 74.28571% with 9 lines in your changes missing coverage. Please review.

Files with missing lines	Patch %	Lines
src/libs/Formula.ts	89.65%	3 Missing ⚠️
src/pages/EditReportFieldText.tsx	0.00%	3 Missing ⚠️
...workspace/reports/ReportFieldsInitialValuePage.tsx	0.00%	2 Missing ⚠️
...pages/workspace/reports/CreateReportFieldsPage.tsx	0.00%	1 Missing ⚠️

Files with missing lines	Coverage Δ
src/pages/EditReportFieldPage.tsx	`0.00% <ø> (ø)`
...pages/workspace/reports/CreateReportFieldsPage.tsx	`0.00% <0.00%> (ø)`
...workspace/reports/ReportFieldsInitialValuePage.tsx	`0.00% <0.00%> (ø)`
src/libs/Formula.ts	`83.62% <89.65%> (+0.55%)`	⬆️
src/pages/EditReportFieldText.tsx	`0.00% <0.00%> (ø)`

... and 5 files with indirect coverage changes

🚀 New features to boost your workflow:

❄️ Test Analytics: Detect flaky tests, report on failures, and find test suite problems.
📦 JS Bundle Analysis: Save yourself from yourself by tracking and limiting bundle sizes in JS merges.

NJ-2020 · 2025-10-11T09:53:00Z

I'll add unit test soon

melvin-bot · 2025-10-16T04:17:07Z

@dubielzyk-expensify @DylanDylann One of you needs to copy/paste the Reviewer Checklist from here into a new comment on this PR and complete it. If you have the K2 extension, you can simply click: [this button]

dubielzyk-expensify · 2025-10-20T00:17:49Z

Videos are looking good to me 👍

neil-marcellini · 2025-10-27T13:52:52Z

I have bumped in Slack for a C+ review

abzokhattab · 2025-10-27T15:35:19Z

Reviewing ...

abzokhattab · 2025-10-27T16:22:16Z

@NJ-2020 I get this error in the second test. Do you also have it?

Screen.Recording.2025-10-27.at.17.18.51.mov

Error: undefined was not found in the en locale

The above error occurred in the <WorkspaceReportFieldsPage> component.

Can you please merge from main? and see if you still have the issue?

…cing

NJ-2020 · 2025-11-02T03:01:53Z

@DylanDylann Done, I've addressed all the comments ✅

DylanDylann · 2025-11-04T12:05:52Z

+    // If fieldList has only 1 item, it means only the default (undeletable) field exists, so fall back to a simple check (direct self-reference only)
+    if (isEmptyObject(fieldList) || Object.keys(fieldList ?? {}).length === 1) {
+        return formulaValues.some((formula) => {
+            const fieldPath = parsePart(formula).fieldPath;
+            return fieldPath.includes(fieldName);
+        });
+    }


This if block is causing the issue below. I’m wondering if it’s actually necessary — should we consider removing it?

Screen.Recording.2025-11-04.at.19.04.21.mov

cc @NJ-2020

Okay, removed the check condition ✅

Thank you

DylanDylann · 2025-11-04T12:13:47Z

Reviewer Checklist

I have verified the author checklist is complete (all boxes are checked off).
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- Android: mWeb Chrome
- iOS: HybridApp
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- I verified proper file naming conventions were followed for any new files or renamed files. All non-platform specific files are named after what they export and are not named "index.js". All platform-specific files are named for the platform the code supports as outlined in the README.
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If any new file was added I verified that:
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Screenshots/Videos

Android: HybridApp

Screen.Recording.2025-11-04.at.19.34.12.mov

Android: mWeb Chrome

Screen.Recording.2025-11-04.at.19.20.17.mov

iOS: HybridApp

iOS: mWeb Safari

Screen.Recording.2025-11-04.at.19.21.42.mov

MacOS: Chrome / Safari

Screen.Recording.2025-11-04.at.19.15.07.mov

MacOS: Desktop

Screen.Recording.2025-11-04.at.19.24.03.mov

DylanDylann · 2025-11-04T12:17:42Z

@neil-marcellini I noticed a delay issue — we need to reload the page for the report fields that use formulas to display updated values

Screen.Recording.2025-11-04.at.19.15.07.mov

…cing

joekaufmanexpensify

Good from a product perspective

neil-marcellini

Looks great, thank you. There are a few things I would like to see changed, but they don't need to block this at the moment. Please fix them before we merge, or create a follow up PR for those items.

neil-marcellini · 2025-11-05T22:56:14Z

+ * Check if the report field formula value is containing circular references, e.g example:  A -> A,  A->B->A,  A->B->C->A, etc
+ */
+function hasCircularReferences(fieldValue: string, fieldName: string, fieldList?: FieldList): boolean {
+    const formulaValues = extract(fieldValue);


NAB: I would prefer to call these formulaParts because that's what we call them in the backend. Also, the value of a formula reportField is it's computed value, not it's default value / the definition of the formula, so that adds to the confusion with this variable name.

I see we parse them into parts later, so maybe we call them something like formulaPartDefinitions instead?

neil-marcellini · 2025-11-05T22:57:30Z

+        return false;
+    }
+
+    const visitedLists = new Set<string>();


NAB: Can we please call this visitedFields instead?

neil-marcellini · 2025-11-05T23:13:19Z

+            if (referencedField?.defaultValue) {
+                // Recursively check the referenced field
+                if (hasCircularReferencesRecursive(referencedField.defaultValue, referencedFieldName)) {
+                    visitedLists.delete(currentFieldName);


I think we should remove this code as Dylan mentioned. It's unnecessary and therefore a little confusing.

neil-marcellini · 2025-11-05T23:28:48Z

+            expect(hasCircularReferences('{field:test-o}', 'test-example', fieldList)).toBe(false);
+        });
+
+        test('should return false when no references', () => {


What do you mean "no references"? I think you mean "no circular references".

neil-marcellini · 2025-11-05T23:47:54Z

I noticed the Reassure performance test timed out and had this message.

jest-haste-map: duplicate manual mock found: index
  The following files share their name; please delete one of them:
    * <rootDir>/src/hooks/useResponsiveLayout/__mocks__/index.ts
    * <rootDir>/src/libs/actions/OnyxUpdateManager/utils/__mocks__/index.ts

neil-marcellini · 2025-11-05T23:54:48Z

Related thread

melvin-bot · 2025-11-06T23:37:48Z

@neil-marcellini looks like this was merged without a test passing. Please add a note explaining why this was done and remove the Emergency label if this is not an emergency.

OSBotify · 2025-11-06T23:52:30Z

✋ This PR was not deployed to staging yet because QA is ongoing. It will be automatically deployed to staging after the next production release.

OSBotify · 2025-11-07T23:46:14Z

🚀 Deployed to staging by https://github.com/neil-marcellini in version: 9.2.47-0 🚀

platform	result
🖥 desktop 🖥	success ✅
🕸 web 🕸	success ✅
🤖 android 🤖	success ✅
🍎 iOS 🍎	success ✅

OSBotify · 2025-11-10T12:00:48Z

🚀 Deployed to production by https://github.com/cristipaval in version: 9.2.47-1 🚀

platform	result
🖥 desktop 🖥	success ✅
🕸 web 🕸	success ✅
🤖 android 🤖	success ✅
🍎 iOS 🍎	success ✅

neil-marcellini · 2025-11-10T15:11:20Z

It looked to me like all the tests were passing when I merged it, so not sure what happened there. The tests are passing on more recent PRs so it's all good.

NJ-2020 added 2 commits October 11, 2025 15:56

fix: prevent report field value from referencing itself

b98bef6

fix edit report field

e48d3c7

melvin-bot Bot assigned NJ-2020 Oct 11, 2025

NJ-2020 mentioned this pull request Oct 11, 2025

[Due for payment 2025-11-26] [Due for payment 2025-11-17] [CRN-QA] report field initial value set to formula referencing itself #70775

Closed

fix: eslint checks

3c801ca

fix typecheck

fc85204

NJ-2020 and others added 6 commits October 15, 2025 14:38

Merge branch 'Expensify:main' into fix/70775-circular-referencing

91104cc

fix/update circular reference check validation

e547506

revert unnecessary changes & fix eslint error

7efc692

Merge branch 'Expensify:main' into fix/70775-circular-referencing

2a19811

fix: add unit test & eslint warning

eebe262

fix: cspell

9b62fef

NJ-2020 marked this pull request as ready for review October 16, 2025 04:17

NJ-2020 requested a review from a team as a code owner October 16, 2025 04:17

melvin-bot Bot requested review from DylanDylann and dubielzyk-expensify and removed request for a team October 16, 2025 04:17

Merge branch 'Expensify:main' into fix/70775-circular-referencing

1a5b7db

neil-marcellini requested review from abzokhattab and removed request for DylanDylann October 27, 2025 14:04

neil-marcellini requested review from DylanDylann and removed request for abzokhattab October 27, 2025 22:02

Merge remote-tracking branch 'origin' into fix/70775-circular-referen…

e747e5b

…cing

Merge branch 'Expensify:main' into fix/70775-circular-referencing

9da5b68

neil-marcellini requested a review from DylanDylann November 3, 2025 19:53

DylanDylann reviewed Nov 4, 2025

View reviewed changes

Merge remote-tracking branch 'origin' into fix/70775-circular-referen…

2d25233

…cing

NJ-2020 requested a review from a team as a code owner November 5, 2025 02:57

melvin-bot Bot requested review from joekaufmanexpensify and removed request for a team November 5, 2025 02:57

fix typecheck

0bc26c5

DylanDylann approved these changes Nov 5, 2025

View reviewed changes

melvin-bot Bot requested a review from neil-marcellini November 5, 2025 09:33

joekaufmanexpensify approved these changes Nov 5, 2025

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neil-marcellini approved these changes Nov 5, 2025

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Merge main to fix unrelated stuck test

8592280

neil-marcellini merged commit 5732981 into Expensify:main Nov 6, 2025
37 of 48 checks passed

melvin-bot Bot added the Emergency label Nov 6, 2025

OSBotify mentioned this pull request Nov 7, 2025

Deploy Checklist: New Expensify 2025-11-07 #74626

Closed

48 tasks

jponikarchuk mentioned this pull request Nov 10, 2025

[Due for payment 2026-01-05] [$250] Reports - Only one field shown when adding “A” and “a” report fields #74673

Closed

8 tasks

mitarachim mentioned this pull request Nov 10, 2025

[$250] Report-Creating a text report field with name < > creates duplicate fields #74675

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8 tasks

neil-marcellini removed the Emergency label Nov 10, 2025

NJ-2020 mentioned this pull request Nov 11, 2025

[No QA]: fix variable names, test name & improvement #74776

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