[$250] Expense - System message changes from "changed the attendees to.." to "set the attendees to.."

[jponikarchuk]

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Version Number: 9.2.61-1
Reproducible in staging?: Yes
Reproducible in production?: Yes
If this was caught during regression testing, add the test name, ID and link from BrowserStack: #74699
Email or phone of affected tester (no customers): sdonsjdoijiodjsdo@gmail.com
Issue reported by: Applause Internal Team
Device used: Mac 15.5 / Chrome
App Component: Money Requests

Action Performed:

Precondition:

• Attendee tracking is enabled in workspace settings > Rules.
• Account has working self DM.

1. Go to staging.new.expensify.com
2. Go to self DM.
3. Click + > Create expense > Manual.
4. Enter amount > Next,
5. On confirm page, click Attendee.
6. Add another attendee and save it.
7. Click Create expense.
8. Open the expense thread.
9. Click Attendee field.
10. Add another attendee and save it.

Expected Result:

System message should be "changed the attendees to y (previously x)".

Actual Result:

System message changes from "changed the attendees to y (previously x)" to "set the attendees to y".

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

1.mp4

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• Upwork Job URL: https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~021993737150249442538
• Upwork Job ID: 1993737150249442538
• Last Price Increase: 2025-12-03

Issue Owner

Current Issue Owner: @lorretheboy

[melvin-bot]

Triggered auto assignment to @CortneyOfstad (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.

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[lorretheboy]

🚨 Edited by proposal-police: This proposal was edited at 2025-12-03 15:47:17 UTC.

Proposal

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

System message changes from "changed the attendees to y (previously x)" to "set the attendees to y".

What is the root cause of that problem?

We put wrong attendee order here --> Wrong message

App/src/libs/ModifiedExpenseMessage.ts

Lines 387 to 391 in 6abc35a

	if (hasModifiedAttendees) {
	const [oldAttendees, attendees] = getFormattedAttendees(reportActionOriginalMessage.newAttendees, reportActionOriginalMessage.oldAttendees);
	// eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/no-deprecated
	buildMessageFragmentForValue(oldAttendees, attendees, translateLocal('iou.attendees'), false, setFragments, removalFragments, changeFragments);
	}

App/src/libs/ModifiedExpenseMessage.ts

Lines 608 to 612 in 6abc35a

	if (hasModifiedAttendees) {
	const [oldAttendees, attendees] = getFormattedAttendees(reportActionOriginalMessage.newAttendees, reportActionOriginalMessage.oldAttendees);
	// eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/no-deprecated
	buildMessageFragmentForValue(oldAttendees, attendees, translateLocal('iou.attendees'), false, setFragments, removalFragments, changeFragments);
	}

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

We should swap order to

    if (hasModifiedAttendees) {
        const [oldAttendees, newAttendees] = getFormattedAttendees(reportActionOriginalMessage.oldAttendees, reportActionOriginalMessage.newAttendees);
        // eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/no-deprecated
        buildMessageFragmentForValue(newAttendees, oldAttendees, translateLocal('iou.attendees'), false, setFragments, removalFragments, changeFragments);
    }

App/src/libs/ModifiedExpenseMessage.ts

Lines 387 to 391 in 6abc35a

	if (hasModifiedAttendees) {
	const [oldAttendees, attendees] = getFormattedAttendees(reportActionOriginalMessage.newAttendees, reportActionOriginalMessage.oldAttendees);
	// eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/no-deprecated
	buildMessageFragmentForValue(oldAttendees, attendees, translateLocal('iou.attendees'), false, setFragments, removalFragments, changeFragments);
	}

    if (hasModifiedAttendees) {
        const [oldAttendees, newAttendees] = getFormattedAttendees(reportActionOriginalMessage.oldAttendees, reportActionOriginalMessage.newAttendees);
        // eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/no-deprecated
        buildMessageFragmentForValue(newAttendees, oldAttendees, translateLocal('iou.attendees'), false, setFragments, removalFragments, changeFragments);
    }

App/src/libs/ModifiedExpenseMessage.ts

Lines 608 to 612 in 6abc35a

	if (hasModifiedAttendees) {
	const [oldAttendees, attendees] = getFormattedAttendees(reportActionOriginalMessage.newAttendees, reportActionOriginalMessage.oldAttendees);
	// eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/no-deprecated
	buildMessageFragmentForValue(oldAttendees, attendees, translateLocal('iou.attendees'), false, setFragments, removalFragments, changeFragments);
	}

We need to update BE as well as currently BE API UpdateMoneyRequestAttendees returns incorrect data for report actions. It missed oldAttendees value. (The same situation happens on OpenReport API)

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.

[abbasifaizan70]

Proposal

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

When attendees are modified on an expense, the system message incorrectly shows "set the attendees to y" instead of "changed the attendees to y (previously x)" when there were previous attendees.

What is the root cause of that problem?

The root cause is in the getForReportAction and getForReportActionTemp functions in src/libs/ModifiedExpenseMessage.ts.

The issue occurs because:

1. Incorrect parameter order: At line 388 and line 609, the getFormattedAttendees function is called with parameters in the wrong order: getFormattedAttendees(reportActionOriginalMessage.newAttendees, reportActionOriginalMessage.oldAttendees).

2. Function return order: The getFormattedAttendees function in src/libs/TransactionUtils/index.ts at line 959 returns [formattedFirstParam, formattedSecondParam], meaning it returns [formattedOldAttendees, formattedNewAttendees] when called with (oldAttendees, newAttendees).

3. Incorrect destructuring: The result is destructured as [oldAttendees, attendees], but since the parameters were passed in the wrong order, oldAttendees actually contains the formatted new attendees and attendees contains the formatted old attendees.

4. Wrong values passed to buildMessageFragmentForValue: The buildMessageFragmentForValue function at line 37 expects (newValue, oldValue, ...), but it's being called with (oldAttendees, attendees) where oldAttendees is actually the new value and attendees is the old value. This causes the function to see the new attendees as the old value and vice versa.

5. Incorrect message type: When buildMessageFragmentForValue receives an empty or falsy oldValue (which is actually the new attendees in this case), it treats it as a "set" operation at line 54 instead of a "change" operation, resulting in the "set the attendees to y" message instead of "changed the attendees to y (previously x)".

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

File: src/libs/ModifiedExpenseMessage.ts

1. Fix parameter order in getForReportAction function (at line 388):

   • Change getFormattedAttendees(reportActionOriginalMessage.newAttendees, reportActionOriginalMessage.oldAttendees) to getFormattedAttendees(reportActionOriginalMessage.oldAttendees, reportActionOriginalMessage.newAttendees)
   • Update the destructuring to use clearer variable names: const [formattedOldAttendees, formattedNewAttendees] = getFormattedAttendees(...)
   • Update the call to buildMessageFragmentForValue to pass the values in the correct order: buildMessageFragmentForValue(formattedNewAttendees, formattedOldAttendees, ...)

2. Fix parameter order in getForReportActionTemp function (at line 609):

   • Apply the same changes as above to maintain consistency between both functions

What alternative solutions did you explore? (Optional)

N/A

[melvin-bot]

Job added to Upwork: https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~021993737150249442538

[melvin-bot]

Triggered auto assignment to Contributor-plus team member for initial proposal review - @Krishna2323 (External)