[HOLD for payment 2024-01-04] [$500] Android - Chat - Message gets displayed from right to left

[lanitochka17]

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Version Number: 1.3.93-0
**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
Expensify/Expensify Issue URL:
Issue reported by: Applause - Internal Team
Slack conversation:

Issue found when executing PR #30521

Action Performed:

1. Launch App
2. Open any chat and paste an RTL text in the compose box, for example " مثال "
3. Continue typing some content

Expected Result:

Verify that the content gets displayed from left to right

Actual Result:

The content gets displayed from right to left

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

Android: Native

Bug6256757_1698673344303.30521_Android.mp4

Android: mWeb Chrome

iOS: Native

iOS: mWeb Safari

MacOS: Chrome / Safari

MacOS: Desktop

View all open jobs on GitHub

Upwork Automation - Do Not Edit

• Upwork Job URL: https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~01278feafdf81fcb73
• Upwork Job ID: 1718998877593833472
• Last Price Increase: 2023-11-20
• Automatic offers:
• samilabud | Contributor | 27900958

Issue Owner

Current Issue Owner: @johncschuster

[melvin-bot]

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

[melvin-bot]

Job added to Upwork: https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~01278feafdf81fcb73

[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

[melvin-bot]

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

[situchan]

cc: @HardikChoudhary24

[HardikChoudhary24]

For android it will be working like that it is mentioned in comment. Also this can be seen for other apps like linkedin where the web version is having the desired result and their android app is not showing it in LTR format

[allroundexperts]

Hm... @HardikChoudhary24 I see your comment, but I think this is still a bug. I guess we can keep this open and see if we can get a concrete fix in place?

[HardikChoudhary24]

Sure @allroundexperts but this is something that is not supported in android as per my knowledge. This can be seen in other apps like LinkedIn, discord, and Puma. These are the ones that I have tested and found that they are displaying it in the desired format on web but not on native android.

[samilabud]

Proposal

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

Chat - Message gets displayed from right to left

What is the root cause of that problem?

The root cause is that Android only converts RTL text to LTR text using Unicode controls and by default, when you start writing in a language that is written in RTL mode it converts the input text to RTL.

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

The best solution is to add \u2066 unicode character before starting to write, I suggest verifying (when the user is using Android) if the input value is empty and doing the next in the ComposerWithSuggestions component:

https://github.com/Expensify/App/blob/5d45f0f6c86e97d4ae58ac167b6c162a610b817c/src/pages/home/report/ReportActionCompose/ComposerWithSuggestions.js.

useEffect(() => {
        if (value === '') {
            setValue(convertToLTR(value));
        }
    }, [value]);

The convertToLTR function adds the unicode character needed for this to work in Android.

• For Android: https://github.com/Expensify/App/blob/5d45f0f6c86e97d4ae58ac167b6c162a610b817c/src/libs/convertToLTR/index.android.ts
• For anything else:_ https://github.com/Expensify/App/blob/1dd55f164afdd774b36031d472b5c5916b5a4ef0/src/libs/convertToLTR/index.ts

This way the input in Android never changes to direction = RTL, please see the result:

Android.chat.messgage.gets.displayed.from.right.to.left.done.mov

[samilabud]

Proposal

Updated

[johncschuster]

@allroundexperts can you take a look at the updated proposal above when you get a moment?

[melvin-bot]

@johncschuster, @allroundexperts Whoops! This issue is 2 days overdue. Let's get this updated quick!

[melvin-bot]

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

[allroundexperts]

@samilabud's proposal seems to work well.

@HardikChoudhary24 did you explore this solution before? If so, do you know if it has some shortcomings? cc @situchan as well since you seem to have been involved in that conversation.

[fabOnReact]

Proposal

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

The text is displayed right to left.

What is the root cause of that problem?

The ReactRoot view default textDirection is firstStrong (screenshot1, screenshot2)

https://developer.android.com/reference/android/view/View.html#attr_android:textDirection

firstStrong
Default for the root view. The first strong directional character determines the paragraph direction. 
If there is no strong directional character, the paragraph direction is the view\u2019s resolved layout direction.

• The text مثالa displays as left-to-right
• The text aمثال displays as right-to-left

Testing textDirection: firstStrong and textDirection: ltr on Android

https://developer.android.com/reference/android/view/View.html#attr_android:textDirection

https://github.com/fabriziobertoglio1987/text-input-cursor-flickering-android/blob/31db5796c6abbd17ffaa87de1663c38604d1da33/app/src/main/java/com/example/javaexample/CustomEditText.java#L29-L43

TextDirection firstStrong	TextDirection ltr

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

Expose textDirection style prop in the React Native API to allow changing the Views (View, TextInput, Text) textDirection.

1. Add a JavaScript textDirection style prop to the React Native API:

<View style={{textDirection: "ltr"}}>
   <TextInput style={{textDirection: "inherit"}}>The TextInput inherits the style from the parent</TextInput>
   <TextInput style={{textDirection: "firstStrong"}}>The TextInput content aligns based on the first character content</TextInput>
</View>

2. Set the textDirection of the Android View using setTextDirection (android code snippet).

[melvin-bot]

@johncschuster, @allroundexperts Whoops! This issue is 2 days overdue. Let's get this updated quick!

[johncschuster]

Payment Summary:

@samilabud - $500 - paid via Upwork (Contributor)
@allroundexperts - $500 - requires payment through NewDot Manual Requests

[situchan]

Original PR was reverted due to regression and 2nd PR is still in review

[melvin-bot]

@tgolen, @samilabud, @johncschuster, @allroundexperts Uh oh! This issue is overdue by 2 days. Don't forget to update your issues!

[johncschuster]

Sorry I missed that, @situchan. Thanks for raising the PR under review!

[johncschuster]

PR to fix the regression is still under review

[tgolen]

Regression fix PR is still under review.

[johncschuster]

^Same

[johncschuster]

Same

[tgolen]

I bumped the PR to see what's going on with this one. The PR hasn't been updated in a month.

[johncschuster]

Thanks for doing that, @tgolen! It hadn't occurred to me to bump the PR. I'll do that myself going forward.

[tgolen]

Sounds good! Yep, commenting on the PRs as the BZ person to try and figure out what's going on is always fair game. Hopefully, we will get a response. Next step if we don't is to ping them on Slack or NewDot and try to get a response directly.

[allroundexperts]

@tgolen This was being discussed internally here. I think we need to think of a new solution or just do nothing here.

[tgolen]

@allroundexperts thanks for the reminder about that thread. I think it's probably best to close this for now until we decide we want to have full support for RTL languages. There would be a whole host of things we would need to consider such as:

• Message alignment
• UI alignment
• Window positioning (like modals)

I will go ahead and close this for now.