Search - "is not a valid email address" when starting a DM with phone user via Search

[IuliiaHerets]

If you haven’t already, check out our contributing guidelines for onboarding and email contributors@expensify.com to request to join our Slack channel!

---

Version Number: 9.0.51-1 Reproducible in staging?: Y Reproducible in production?: N Email or phone of affected tester (no customers): applausetester+kh081006@applause.expensifail.com Issue reported by: Applause Internal Team

Action Performed:

1. Go to staging.new.expensify.com
2. Click on the search icon on any report.
3. Enter a valid phone number.
4. Click on the search result to initiate a DM with the phone number.

Expected Result:

No error should show up because user should be able to initiate a DM with phone number user via Search.

Actual Result:

App shows "is not a valid email address" when starting a DM with phone user via Search. Note that user can initiate DM with the same phone number via Start chat in FAB.

Workaround:

Unknown

Platforms:

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

Screenshots/Videos

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/53cfffc4-4025-4d30-9611-aaad59c6c9de

View all open jobs on GitHub

[melvin-bot[bot]]

Triggered auto assignment to @jasperhuangg (DeployBlockerCash), see https://stackoverflowteams.com/c/expensify/questions/9980/ for more details.

[github-actions[bot]]

:wave: Friendly reminder that deploy blockers are time-sensitive ⏱ issues! Check out the open `StagingDeployCash` deploy checklist to see the list of PRs included in this release, then work quickly to do one of the following:

1. Identify the pull request that introduced this issue and revert it.
2. Find someone who can quickly fix the issue.
3. Fix the issue yourself.

[melvin-bot[bot]]

Triggered auto assignment to @lschurr (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.

[melvin-bot[bot]]

💬 A slack conversation has been started in #expensify-open-source

[truph01]

Edited by proposal-police: This proposal was edited at 2024-10-21 06:21:30 UTC.

Proposal

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

App shows "is not a valid email address" when starting a DM with phone user via Search. Note that user can initiate DM with the same phone number via Start chat in FAB.

What is the root cause of that problem?

• When generating the userToInvite data in new chat page:

https://github.com/Expensify/App/blob/893ef36651076952e1d5d71bf34752b5a9bbf644/src/libs/OptionsListUtils.ts#L2534

we already have logic to format the search value string if it is phone number:

https://github.com/Expensify/App/blob/893ef36651076952e1d5d71bf34752b5a9bbf644/src/libs/OptionsListUtils.ts#L2475-L2476

but we don't do it in Search:

https://github.com/Expensify/App/blob/893ef36651076952e1d5d71bf34752b5a9bbf644/src/components/Search/SearchRouter/SearchRouter.tsx#L125-L131

• It leads to, in Search, when starting a DM with phone number, it send the incorrect phone number format to BE, leads to BE throws error.

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

• We should update it to:

+      const parsedPhoneNumber = PhoneNumber.parsePhoneNumber(LoginUtils.appendCountryCode(Str.removeSMSDomain(debouncedInputValue)));
+      const searchValue = parsedPhoneNumber.possible && parsedPhoneNumber.number?.e164 ? parsedPhoneNumber.number.e164 : debouncedInputValue;
        const userToInvite = OptionsListUtils.pickUserToInvite({
            canInviteUser: true,
            recentReports: newOptions.recentReports,
            personalDetails: newOptions.personalDetails,
+          searchValue: searchValue,
            optionsToExclude: [{login: CONST.EMAIL.NOTIFICATIONS}],
        });

What alternative solutions did you explore? (Optional)