[Due for payment 2026-08-03] Spends - Sort function on column briefly show an empty report page

@mallenexpensify

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Version Number: 9.4.34-1
Reproducible in staging?: Yes
Reproducible in production?: No
If this was caught during regression testing, add the test name, ID and link from BrowserStack: #95758
Email or phone of affected tester (no customers): N/A
Issue reported by: Applause Internal Team
Bug source: Pull Request QA execution
Device used: Windows 11 / Chrome
App Component: Search

Action Performed:

Preconditions: Fresh login to any account that has many report expenses

Steps:

Navigate to spends tab
Click on Report
Click the title column header to see the sort function

Expected Result:

The sort function works well without empty reports page briefly shown

Actual Result:

An empty reports page briefly shown when user clicking the title to sort it, even after user tried to clear cache and restart in troubleshoot. It also happens on other columns and on the expenses tab

Workaround:

Unknown

Platforms:

Screenshots/Videos

Bug7208125_1784037103262.bandicam_2026-07-14_20-24-10-782.mp4

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Applause Internal Information
Exported by: Svetlana Lazutkina
Bug ID: 7208125

Issue Owner

Current Issue Owner: @mallenexpensify

While Applause doesn't embed attachments for this bug, here are the links for quick view:
https://platform.applause.com/services/links/v1/external/edd3a670bb9430cd311af84fd36fbf8bb24b1537b88dd2e841b9158e8a717cec

You have been assigned to this deploy blocker because you recently merged this PR: #95758

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

👋 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:

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

Issue Analysis

Root Cause: The empty-page flash on sort is a regression from #95023 ("Allow workspace and status filter to be negatable", bernhardoj, merged 2026-07-13) — not from #95758, which Melvin auto-assigned. That PR tightened isSearchDataLoaded to require the loaded snapshot's hash to equal the current query hash. Since sortBy/sortOrder are folded into the query hash, clicking any column header produces a new hash and fires a fresh backend search under a new snapshot_<hash> key. While that snapshot loads, the page keeps showing the previous results as a fallback — but those carry the old hash, so isSearchDataLoaded now returns false, shouldShowEmptyState returns true even though data is present, and EmptySearchView flashes until the new snapshot arrives. This matches the symptom exactly: every sortable column, both Reports and Expenses tabs, staging-only.

Before #95023, that check compared type + status (neither changes on sort), so the old-hash fallback stayed "loaded" and no empty state appeared — which is why it does not reproduce in production.

Recommended Fix: Two options for the assignee to choose from:

Safe (deploy-blocker): revert Allow workspace and status filter to be negatable #95023.
Fix-forward: don't show the empty state while non-empty fallback results are being displayed during a sort/filter transition — e.g. have shouldShowEmptyState not fire when dataLength > 0, or treat the old-hash fallback as loaded while isSorting. This preserves the negatable-filter change while closing the flash.

Investigation details & evidence chain

Verified against App HEAD b2d9dadbf40d85694acdf4932f5f422549d2e5e4.

The regressing diff (from gh pr diff 95023):

 function isSearchDataLoaded(searchResults, queryJSON) {
-    const {status} = queryJSON ?? {};
-    const sortedSearchResultStatus = ...status...
-    const sortedQueryJSONStatus = ...status...
-    const isDataLoaded = (data != null || errors != null) && search?.type === queryJSON?.type && sortedSearchResultStatus === sortedQueryJSONStatus;
+    const isDataLoaded = (data != null || errors != null) && search?.type === queryJSON?.type && searchResults.search.hash === queryJSON?.hash;

End-to-end flow:

Column header click → new sortBy/sortOrder → navigation.setParams({q}) (src/components/Search/index.tsx, onSortPress).
Sort params are part of primaryHash → new hash → new Search.search() → empty new snapshot_<hash>. (SearchQueryUtils.ts:600-607)
SearchPage.tsx feeds lastNonEmptySearchResults (OLD hash) downward so the list still has rows.
isSearchDataLoaded(searchResults, queryJSON) → old hash ≠ new queryJSON.hash → false. (SearchUIUtils.ts:4802-4806)
shouldShowEmptyState(false, dataLength, type) → true despite dataLength > 0 → EmptySearchView flashes. (SearchUIUtils.ts:4798-4800)
New snapshot lands → correct sorted data renders.

Alternative explanations ruled out:

PR Pass unavailableTranslation param - batch 1 #95758 (the auto-assigned PR) only touched the sort comparators getSortedTransactionData/getSortedReportData (passing an unavailableTranslation param to getPolicyName). That path affects the ordering values, not the loading/empty-state gate, and only for the policy-name column — it cannot produce an empty flash across all columns and both tabs. Red herring.
Not a client-side sort perf issue — the sort itself is synchronous; the flash is caused by the fresh-snapshot fetch triggered by the hash change combined with the stricter loaded-check.

Next Steps for Contributor+ team:
To accept: @MelvinBot implement [this](https://github.com/Expensify/App/issues/96074) to create a draft PR (fix-forward option).
To refine: @MelvinBot <your feedback>
To reject: Explain why you are rejecting Melvin's analysis.

The analysis above looks correct, but the root cause looks like an existing one. If we open prod and change the status filter, we can reproduce the same issue.

that check compared type + status (neither changes on sort)

The analysis above said that it doesn't happen before because we compare the type and status, and neither changes on sort. So, I tried changing the status filter and can observe the same issue on prod.

web.mp4

(try Clear cache & restart if you can't repro)

I think the expected result should be showing a skeleton loader.

Demoting since we can reproduce this in prod.

@bernhardoj

@bernhardoj Uh oh! This issue is overdue by 2 days. Don't forget to update your issues!

@mallenexpensify

Triggered auto assignment to @mallenexpensify (Awaiting Payment)

@bernhardoj

Payment Summary

Upwork Job

Reviewer: @bernhardoj owed $250 via NewDot
Reviewer: @aimane-chnaif owed $250 via NewDot

BugZero Checklist (@mallenexpensify)

I have verified the correct assignees and roles are listed above and updated the necessary manual offers
I have verified that there are no duplicate or incorrect contracts on Upwork for this job (https://www.upwork.com/ab/applicants//hired)
I have verified the PR was not reverted
I have applied any discounts due to bugs/regressions introduced by this PR
I have paid out the Upwork contracts or cancelled the ones that are incorrect
I have verified the payment summary above is correct

BugZero Checklist:

[Contributor] The offending PR has been commented on, pointing out the bug it caused and why, so the author and reviewers can learn from the mistake.

Link to comment: Not regression. Pre-existing bug in production
[Contributor] If the regression was CRITICAL (e.g. interrupts a core flow) A discussion in #expensify-open-source has been started about whether any other steps should be taken (e.g. updating the PR review checklist) in order to catch this type of bug sooner.

Link to discussion:
[Contributor] If it was decided to create a regression test for the bug, please propose the regression test steps using the template below to ensure the same bug will not reach production again.
[BugZero Assignee] Create a GH issue for creating/updating the regression test once above steps have been agreed upon.

Link to issue: https://github.com/Expensify/Expensify/issues/668914

Regression Test Proposal

Precondition:

Web only
Prerequisite: have some expenses

Test:

Open Spend
Press any table header to sort
Verify no empty view is shown briefly when sorting

Do we agree 👍 or 👎

Zapier Logs

Run ID: 00040eee-6b91-a6c5-3f08-790c8348d2b4

This ended up not being a regression from #95023. We fixed the root cause existed in production.
Reasoning: #96074 (comment)

@bernhardoj

Payment Summary

Contributor: @bernhardoj due $250 via NewDot
Contributor+: @aimane-chnaif due $250 via NewDot

^ Test case created. Thx

⚠️ Looks like this issue was linked to a Deploy Blocker #96946

@aimane-chnaif please address ALL mentioned of deploy blockers, otherwise I have to go dig around to find out why it shouldn't be taken into consideration which takes time away from paying everyone. Thx

@bernhardoj

Approved: @bernhardoj due $250 via NewDot

@aimane-chnaif

$250 approved for @aimane-chnaif

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[Due for payment 2026-08-03] Spends - Sort function on column briefly show an empty report page #96074

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Issue Analysis

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[Due for payment 2026-08-03] Spends - Sort function on column briefly show an empty report page #96074

Description

Action Performed:

Expected Result:

Actual Result:

Workaround:

Platforms:

Screenshots/Videos

Activity

applause-bot commented on Jul 14, 2026

melvin-bot commented on Jul 14, 2026

melvin-bot commented on Jul 14, 2026

github-actions commented on Jul 14, 2026

MelvinBot commented on Jul 14, 2026

Issue Analysis

bernhardoj commented on Jul 14, 2026

jasperhuangg commented on Jul 14, 2026

35 remaining items

melvin-bot commented on Jul 30, 2026

melvin-bot commented on Aug 2, 2026

melvin-bot commented on Aug 2, 2026

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BugZero Checklist (@mallenexpensify)

aimane-chnaif commented on Aug 3, 2026

BugZero Checklist:

Regression Test Proposal

Precondition:

Test:

aimane-chnaif commented on Aug 3, 2026

mallenexpensify commented on Aug 5, 2026

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flaviadefaria commented on Aug 7, 2026

garrettmknight commented on Sep 14, 2026

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