Explanation of Change

This PR is the first step towards being able to open chats at the last unread message. We currently have some logic to open a chat at a specific message for comment linking, but this code is heavily coupled with the comment linking code and ReportActionsView. This moves the logic that allows the list to open at a specific index to BaseInvertedFlatList which will make it easy to reuse for opening chat at last unread also.

FlatList has a initialScrollIndex prop, but it doesn't work very well, it also doesn't work at all if the index is too big and is not rendered initially. To avoid this problem we implemented a workaround in the comment linking code. What we do is render the list initially from the initial index we want and progressively add items before it in onStartReached.

This code can actually be completely decoupled from the comment linking logic and just make the initialScrollIndex prop of BaseInvertedFlatList use that same logic. This is what this PR does.

Fixed Issues

$ #35011
PROPOSAL:

Tests

• Verify that no errors appear in the JS console
• Tested comment linking flows described in QA Steps

Offline tests

QA Steps

• Test common comment linking flows (testing steps taken from Client side pagination gap detection #41962). Note that there should be no behaviour changes from main. If you find something that looks like a bug, please make sure it does not happen on main.

Test 1: Basic Navigation

• Create a chat between Account A and Account B.
• Send 200 messages from Account A to Account B.
• Copy the link to the 70th message and send it to Account B (first link).
• Copy the link to the 150th message and send it to Account B (second link).
• From Account A, click on the first link. Verify redirection to the exact message.
• From Account A, click on the second link. Verify redirection to the exact message.
• From Account B, click on the first link. Verify redirection to the exact message.
• From Account B, click on the second link. Verify redirection to the exact message.

Note: Links can be copied to any message and used in any order.

Test 2: Popup Navigation

• Continue using the chat from Test 1.
• From Account A, click on the first link. Verify redirection to the exact message.
• After redirection, a popup should appear at the top of the screen (similar to new message popup).
• Click on this popup.
• Verify navigation to the end of the list (newest messages).

Test 3: Cache and Logout

• Logout from the accounts and clear the cache.
• Log back in.
• From Account A, click on the first link. Verify redirection to the exact message.
• From Account A, click on the second link. Verify redirection to the exact message.
• From Account B, click on the first link. Verify redirection to the exact message.
• From Account B, click on the second link. Verify redirection to the exact message.

Test 4:

• Create a workspace as User A.
• Invite User B.
• Navigate to the created Workspace Chat as User B.
• Observe User B has a whisper message.
• Send a few messagse as User B inside the workspace chat.
• Navigate to Chat as User A.
• Observe User A does not see any whisper messages nor have them in their Onyx data.
• User A should see the previous actions

Notes:
Ensure the chat contains at least 150 messages. Initially, up to 50 messages are rendered. Navigating to the 70th message should allow further navigation up to the 150th message, even with gaps.

• Verify that no errors appear in the JS console

PR Author Checklist

• I linked the correct issue in the ### Fixed Issues section above
• I wrote clear testing steps that cover the changes made in this PR
  • I added steps for local testing in the Tests section
  • I added steps for the expected offline behavior in the Offline steps section
  • I added steps for Staging and/or Production testing in the QA steps section
  • I added steps to cover failure scenarios (i.e. verify an input displays the correct error message if the entered data is not correct)
  • I turned off my network connection and tested it while offline to ensure it matches the expected behavior (i.e. verify the default avatar icon is displayed if app is offline)
  • I tested this PR with a High Traffic account against the staging or production API to ensure there are no regressions (e.g. long loading states that impact usability).
• I included screenshots or videos for tests on all platforms
• I ran the tests on all platforms & verified they passed on:
  • Android: Native
  • Android: mWeb Chrome
  • iOS: Native
  • iOS: mWeb Safari
  • MacOS: Chrome / Safari
  • MacOS: Desktop
• I verified there are no console errors (if there's a console error not related to the PR, report it or open an issue for it to be fixed)
• I followed proper code patterns (see Reviewing the code)
  • I verified that any callback methods that were added or modified are named for what the method does and never what callback they handle (i.e. toggleReport and not onIconClick)
  • I verified that comments were added to code that is not self explanatory
  • I verified that any new or modified comments were clear, correct English, and explained "why" the code was doing something instead of only explaining "what" the code was doing.
  • I verified any copy / text shown in the product is localized by adding it to src/languages/* files and using the translation method
    • If any non-english text was added/modified, I verified the translation was requested/reviewed in #expensify-open-source and it was approved by an internal Expensify engineer. Link to Slack message:
  • I verified all numbers, amounts, dates and phone numbers shown in the product are using the localization methods
  • I verified any copy / text that was added to the app is grammatically correct in English. It adheres to proper capitalization guidelines (note: only the first word of header/labels should be capitalized), and is either coming verbatim from figma or has been approved by marketing (in order to get marketing approval, ask the Bug Zero team member to add the Waiting for copy label to the issue)
  • 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.
  • I verified the JSDocs style guidelines (in STYLE.md) were followed
• If a new code pattern is added I verified it was agreed to be used by multiple Expensify engineers
• I followed the guidelines as stated in the Review Guidelines
• I tested other components that can be impacted by my changes (i.e. if the PR modifies a shared library or component like Avatar, I verified the components using Avatar are working as expected)
• I verified all code is DRY (the PR doesn't include any logic written more than once, with the exception of tests)
• I verified any variables that can be defined as constants (ie. in CONST.js or at the top of the file that uses the constant) are defined as such
• I verified that if a function's arguments changed that all usages have also been updated correctly
• If any new file was added I verified that:
  • The file has a description of what it does and/or why is needed at the top of the file if the code is not self explanatory
• If a new CSS style is added I verified that:
  • A similar style doesn't already exist
  • The style can't be created with an existing StyleUtils function (i.e. StyleUtils.getBackgroundAndBorderStyle(theme.componentBG))
• If the PR modifies code that runs when editing or sending messages, I tested and verified there is no unexpected behavior for all supported markdown - URLs, single line code, code blocks, quotes, headings, bold, strikethrough, and italic.
• If the PR modifies a generic component, I tested and verified that those changes do not break usages of that component in the rest of the App (i.e. if a shared library or component like Avatar is modified, I verified that Avatar is working as expected in all cases)
• If the PR modifies a component related to any of the existing Storybook stories, I tested and verified all stories for that component are still working as expected.
• If the PR modifies a component or page that can be accessed by a direct deeplink, I verified that the code functions as expected when the deeplink is used - from a logged in and logged out account.
• If the PR modifies the UI (e.g. new buttons, new UI components, changing the padding/spacing/sizing, moving components, etc) or modifies the form input styles:
  • I verified that all the inputs inside a form are aligned with each other.
  • I added Design label and/or tagged @Expensify/design so the design team can review the changes.
• If a new page is added, I verified it's using the ScrollView component to make it scrollable when more elements are added to the page.
• If the main branch was merged into this PR after a review, I tested again and verified the outcome was still expected according to the Test steps.

Screenshots/Videos