[Due for payment 2025-09-04] Multi-tags: Dependent Tag CSV with Colons In First Level Causes No Tags to Show Up For Second Level

[yuwenmemon]

Background

We implemented Dependent Tag Selection Logic in the expense creation flow with: #61815

Problem

When we import a dependent tag list with colons in the first level of tags, see the sample CSV here:

sampleCSV.csv

Then, if we try to select the second level of tags in the expense creation flow, nothing shows up:

Kapture.2025-08-19.at.11.00.34.mp4

Solution

Figure out why the colons in the first level are causing filtering logic to break for second-level dependent tags, and fix it.

cc @davidcardoza

Issue Owner

Current Issue Owner: @

Issue Owner

Current Issue Owner: @daledah

[melvin-bot]

Triggered auto assignment to Contributor-plus team member for initial proposal review - @Pujan92 (External)

[melvin-bot]

Triggered auto assignment to @sakluger (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.

[lorretheboy]

Proposal

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

Multi-tags: Dependent Tag CSV with Colons In First Level Causes No Tags to Show Up For Second Level

What is the root cause of that problem?

When tags with colons are imported (like "California: West"), they should be escaped as "California\: West" in the backend

The getTagArrayFromName function properly handles escaped colons by temporarily replacing : with a placeholder before splitting

However, in the TagPicker component, the code is using the basic split(':') method instead of getTagArrayFromName()

App/src/components/TagPicker/index.tsx

Line 92 in 18c4896

const parentTag = transactionTag?.split(':').slice(0, tagListIndex).join(':');

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

Should update to

            const parentTag = getTagArrayFromName(transactionTag ?? '').slice(0, tagListIndex).join(':');

Can check and update other places if needed

What specific scenarios should we cover in automated tests to prevent reintroducing this issue in the future?

NA

What alternative solutions did you explore? (Optional)

NA

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.

[daledah]

Note

This is not a dupe, as the other proposal's solution only fix part of the issue.

Proposal

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

Multi-tags: Dependent Tag CSV with Colons In First Level Causes No Tags to Show Up For Second Level

What is the root cause of that problem?

Tag data from backend uses escaping for tag names:

While in TagPicker, we only do basic split:

App/src/components/TagPicker/index.tsx

Line 92 in 4d7d44a

const parentTag = transactionTag?.split(':').slice(0, tagListIndex).join(':');

Leads to dependent tags can't find corresponding tag values to display.

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

We should use getTagArrayFromName here to properly update :

App/src/components/TagPicker/index.tsx

Line 92 in 4d7d44a

const parentTag = transactionTag?.split(':').slice(0, tagListIndex).join(':');

const parentTag = getTagArrayFromName(transactionTag ?? '').slice(0, tagListIndex).join(':');

Also here:

App/src/pages/iou/request/step/IOURequestStepTag.tsx

Line 79 in 4d7d44a

const tagParts = transactionTag ? transactionTag.split(':') : [];

Which is to prevent setting invalid tag value to transaction draft.

What specific scenarios should we cover in automated tests to prevent reintroducing this issue in the future?

None

What alternative solutions did you explore? (Optional)

NA

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.

[github-actions]

⚠️ @daledah Your proposal is a duplicate of an already existing proposal and has been automatically withdrawn to prevent spam. Please review the existing proposals before submitting a new one.

[Pujan92]

I am good to go with @daledah's proposal over @lorretheboy's proposal as it solved issue fully. Selecting the tag and making that flow work is connected and should be solved here which is correctly proposed by @daledah.

🎀👀🎀 C+ reviewed

[melvin-bot]

Current assignee @yuwenmemon is eligible for the choreEngineerContributorManagement assigner, not assigning anyone new.

[lorretheboy]

Thanks for your review @Pujan92. However, I'm curious on how we decide to go with the proposal. I see many cases that if the first proposal has correct RCA and high level design solution (of course it should be able to resolve the issue) while other solutions follow the same approach and RCA however with minor update or adding fix for similar places. Then we should still give priority for first one since the we can find and fix similar places if have any during PR phase.

Here is one of the existing case that we follow the rule (we still have many similar cases out there)

#68078 (comment)

That's why I think my proposal can be considered to select over the second proposal since the second proposal is not having big difference with mine while my solution can resolve well the issue

One note: as you can see, the bot even marks the second solution as duplicated