Typing commands in android chat apps does keep the command around after it was replaced

Bug Reports
#1

REPRODUCIBILITY: 100%
OS VERSION: 4.4.0.72, 4.5.0.16
HARDWARE: 10 II
UI LANGUAGE: GER
REGRESSION: ?

DESCRIPTION:

If someone comes up with a better title, please change.

I encountered this in chatapps like threema or element (matrix) if you type something that is replaced, e.g. an emoji in matrix by typing :duck and then select the emoji, the :duck text disappears. But after you type the next letter it is inserted again.

I assume this is a SFOS related problem.

PRECONDITIONS:

Have element (android) or threema installed, be setup for chat.

STEPS TO REPRODUCE:

  1. Open a chat in threema or element.
  2. Depending on the app you are using:
    a. Threema: do a mention by typing @username
    b. Element: create an emoji by typing :duck
  3. select some entry from the list that popped up
  4. see the result (a mention or an emoji
  5. start to type something else

EXPECTED RESULT:

it is only showing the mention or emoji and the text you typed afterwards

ACTUAL RESULT:

it also shows what you typed after the : or @

MODIFICATIONS:

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

This was produced by typing :duck selecting the duck emoji and then typing a space

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1 Like
Community meeting on IRC 2nd February 2023
#2

I can reproduce it on Signal on my X10 II.

1 Like
#3

The same has been happening in Teams, when you type someone’s username. Definitely not a new bug, has been happening for probably 3 years, since I started using Teams on SFOS phone.
Might have been a regression from Android compatibility 4-5 to 8, could have been there from the beginning

2 Likes
#4

Even i was annoyed by this for a loong time. Interesting that noone reported it earlier… Probably everyone thought that it is already reported :wink:

3 Likes
#5

Yes, it does.
And it is not at all limited to Android chat apps, if have seen in in Android text editors, when typing in text fields of web-pages in Firefox etc. It is reported and discussed a few times (= in a few threads) at TJC, but I cannot remember any sailor ever replying or acknowledging this issue. Still, Jolla has addressed this issue multiple times (silently, as so often, observable by changes in details of this behaviour) and reduced its severity / impact much; at times it was literally impossible to type a few words in most Android apps, if you ever needed to use <Backspace> (i.e., correct something you typed).

Observations

My preliminary, abstract assessment is, that it always (i.e., all these years > 7) takes a new word (i.e., introduced / prefixed by a space character), then a delete operation (regardless, if by oneself hitting <Backspace> multiple times, or automatised, see example in OP above: the string :duck is deleted and an emoji inserted), followed by typing <any key>: Then the deleted string is inserted again.

It appears that Jolla has employed workarounds, which let this happen less often, but never found the root cause of this issue.

Mind that there are different kinds of text fields, I only remember this happening in free text fields. OTOH, I have never tried to reproduce this systematically outside of free text fields, e.g., in a password entry field etc.

P.S.: @thigg, you might adapt the title of this thread to the fact that this is about text strings (“commands” is a bit misleading, even for your emoji example) and potentially affects all Android apps. Plus that this is related to Alien Dalvik (“Android app support by Jolla” is its new marketing name; I never heard a Waydroid user complaining about this issue).

2 Likes
#6

Thanks for the report @thigg. I’ve logged this internally and tagged it as “tracked”.

1 Like
#7

There is also some strange behaviour when editting a text in the fennec android app, (for example om this forum) but also in other android apps. If move the cursor back to another point and start typing again, it jumps back at the previous point. As a workaround I have to swipe the keyboard down and select a point in the text everytime I want to correct some mistakes. Sometimes it works correctly, but most of the times it jumps back.