Chat Functionality Broken: API Breaking Changes in Chat Members Schema

[may-tas]

Describe the bug

• The chat functionality in the Talawa app is currently broken due to breaking changes introduced in the backend API. The ChatMembersConnectionEdge schema has been modified, causing the mobile app to fail when fetching and processing chat member data.

Root Cause

• PR #3618 in talawa-api introduced breaking changes to the chat members schema:

Previous Schema:

edges: [ChatMembersConnectionEdge]
ChatMembersConnectionEdge {
  cursor: String!
  node: User  # Direct User object
}

New Schema:

edges: [ChatMembersConnectionEdge]
ChatMembersConnectionEdge {
  cursor: String!
  node: ChatMember  # Now returns ChatMember instead of User
}

ChatMember {
  role: ChatMembershipRole  # New field
  user: User                # User nested inside ChatMember
}

ChatMembershipRole {
  administrator
  regular
}

The following queries in chat_queries.dart are affected:

• chatsByUser() - Returns members with incorrect structure
• fetchChatMessagesByChatId() - Cannot properly parse chat members
• fetchChatMembers() - Returns ChatMember objects instead of User objects

Expected behavior
The app should:

• Successfully fetch chats with their members
• Display chat member information correctly
• Handle the new ChatMember structure with roles

Actual behavior

• Chats fail to load or display properly
• Member information is not parsed correctly
• New personal or group chats are now able to be created due to incorrect model parsing.

Additional details

• This is a backend breaking change that requires frontend updates
• The change adds role-based functionality to chat members

Potential internship candidates

Please read this if you are planning to apply for a Palisadoes Foundation internship

• Student Internship Programs #359

[may-tas]

@palisadoes Kindly assign me.

[palisadoes]

Please add tests. We can't have this happening again.

[may-tas]

@palisadoes Yes, I previously added the tests, but they were mocked using Mockito. This means that no actual API calls were made during the tests, which is why they passed. However, the actual API calls now expect different GraphQL fields to be returned.

I will fix the issue now. I just hope that whenever anyone makes changes in the backend, they label it with Breaking Changes so it can be updated in talawa-mobile as well.

[harikrishna-au]

@palisadoes @may-tas Before implementing the mobile fix, should we consider fixing this on the backend instead? The mobile UI, models, and services are built around the direct User structure. A backend fix (flattening ChatMember or adding role to User) would prevent breaking existing clients and reduce the scope of changes significantly. Happy to implement the mobile fix if backend changes aren't feasible.

[palisadoes]

@palisadoes @may-tas Before implementing the mobile fix, should we consider fixing this on the backend instead? The mobile UI, models, and services are built around the direct User structure. A backend fix (flattening ChatMember or adding role to User) would prevent breaking existing clients and reduce the scope of changes significantly. Happy to implement the mobile fix if backend changes aren't feasible.

There was a recent GSoC related change that required this update

[may-tas]

@harikrishna-au
It looks like there might be a little confusion about the backend for the chat feature. We've actually made some improvements that require users to have either regular or administrator roles in a chat. That’s why we added the ChatMember component.

All we need to do now is update the GraphQL queries and service layer files. It’s a pretty quick fix with no major changes to the app, and I’ll be taking care of it as this is a part of my internship project.

Keep solving more issues and contributing.

[github-actions]

This issue did not get any activity in the past 10 days and will be closed in 360 days if no update occurs. Please check if the develop branch has fixed it and report again or close the issue.