[Hold for payment 2023-03-17] [$2000] [Feature] We should be able to cycle between opened media in a chat - reported by @sig5

[mvtglobally]

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Problem:

It will be a nice UX touch for the user, adding convenience while finding an old media file.

Solution:

Add an option to cycle between media when opened via swipe/arrow keys/buttons.

Action Performed:

1. Navigate to any chat
2. Send multiple attachment
3. Try to navigate through older attachments/media

Expected Result:

1. When the member is viewing the most recent attachment in the chat, there's only a left arrow icon on the attachment preview screen to navigate further back. Similarly, when the member is viewing the oldest attachment in the chat, there's only a right arrow to navigate forward.
2. If the member is previewing an attachment that isn't the oldest or latest in the chat history, there will be both left/right arrow icon to navigate "forward" or "back" to the next attachment preview.
3. On desktop/Web: The arrow can be clicked to navigate to the next attachment preview, or the left/right arrow keys on the keyboard can be used
4. On mobile/mWeb: The arrow can be tapped or the member can swipe left/right on the preview to navigate to the next attachment preview depending on the direction
5. On desktop/Web, the arrows are visible on hover. On mobile/mWeb, a single tap on the image hides/shows the arrows.

Actual Result:

We don't support cycling through attachments in a chat currently.

Workaround:

Close the attachment modal, then scroll to the next attachment and open it.

Platform:

Where is this issue occurring?

• Web
• iOS
• Android
• Desktop App
• Mobile Web

Version Number: 1.1.39-1
Reproducible in staging?: Y
Reproducible in production?: Y
Logs: https://stackoverflow.com/c/expensify/questions/4856
Notes/Photos/Videos:

Upwork URL: https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~011ca7e66b62951030
Issue reported by: @sig5
Slack conversation: https://expensify.slack.com/archives/C01GTK53T8Q/p1644597095180509

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[MelvinBot]

Triggered auto assignment to @trjExpensify (AutoAssignerTriage), see https://stackoverflow.com/c/expensify/questions/4749 for more details.

[MelvinBot]

Triggered auto assignment to @megankelso (Design), see these Stack Overflow questions for more details.

[trjExpensify]

Oh, this is cool! What are we thinking in terms of the UI for the controls for this? We should probably loop in design before moving this on to further, so I'm adding the design label for now and dropping the priority to weekly. After which, we can update the OP.

In the meantime, here are some quick thoughts:

• When the member is on the most recent attachment in the chat, there's only a left arrow icon (centered and left-aligned?) in the preview screen.

• If the member is previewing an attachment "further back" in the history, there will also be a right arrow icon (centered and right-aligned?) to navigate "forward" to the next attachment preview

• On desktop/Web: The arrow can be clicked to navigate to the next attachment preview, or the left/right arrow keys on the keyboard can be used

• On mobile/mWeb: The arrow can be tapped or the member can swipe left/right on the preview to navigate to the next attachment preview depending on the direction

• Should we give members the ability to dismiss/hide the navigation arrows in some capacity? On web/desktop I can see maybe only revealing the arrow(s) on hover? On smaller screens like mobile/mWeb they might get in the way, if we don't offer the ability to tap to dismiss/hide them in some capacity?

CC: @shawnborton

[shawnborton]

Yeah I'm mostly curious what we consider to be the total batch of attachments that you would cycle between. Is it only the attachments on a given message/thread, or could you cycle through all attachments across all messages in a chat?

Taking a look at Slack, it seems like on desktop you can only cycle through the group of attachments found throughout an entire message + subsequent thread messages. On mobile, it seems like you can cycle through everything found in a given chat/room.

@trjExpensify do you prefer one or the other? Maybe we can take this to the room for a quick discussion too.

[trjExpensify]

Yeah, good question. I personally prefer being able to cycle through all attachments across all messages in a chat. The limit on message + threaded messages on Slack desktop is always a bit of a pain, IMO.

A neat thing WhatsApp does if you exit out of the attachment is navigate you back in the chat history to where it was originally posted for the added context in and around when it was sent.

Posted on the original thread here.

[trjExpensify]

Followed up in the slack thread, sorry I missed the replies! 😅