Bug: Contact Lookup Not Filtering By Company

Have you ever experienced a situation where your contact lookup isn't working as expected? It can be frustrating when you select a company, but the contact list shows everyone instead of just the employees of that company. This article dives into a bug report detailing exactly that issue, offering insights into the problem, steps to reproduce it, and a recommended fix. Let's get started!

Priority and Component

This bug is classified as a high priority due to its impact on data integrity and user experience. Imagine accidentally linking a prospect to the wrong contact person – that could lead to serious miscommunication and wasted effort. The affected component is the Contact field within the Add New Prospect Modal.

Description of the Contact Filtering Bug

The core issue arises when a user attempts to add a new prospect and selects a specific company. The Contact field, which should ideally display only contacts associated with the chosen company, instead presents a global list of all contacts in the system. This means users see contacts from various organizations, including irrelevant entries. For instance, if you select "OmmNoMi Automation LLP," you might still see unrelated names like "David Wilson" or "Emily Davis" in the contact dropdown.

This behavior deviates significantly from the intended functionality. The Contact field should act as a filtered lookup, providing only relevant contacts based on the selected company. Displaying a global list not only hinders efficiency but also increases the risk of human error.

To ensure a smooth and accurate user experience, contact filtering must function correctly. The system should prioritize displaying contacts affiliated with the selected company, thus streamlining the process of adding new prospects. By addressing this bug, we can prevent data discrepancies and enhance overall usability.

Visual Evidence

To illustrate the problem, consider the following scenario:

The screenshots provided clearly demonstrate that the contact list displays unrelated contacts, indicating a global fetch rather than a contextual query based on the company ID.

Steps to Reproduce the Contact Filtering Bug

If you want to try reproducing this bug yourself, here’s a step-by-step guide:

1. Click the "+ New Prospect" button.
2. Search for and select an existing Company (e.g., "OmmNoMi Automation LLP").
3. Click into the Contact search field.
4. Scroll through the available options or leave the search blank to see the default list.

By following these steps, you can easily observe the faulty behavior. The contact list should display a comprehensive list of all contacts, regardless of the selected company. This highlights the urgent need for a resolution to maintain data accuracy and improve user experience.

Expected Behavior

The expected behavior of the contact lookup is quite straightforward. When a company is selected in the "Add New Prospect" modal, the Contact dropdown should strictly filter its results to show only contacts associated with that specific company. This ensures that users can quickly and accurately select the relevant contact without sifting through a global list.

To break it down further:

• If the company has contacts: The dropdown should display only those names.
• If the company has no contacts: The list should be empty, except for an option like "Create new contact."

This filtered approach ensures that the user interface remains clean and efficient. By limiting the displayed contacts to those relevant to the selected company, we reduce the chances of errors and streamline the process of adding new prospects.

Actual Behavior

Unfortunately, the actual behavior deviates significantly from the expected behavior. Instead of filtering contacts based on the selected company, the dropdown displays a list of all contacts in the database. This means that regardless of which company is chosen, the contact list remains the same, presenting a global view of all contacts.

This issue makes it easy for users to accidentally link a prospect to the wrong contact person. The lack of filtering not only introduces inefficiency but also poses a significant risk to data accuracy. A user might inadvertently select a contact from a different organization, leading to miscommunication and potential business errors.

Therefore, addressing this discrepancy between expected and actual behavior is crucial. Implementing proper contact filtering will enhance data integrity and ensure a more reliable user experience.

Recommended Fix for the Contact Filtering Bug

To resolve this issue, a combination of frontend logic improvements and query updates is recommended. Here’s a breakdown of the necessary steps:

1. Frontend Logic:
   • The Contact query must subscribe to the Company field's state. This means that the contact list should dynamically update based on the selected company.
2. Query Update:
   • When fetching the contact list, pass the selected company_id as a filter parameter. For example, the API request should look something like GET /api/contacts?company_id=xyz.
3. UI Feedback:
   • If the selected company has no contacts, display a helper text like "No contacts found for this company. Create new?" This provides immediate feedback to the user and guides them on the next steps.

By implementing these fixes, the contact lookup will accurately filter contacts based on the selected company, enhancing data integrity and user experience. This approach ensures that users can confidently link prospects to the correct contacts, minimizing errors and improving overall efficiency.

Conclusion

The bug report detailed in this article highlights a critical issue with contact filtering in the "Add New Prospect" modal. By understanding the problem, reproducing the steps, and implementing the recommended fix, developers can enhance data accuracy and improve the user experience. Remember, a well-functioning contact lookup is essential for maintaining efficient and error-free business processes.

For more information on bug reporting and software development best practices, consider exploring resources like Mozilla Developer Network.