Make timeout for `view_dashboard` surveys more reliable and extend it

It is currently possible to see a few too many surveys in short time frame, which isn’t that great from a user experience perspective. This is particularly related to the view_dashboard trigger, which several surveys get attached to. While there is already a 1 hour timeout, it is only stored on the client-side and it is regularly invalidated e.g. when activating a new module, so that can result in an overload of surveys being shown in little time.

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Do not alter or remove anything below. The following sections will be managed by moderators only.

Acceptance criteria

• The implementation of the timeout mechanism for remote-controlled surveys should be modified to rely on a server-side storage (i.e. a storage which persists beyond user sessions in the browser). In practice, this only affects the view_dashboard trigger, which is the only survey trigger ID currently relying on a timeout, but the implementation should be generic enough to support other triggers in the future.
  • The storage should rely on user meta, so that this is stored per user.
  • The storage should support an undefined number of trigger IDs, so it shouldn’t be a single meta key just for the view_dashboard trigger.
  • A REST API endpoint to set a trigger timeout should be added, which allows specifying the trigger ID and requested timeout.
  • The client has to then receive awareness of which trigger IDs are currently “on timeout” per user, replacing the session storage lookup for this (potentially with a preloaded REST API endpoint to get the list of trigger timeouts).
• The timeout for the view_dashboard trigger specifically should be extended to 24 hours (instead of 1 hour as it is now).

Implementation Brief

Create new REST endpoints

Note: The Dismissed Items endpoints and related code under includes/Core/Dismissals can serve as a reference and broadly be copied here.

Working in the directory includes/Core/User_Surveys:

• Create a new class called Survey_Timeouts to represent the survey timeouts as a user setting.
  • This can mostly be a copy of includes/Core/Dismissals/Dismissed_Items.php, renamed for survey timeouts.
  • OPTION should be googlesitekit_survey_timeouts.
  • get_dismissed_items and filter_dismissed_items should be renamed get_survey_timeouts and filter_survey_timeouts.
  • There is no equivalent need for the method is_dismissed and this can be ignored/removed in Survey_Timeouts.
• Create a new class User_Surveys, as a container for Survey_Timeouts and REST_User_Surveys_Controller, following the same pattern as includes/Core/Dismissals/Dismissals.php.
  • Update includes/Plugin.php to create and register User_Surveys instead of REST_User_Surveys_Controller.
• Add new REST routes to REST_User_Surveys_Controller:
  • GET core/user/data/survey-timeouts for retrieving the list of survey timeouts.
  • POST core/user/data/survey-timeout for setting a survey timeout.
  • These can be copied from the GET core/user/data/dismissed-items and POST core/user/data/dismiss-item routes in includes/Core/Dismissals/REST_Dismissals_Controller.php.
  • Other than renaming any “dismiss item” references to “survey timeout”, these can be directly copied.
  • Ensure core/user/data/survey-timeouts is preloaded by adding it to the googlesitekit_apifetch_preload_paths filter in the register method.
    • See the corresponding use of googlesitekit_apifetch_preload_paths in REST_Dismissals_Controller for an example.

Create Redux interface to new endpoints

Note: The Redux store for Dismissed Items in assets/js/googlesitekit/datastore/user/dismissed-items.js can serve as a reference and broadly be copied here.

• Create a new file assets/js/googlesitekit/datastore/user/survey-timeouts.js.
  • This can essentially be a copy of assets/js/googlesitekit/datastore/user/dismissed-items.js, renamed for survey timeouts.
  • The createFetchStore store for the GET .../survey-timeouts endpoint should have the baseName of getSurveyTimeouts.
  • The createFetchStore store for the POST .../survey-timeout endpoint should have the baseName of setSurveyTimeout.
  • dismissItem should be renamed setSurveyTimeout.
  • getDismissedItems should be renamed getSurveyTimeouts.
  • isItemDismissed should be renamed isSurveyTimedOut.
  • isDismissingItem should be renamed isTimingOutSurvey.
  • All other names should be updated to appropriate survey timeout related names.
• Combine the new store in assets/js/googlesitekit/datastore/user/index.js.

Update triggerSurvey action to use backend data

Update the triggerSurvey action in assets/js/googlesitekit/datastore/user/surveys.js to use backend data via the new store actions and selectors, instead of checking local storage.

• Replace the condition that checks for a cache hit with a condition that checks:
  • If the isSurveyTimedOut selector returns false and the isTimingOutSurvey selector returns false, for the given triggerID.
  • Note, isSurveyTimedOut must be checked for explicit === false, as undefined indicates the state is not resolved yet.
• Within the setTimeout callback:
  • Replace the call to setItem with a dispatch of the setSurveyTimeout action, passing in the triggerID and ttl.
  • Await the above action. If successful, the response will be the updated set of survey timeouts.
  • With a successful response, dispatch the receiveGetSurveyTimeouts action with the received survey timeouts, thus updating the local state.
  • If the response has an error, it can be ignored.

Replace useMount with useEffect in SurveyViewTrigger

Within SurveyViewTrigger:

• Create a variable, shouldTriggerSurvey, containing the boolean value of the condition as described above:
  • The condition is true if the isSurveyTimedOut selector returns false and the isTimingOutSurvey selector returns false, for the given triggerID.
  • Otherwise, it is false.
• Use useSelect to access the selectors.

The survey should now be triggered in a useEffect with the value of shouldTriggerSurvey as a dependency. This is because the survey timeout state is not guaranteed to be available in the useMount hook, as it may still be resolving at this point.

• Replace useMount with useEffect.
• Include shouldTriggerSurvey in the condition for triggering the survey.
• Ensure shouldTriggerSurvey is included in the useEffect dependencies.

Update the view_dashboard survey timeouts to one day

• In DashboardApp and DashboardMainApp, update the view_dashboard TTL value to 86400 (i.e. one day, in seconds).

Test Coverage

• Add PHP and JS tests for the new endpoints and store.
• Update the tests for triggerSurvey to reflect the new behaviour.
• Update any failing tests.

QA Brief

• Install and activate the Always Surveys plugin
• Go to the dashboard page and confirm that you see the survey. Don’t do anything for a minute and then refresh the page.
• Confirm that you don’t see the survey anymore and it doesn’t re-appear during the next 24 hours.

Changelog entry

• Improve logic for handling timeouts for user surveys on the dashboard.

[tofumatt]

Ah, sure thing. I actually figured since the issue was already QA’d as-shipped in main that it was safer to leave this one in develop-only, but fair enough: that confuses things. 😅

I’ve approved that main-targetting PR as well, thanks!

[eugene-manuilov]

@felixarntz, yes, you are right. Sorry about that. PR is approved.