1811175 - Implement fallback protocol for sponsored tiles

Status: VERIFIED FIXED

(Fenix :: Top Sites, task)

Description

[Alexandru Putanu [:aputanu]]

If we do not successfully receive data from adM or Contile within our refresh period, we should serve content in its place until the situation is remedied. (“As a user, I don’t want my contextual experience degraded because of background issues.”)

The Contile: Fallback Protocol for Sponsored TopSites adds a header to the Contile response including extra “staleness” information.

Comment 1

[BMO Automation]

Attachment: [mozilla-mobile/firefox-android] Bug 1811175 - Implement fallback protocol for sponsored tiles (#575)

Comment 2

[Lorand Janos]

I've tested the following scenarios:

1. On the latest Nightly 112.0a1 (2023-03-01) build I've activated the Sponsored Shortcuts feature by setting a target locale for it on a VPN.
   After checking that the Sponsored Shortcuts are displayed, I've closed both the VPN and the Nightly.
   I've set the time to 1h5m ahead and reopened Nightly to check if the Sponsored Shortcuts are no longer displayed.

2. On a debug build created by Alexandru for this scenario I've activated the Sponsored Shortcuts feature.
   After checking that the Sponsored Shortcuts are displayed, I've closed the app.
   With the help of Alexandru using Postman to modify to get 204 status code, I then reopened Nightly again to see if the Sponsored Shortcuts are no longer displayed.

On both cases the Sponsored Shortcuts were no longer displayed.
Device used for testing: Google Pixel 7 (Android 13).
Marking the ticket as Verified Fixed.

Comment 3

[BMO Automation]

Attachment: [mozilla-mobile/firefox-android] Bug 1811175 - Use sponsored tiles fallback protocol only when Contile outage is detected (#1144)

Comment 4

[BMO Automation]

Authored by https://github.com/Alexandru2909
https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/firefox-android/commit/fbc8302b4518107b78255058ee95249e5ad192fa
[main] Bug 1811175 - Use sponsored tiles fallback protocol only when Contile outage is detected

Comment 5

[Ryan VanderMeulen [:RyanVM]]

For the future, we typically prefer to track one patch per bug, specifically to avoid ambiguity like this case where one patch landed during the 112 cycle and another during the 113 cycle.

With that said, do we need to backport this second patch to 112 also? Please nominate for approval if so.

Comment 6

[Alexandru Putanu [:aputanu]]

Sorry about that, I'll open separate bugs from now on. I think we should uplift this to 112, will open the backport PR after QA verification.

Comment 7

[Delia Pop (Android QA)]

Tested with Alex on a custom build and the following results were obtained:

• Scenario 1: After launching the app, the Sponsored Shortcuts were displayed, as expected; (received a 200 Status Code);
• Scenario 2: Alex then used Postman to get a 204 status code, after which the Sponsored Shortcuts initially available disappeared, as expected;
• Scenario 3: Lastly, Alex used Postman again to get a 500 status code and set the max age to ~2 mins. However, the Sponsored Shortcuts that were displayed, did not disappear after the 2 minutes passed, nor after a much longer period of time (settings de device time several hours ahead).

Comment 8

[Ryan VanderMeulen [:RyanVM]]

Please create and nominate the backport PR for Beta uplift when you get a chance.

Comment 9

[Alexandru Putanu [:aputanu]]

I'm afraid we'll need a follow-up patch, as described by @Delia, in Scenario 3, the sponsored tiles should have disappeared after the server specified max age. Opened 1822803 in this scope. Because of this needing a follow-up patch and since the patch which landed in 112 does not affect the existing refresh cadence, I think we should let it ride the trains.

Comment 10

[Delia Pop (Android QA)]

Marking this ticket as "Verified Fixed" for 113 based on the testing conducted to validate Scenarios 1 & 2, and the comments above. Scenario 3 will be tested in the newly opened ticket.