1832300 - Top Picks are displayed even if the option is unchecked in about:preferences#privacy

Status: VERIFIED FIXED

(Firefox :: Address Bar, defect, P1)

Description

[Ardelean Oana, Desktop QA [:oardelean]]

Notes

• Please note: if browser.urlbar.bestMatch.enabled is set tofalse the option is not available in about:preferences#privacy.

Found in

• Beta 114.0b2;

Affected versions

• Beta 114.0b2;
• Nightly 115.0a1;

Tested platforms

• macOS 12;
• Windows 10;
• Ubuntu 22;

Affected platforms

• macOS 12;
• Ubuntu 22;
• Windows 10;

Unaffected platforms

• N/A;

Preconditions
Have a new profile with the following prefs set:

• browser.search.region toUS.
• browser.urlbar.quicksuggest.dataCollection.enabled to true
• browser.urlbar.merino.providers to adm,top_picks
• browser.urlbar.bestMatch.enabled to true

Steps to reproduce

1. Launch Firefox with the profile from the preconditions.
2. Navigate to about:preferences#privacy and uncheck the ‘Top pick’ checkbox.
3. Open a new tab and type a keyword that would trigger a Top Pick suggestion( eg. facebook, pinterest, disney, imdb)

Expected result

• Top Picks are NOT displayed in the address bar.

Actual result

• Top Picks are still displayed in the address bar.

Regression range

• last good: 2023-05-07
• first bad: 2023-05-08
• Pushlog: https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/pushloghtml?fromchange=ef5ba1cfbad74f9394cc2cfcc939bf0c44584502&tochange=25209607dc0b253635ead03eff51fdc10a62e659
  Potentially regressed by: Bug 1829081

Comment 1

[BugBot [:suhaib / :marco/ :calixte]]

Set release status flags based on info from the regressing bug 1829081

:adw, since you are the author of the regressor, bug 1829081, could you take a look?

For more information, please visit BugBot documentation.

Comment 2

[Drew Willcoxon :adw]

[Tracking Requested - why for this release]: This bug is necessary for the Firefox Suggest navigational suggestions feature we intend to ship in 114.

Comment 3

[Drew Willcoxon :adw]

Attachment: Bug 1832300 - Show `is_top_pick` suggestions as top picks only when the best match prefs are enabled.

This keeps the current behavior where Firefox shows a suggestion as a top pick
when is_top_pick is true, but in addition the two best-match prefs must also
be true.

I cp'ed test_quicksuggest_bestMatch.js to test_quicksuggest_topPicks.js so that
we have a test specifically for top picks, and I added tasks for all preference
combinations. The terms "best match" and "top picks" are overloaded and I tried
to explain what they mean in the code comments I added.

Depends on D176114

Comment 4

[Pulsebot]

Pushed by [e-mail]:
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/7cd1b6c89bfb
Show `is_top_pick` suggestions as top picks only when the best match prefs are enabled. r=daisuke

Comment 5

[Drew Willcoxon :adw]

Comment on attachment 9332988 [details]
Bug 1832300 - Show is_top_pick suggestions as top picks only when the best match prefs are enabled.

Beta/Release Uplift Approval Request

• User impact if declined: Fixes a regression on 114.
• Is this code covered by automated tests?: Yes
• Has the fix been verified in Nightly?: No
• Needs manual test from QE?: Yes
• If yes, steps to reproduce: Should be clear from bug description
• List of other uplifts needed: None
• Risk to taking this patch: Low
• Why is the change risky/not risky? (and alternatives if risky): Small patch that only affects Firefox Suggest suggestions in the urlbar. Has tests.
• String changes made/needed:
• Is Android affected?: No

Comment 6

[Sandor Molnar[:smolnar]]

https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/7cd1b6c89bfb

Comment 7

[Cosmin Muntean [:cmuntean], Ecosystem QA]

I have verified this issue on the latest Nightly 115.0a1 build (Build ID: 20230511213213) on Windows 10x64, macOS 13.1 and Linux Mint.

• The results are not displayed in the Top Pick section if the "browser.urlbar.bestMatch.enabled" pref is set to false, and are displayed if the pref is set to true.
• The "Top Pick" option is displayed in about:preferences#privacy if the "browser.urlbar.bestMatch.enabled" pref is set to true, and if the option is unchecked, the results are no longer displayed displayed as Top Picks.

However, I have noticed the fallowing:

• If the pref "browser.urlbar.bestMatch.enabled" is set to false, the Navigational Queries results are not displayed in the Top Pick section, are displayed in the last position of the "Firefox Suggest" section.
• If the pref "browser.urlbar.bestMatch.enabled" is set to true and if the "Top Pick" option from about:preferences#privacy is unchecked, the Navigational Queries results are displayed in the last position of the "Firefox Suggest" section.

@Drew, could you please confirm if this is the intended behavior?
I have thought that the results should not be triggered at all if the "browser.urlbar.bestMatch.enabled" is set to false or the "Top Pick" option is unchecked.

Comment 8

[Pascal Chevrel:pascalc (PTO until April 26)]

Drew, your uplift request includes a change to a file (browser/components/urlbar/tests/quicksuggest/browser/browser_quicksuggest_addons.js) that was created yesterday on mozilla-central (in bug 1828610). Should that file be dropped in the uplift? Thanks

Comment 9

[Drew Willcoxon :adw]

(In reply to Cosmin Muntean [:cmuntean], Ecosystem QA from comment #7)

• If the pref "browser.urlbar.bestMatch.enabled" is set to false, the Navigational Queries results are not displayed in the Top Pick section, are displayed in the last position of the "Firefox Suggest" section.

This is the intended behavior but this scenario won't happen in practice because during the experiment, users in the treatment branch will have the bestMatchEnabled Nimbus variable (which corresponds to the bestMatch.enabled pref) set to true and the merinoProviders Nimbus variable will include top_picks. In contrast, users in the control branch won't have either variable set.

So there won't be users who have bestMatch.enabled set to false but top_picks included in their Merino providers. However, even if there were, I believe it's the correct behavior to show navigational suggestions at the bottom of the Suggest section -- see below.

• If the pref "browser.urlbar.bestMatch.enabled" is set to true and if the "Top Pick" option from about:preferences#privacy is unchecked, the Navigational Queries results are displayed in the last position of the "Firefox Suggest" section.

Yes, that's the intended behavior per spec, see "Display selection logic" in section 2.5.1:

The preferences would be tied to “Top pick” preferences. If the user has Top pick unchecked, we shouldn’t be displaying Navigational suggestions only in the Top pick spot

The wording is a little confusing but I remember Nive saying that the suggestion should still be shown, just in the usual position at the bottom of the Suggest section.

Comment 10

[Drew Willcoxon :adw]

Attachment: Beta 114 patch

Sorry Pascal, I should have made sure the patch applied cleanly. Here's a beta 114 patch. There was another minor conflict in a different file.

Comment 11

[Pascal Chevrel:pascalc (PTO until April 26)]

Comment on attachment 9333443 [details] [diff] [review]
Beta 114 patch

Approved for 114 beta 5, thanks.

Comment 12

[Pascal Chevrel:pascalc (PTO until April 26)]

https://hg.mozilla.org/releases/mozilla-beta/rev/13ee3b6c4f61

Comment 13

[Ardelean Oana, Desktop QA [:oardelean]]

This issue is verified as fixed on Firefox 114.0b5(build ID: 20230516180209) on macOS 12, Ubuntu 22, Windows 10.
Top Picks are not displayed anymore if the option is unchecked.