UI not refreshing during session when participant changes pointing

[dlmarshall3]

When my team first started using Scrumwithme, we would see points update when someone decided to repoint without a browser refresh. This was roughly two years ago. Here recently, however, we no longer see that state update and have to refresh the browser to see updated cards.

[nicklargent]

That definitely doesn't sound like the correct behavior. Is it on the host screen or the device screen that isn't updating automatically? I just did a quick check and it's working as expected for me so I'm inclined to think it might be a browser compatibility thing. Can you provide any info on which device/browser you were using?

[dlmarshall3]

I should have been more clear, I'm sorry. It's on the host's end. And she was using Chrome. Next time it happens, I'll try to get a screen recording!

[nicklargent]

Chrome should definitely work fine. A recording might be useful if you can manage. I'd also be curious if any errors appear in the dev console. The live refresh depends on websockets or one of the fallback methods supported by Socket.io. If that's blocked for some reason I could see it causing an issue.

[nicklargent]

Just an update here... I still haven't reproduced this issue but I did update the socket.io libraries to a much newer version. I'm hoping that takes care of any potential connectivity issues. Please let me know if you see this behavior again.

[dlmarshall3]

We haven't been able to reproduce, so closing until I have a screen recording.

[dlmarshall3]

Nick, I have a screen recording for you. You can see when the video starts, there are only two votes. However, after refresh, everyone has voted. I didn't include the video, but we confirmed more people had voted (including myself).

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JsawVPR3D2Y8Je2jzUqo6Mzn-VjKxmm7/view?usp=sharing

[nicklargent]

Thanks for the video showing the issue. One scenario I can see (and replicate) causing that behavior is if you have multiple hosts open on the same session id. Only the most recent will get live updates.

I've added some extra logging to help identify if that's the issue. If that is what's happening you will get an alert on the host screen now when it's been replaced by another instance. I've also added logging on the server that can help me see when that happens. If that is the case, the answer would be to either make sure you close old hosts or don't reuse session ids.

One other possibility is that it's an issue with the connection. I've also added some debug text in the top left of the host screen that will tell you how it's connected. Ideally it'll say websocket. Anything else might indicate a firewall or something preventing the host from getting live updates.

[dlmarshall3]

Re-using the session id could be it. We use your app pretty consistently, so we've bookmarked the session so we can just jump directly in there. However, we've definitely seen this issue even when we haven't done that.

Which makes me think it might be the VPN we're all required to use. I'll reach out to see if maybe we can get some help with that portion.

Thanks, Nick!

[dlmarshall3]

Just verified the host alert did work. I'll let you know what I find!