fix: O3-5419 Add comprehensive error handling for sessionStorage operations by sanks011 · Pull Request #585 · openmrs/openmrs-esm-cohortbuilder-app

sanks011 · 2026-02-11T08:22:08Z

Requirements

This PR has a title that briefly describes the work done including the ticket number. If there is a ticket, make sure your PR title includes a conventional commit label. See existing PR titles for inspiration.
My work conforms to the OpenMRS 3.0 Styleguide and design documentation.
My work includes tests or is validated by existing tests.

Summary

This PR fixes a critical bug where the search history component crashes when sessionStorage contains corrupted JSON data or when the storage quota is exceeded.

Problem

The search history functionality used sessionStorage without error handling, causing application crashes in production when:

SessionStorage contains invalid/corrupted JSON data (browser bugs, extensions, manual tampering)
SessionStorage quota is exceeded (~5MB limit across all browsers)
No graceful degradation - entire search history feature becomes broken

Solution

Implemented comprehensive error handling with:

File 1: src/components/search-history/search-history.utils.ts

Added try-catch blocks around JSON.parse() operations
Added data validation to ensure parsed data is an array
Automatically clears corrupted sessionStorage data
Returns empty array on errors (graceful degradation)

File 2: src/cohort-builder.utils.ts

Implemented LRU cache (maximum 50 items) to prevent unbounded growth
Added QuotaExceededError handling with fallback to 10 most recent items
Limited patient data to 100 per search to prevent storage bloat
Added user notifications via showToast for quota errors
Input validation for function parameters
Comprehensive JSDoc documentation

Impact

Prevents complete application crashes from corrupted storage data
Handles quota exceeded scenarios gracefully with user notification
Production healthcare facilities performing 100+ searches/day no longer hit limits
Searches continue working even if history storage fails (graceful degradation)

Testing

All existing tests pass (25/26 - one pre-existing flatpickr locale failure unrelated to changes)
Manually tested with corrupted sessionStorage data - no crash, graceful recovery
Console logging added for debugging without alarming end users

Screenshots

Before Fix:

OpenMRS.-.Brave.2026-02-11.13-34-13.mp4

App crashes with red error overlay: SyntaxError: Expected property name or '}' in JSON at position 1
Search history component completely broken
No recovery without manually clearing browser data

After Fix:

OpenMRS.-.Brave.2026-02-11.13-47-00.mp4

Corrupted data detected and cleared automatically
Console log for debugging: [Cohort Builder] Corrupted history data, resetting
App continues functioning normally
User sees toast notification only for actionable issues (quota exceeded)

Related Issue

https://issues.openmrs.org/browse/O3-5419

Other

Reproduction Steps (Before Fix)

Open browser console
Run: window.sessionStorage.setItem('openmrsHistory', '{invalid json}');
Navigate to Cohort Builder or perform any search
Result: Application crashes

After Fix Behavior

Same corruption applied
Navigate to Cohort Builder or perform any search
Result: Console log shows error was caught, data cleared, app works normally

Technical Details

No breaking changes
Backward compatible with existing sessionStorage data format
TypeScript and ESLint compliant
Follows React best practices for error handling
Implements best practices from MDN Web Docs for Web Storage API

…ations - Add try-catch blocks around JSON.parse() in search-history.utils.ts - Implement LRU cache (max 50 items) to prevent unbounded growth - Add QuotaExceededError handling with fallback to 10 items - Validate input data and parsed JSON structure - Limit patient data to 100 per search to prevent storage bloat - Add user notifications via showToast for storage errors - Clear corrupted sessionStorage data automatically - Add JSDoc documentation for error handling behavior Fixes crash when sessionStorage contains corrupted JSON or quota is exceeded. Implements graceful degradation - searches continue working even if history fails.

UjjawalPrabhat · 2026-02-11T14:34:13Z

@sanks011 The core error handling is solid, but there are some concerns that need addressing:

Your PR fixes the vulnerability in two files but misses a third location with the same issue: src/components/composition/composition.utils.ts
The codebase currently has zero console.log/warn/error statements - errors are handled silently or shown to users via showSnackbar. Your PR adds 6+ console statements. Remove all console statements, or keep at most 1-2 for truly exceptional cases. We should rely on user-facing notifications instead of console logging.

…builder-app into O3-5419-bug-unhandled-session-storage-errors-crash-search-history-component st ":wq" | clip ; Write-Host "Type :wq and press Enter in the editor to complete the merge"

…console statements - Add error handling to composition.utils.ts (third file with same bug) - Remove all 9 console.log/warn/error statements (codebase has zero console logs) - Keep only user-facing showToast notifications for actionable errors - Silent error recovery for corrupted storage data

sanks011 · 2026-02-12T05:57:46Z

@sanks011 The core error handling is solid, but there are some concerns that need addressing:

Your PR fixes the vulnerability in two files but misses a third location with the same issue: src/components/composition/composition.utils.ts

The codebase currently has zero console.log/warn/error statements - errors are handled silently or shown to users via showSnackbar. Your PR adds 6+ console statements. Remove all console statements, or keep at most 1-2 for truly exceptional cases. We should rely on user-facing notifications instead of console logging.

@UjjawalPrabhat Thanks for the feedback! I've addressed both concerns:

Fixed composition.utils.ts - Added comprehensive error handling with try-catch, data validation, and silent recovery
Removed all console statements - Deleted all 9 console.log/warn/error calls. Now using only user-facing showToast notifications for actionable errors

Changes pushed. Please let me know if any further changes are required.

…-crash-search-history-component

bhavya-jpg · 2026-03-03T12:23:02Z

As @UjjawalPrabhat pointed out, src/components/composition/composition.utils.ts also touches sessionStorage and therefore runs the exact same risk of throwing quota errors or reading corrupted JSON. To prevent duplicating these large try/catch, Array.isArray(), and JSON.parse blocks across three different codebases, would it make sense to extract this into an app-level utility? (e.g., creating a safelySetSessionStorage(key, value) and safelyGetSessionStorage(key) helper function). Building a shared utility wrapper would protect the entire app universally and cover composition.utils.ts cleanly without redundant code.

bhavya-jpg · 2026-03-03T12:35:49Z

@sanks011 and one more tiny thing also in your addToHistory function, you process inputs with: if (!Array.isArray(patients) || typeof parameters !== 'object') { return false; } Just a quick heads up: in Javascript, typeof null === 'object'. Therefore, if parameters somehow gets accidentally passed as null by an upstream function, it will bypass this check and potentially cause null-reference errors downstream when you serialize it. We can easily plug this leak by strictly adding a null check: if (!Array.isArray(patients) || typeof parameters !== 'object' || parameters === null) { return false; }

sanks011 added 2 commits February 12, 2026 11:22

Merge iranch 'main' of https://github.com/sanks011/openmrs-esm-cohort…

828abfb

…builder-app into O3-5419-bug-unhandled-session-storage-errors-crash-search-history-component st ":wq" | clip ; Write-Host "Type :wq and press Enter in the editor to complete the merge"

sanks011 force-pushed the O3-5419-bug-unhandled-session-storage-errors-crash-search-history-component branch from 067cac6 to aecd2a0 Compare February 12, 2026 05:54

Merge branch 'main' into O3-5419-bug-unhandled-session-storage-errors…

24ac9a4

…-crash-search-history-component

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fix: O3-5419 Add comprehensive error handling for sessionStorage operations#585

fix: O3-5419 Add comprehensive error handling for sessionStorage operations#585
sanks011 wants to merge 4 commits intoopenmrs:mainfrom
sanks011:O3-5419-bug-unhandled-session-storage-errors-crash-search-history-component

sanks011 commented Feb 11, 2026

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UjjawalPrabhat commented Feb 11, 2026

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sanks011 commented Feb 12, 2026

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bhavya-jpg commented Mar 3, 2026

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sanks011 commented Feb 11, 2026

Requirements

Summary

Problem

Solution

Impact

Testing

Screenshots

Related Issue

Other

Reproduction Steps (Before Fix)

After Fix Behavior

Technical Details

Uh oh!

UjjawalPrabhat commented Feb 11, 2026

Uh oh!

sanks011 commented Feb 12, 2026

Uh oh!

bhavya-jpg commented Mar 3, 2026

Uh oh!

bhavya-jpg commented Mar 3, 2026

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