RTL Layout Missing When Setting Language From Within the App

[mchowning]

Expected behavior

Selecting a RTL language should update the layout to be RTL. This occurs when updating the language system-wide via Android's settings.

Hebrew	Arabic

Actual behavior

When setting a RTL language from WPAndroid's settings, the layout does not change (tap on Avatar image -> App Settings -> Interface Language).

Hebrew	Arabic

**NOTE: Once you set the language in-app, changing the device language has no effect until you wipe the app's data.*

Steps to reproduce the behavior

1. Enter App Settings (tap on Avatar image -> App Settings -> Interface Language), and select a RTL language like Hebrew or Arabic
2. Observe that the layout within the Interface Language menu is RTL
3. Tab back
4. Observe that the App Settings menu is NOT RTL
5. Tab back
6. Observe that the WP Dashboard is NOT RTL

Tested on Pixel 3, Android 12, WPAndroid alpha-333 (1145) (also tested on a local build of 0b7c30f)

[thehenrybyrd]

I ran into something quite similar in 19.3-rc-2. In my case, the "Me" and "App Settings" menu are RTL, but the My Site dashboard, Reader, and Notifications are all LTR in terms of layout.

Very similar steps to reproduce:

1. Avatar (Me) > App Settings > Interface Language, select Arabic or Hebrew
2. Note the App Settings menu is RTL, as is the Interface Language menu if you tap back into it.
3. Tap back and see that "Me" is also RTL.
4. Tap back once more.
5. Note that My Site layout is LTR instead of RTL, despite being in Arabic. Reader and Notifications follow suit.

I was also able to do the exact opposite, by restarting the app after setting it to Arabic:

1. In App Settings, select Arabic as the interface language. Note that My Site is LTR instead of RTL.
2. Close the app and restart it. Note that My Site is now RTL, as it should be.
3. Tap your avatar and then the icon that looks like a phone, to get to App Settings.
4. Tap the top option, which will open the Interface Language menu.
5. Scroll up to find English and select it.
6. Tap the left-hand button to accept changes (right-hand is 'no' in RTL)
7. Head back to My Site, now in English, and note the layout is RTL.

This only effects the 'main' screens - My Site, Reader, Notifications. Sub-screens like Posts are unaffected.

[thehenrybyrd]

Looks like we've had a similar issue around for quite a while: #7484

[thehenrybyrd]

This is still happening in 19.5-rc-4.

[AliSoftware]

cc @ParaskP7 as current Groundskeeper: could we affect a priority (and possibly target milestone?) to this one, so it does not get forgotten?

[ParaskP7]

Thank for the ping @AliSoftware !

I tested it and can confirm that this is an issue. With my quick testing I could also get the app in a limbo state where the the RTL on the My Site tab gets persisted even if the user ends up switching to English both, system and app wise. This is indeed weird. 🤔

I recommend and will be adding the [Pri] Low for now and maybe target a milestone, 3 releases from now, just to begin with. Let me know if you feel that this deserves a highest priority or should be more urgently handled, but it's been 3 months since this issue was first opened and I haven't seen many reports about it yet, so it feels less urgent to me. Wdyt?

[AliSoftware]

Doing the code freeze for 19.9 today so moved the milestone for this issue to 20.0

[mchowning]

Since no one is actively working on this and it has been prioritized as low (which seems fair), I'll remove the milestone label. Feel free to add it back if you disagree though, I don't feel strongly about this.