Brave news feed infinite spinner

[Uni-verse]

Description

Happening often on my devices after opening brave or loading new tabs

Steps to reproduce

These STR have been reliable to repro the infinite spinner issue on NTP.

1. Install Brave version 1.54.70
2. Launch app, open settings to disable NTP SI in new tab page settings
3. Return to NTP, open some tabs
4. Go back to settings and re-enable NTP SI
5. Return to NTP again, observe brave news feed
6. Repeat steps a few times if not observed

Actual result

Expected result

News feed should load

Issue reproduces how often

Intermittent

Version/Channel Information:

• Can you reproduce this issue with the current Play Store version? N/A
• Can you reproduce this issue with the current Play Store Beta version? N/A
• Can you reproduce this issue with the current Play Store Nightly version? Yes

Device details

• Install type (ARM, x86): ARM
• Device type (Phone, Tablet, Phablet): Samsung GS 21
• Android version: 13

Brave version

Reproducible on 1.54.70 (CR 114)
Reproducible on 1.54.73 (CR 115)

[Uni-verse]

This is still reproducible when upgrading to version 1.57.47, exact steps below.

1. Install version 1.56.20
2. Enable brave news
3. Add some sources in brave news settings
4. Upgrade to 1.57.47
5. Observe NTP after upgrading
6. Repeat if needed to reproduce (intermittent)

[i-love-to-code]

I believe the cause of the issue is a missing call back here publishers_controller.cc.

@petemill has a TODO here so will be better placed to comment on this.

If the downloading / parsing of publisher data fails, the call will fail silently with no callbacks will be invoked, leaving the UI to wait and wonder.

A simple fix is to invoke the callback that's fired on the happy path and handle the lack of data in the UI with a "Reload feed" button etc.

diff --git a/components/brave_news/browser/publishers_controller.cc b/components/brave_news/browser/publishers_controller.cc
index b9aec87f7a6804b983a2b5a0692ceaa4676f5536..72642f3101114ea4d72f9cbdf988bf99b3d04aa0 100644
--- a/components/brave_news/browser/publishers_controller.cc
+++ b/components/brave_news/browser/publishers_controller.cc
@@ -202,6 +202,10 @@ void PublishersController::EnsurePublishersIsUpdating() {
         absl::optional<Publishers> publisher_list =
             ParseCombinedPublisherList(api_request_result.value_body());
         if (!publisher_list) {
+          controller->on_current_update_complete_->Signal();
+          controller->is_update_in_progress_ = false;
+          controller->on_current_update_complete_ =
+            std::make_unique<base::OneShotEvent>();
           return;
         }

[archerallstars]

As of Brave 1.58.137, Chromium 117.0.5938.153, this is still happening.

[kjozwiak]

Adding OS/Desktop as we've had reports of the same issue occurring on Desktop as per https://bravesoftware.slack.com/archives/C02DT9F5EP5/p1696927887802789. So this is definitely not a Android only issue.

[LorenzoMinto]

@petemill is this still relevant after the recent upgrade? We might have fixed some of the bad paths