react / react/react-native

Unhandled promises result in white screen of death (silent exceptions)

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Issue: Author Provided Repro
Dominant language
C++
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Avg merge
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Merged PRs (30d)
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Description

Description

Exceptions that occur within an unhandled promise do not trigger React exception handling. This makes it impossible to track exceptions or use standard exception handling methods. We call this the white screen of death.

React Native version:

System:
    OS: macOS 11.2.2
    CPU: (12) x64 Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-9750H CPU @ 2.60GHz
    Memory: 646.73 MB / 16.00 GB
    Shell: 5.8 - /bin/zsh
  Binaries:
    Node: 14.5.0 - ~/.nvm/versions/node/v14.5.0/bin/node
    Yarn: 1.22.10 - /usr/local/bin/yarn
    npm: 6.14.5 - ~/.nvm/versions/node/v14.5.0/bin/npm
    Watchman: 4.9.0 - /usr/local/bin/watchman
  Managers:
    CocoaPods: 1.10.1 - /usr/local/bin/pod
  SDKs:
    iOS SDK:
      Platforms: iOS 14.4, DriverKit 20.2, macOS 11.1, tvOS 14.3, watchOS 7.2
    Android SDK: Not Found
  IDEs:
    Android Studio: 4.1 AI-201.8743.12.41.7042882
    Xcode: 12.4/12D4e - /usr/bin/xcodebuild
  Languages:
    Java: 1.8.0_282 - /usr/bin/javac
    Python: 3.8.6+ - /Users/alitamoore/.pyenv/shims/python
  npmPackages:
    @react-native-community/cli: Not Found
    react: ^16.13.1 => 16.13.1 
    react-native: ^0.63.4 => 0.63.4 
    react-native-macos: Not Found
  npmGlobalPackages:
    *react-native*: Not Found

Steps To Reproduce

Provide a detailed list of steps that reproduce the issue.

  1. Build out an app with two buttons
  2. One button has the promised force crash, the other is not
  3. Press the promised force crash and you'll see a white screen
  4. Press the not promised force crash and you'll see the RED screen

Expected Results

Both buttons should show a RED screen or white screen should trigger exception handling

Snack, code example, screenshot, or link to a repository:

import { TouchableOpacity } from "react-native-gesture-handler";
import { Text, View } from "react-native-animatable";

export const forceCrash = () => {
    console.log("force crash");
    crash();
};

const forceCrashPromise = async () => forceCrash();
const forceCrashNotPromise = () => forceCrash();

const Button = () => (
    <View>
        <TouchableOpacity onPress={forceCrashPromise}>
            <Text>Force Crash Promise</Text>
        </TouchableOpacity>
        <TouchableOpacity onPress={forceCrashNotPromise}>
            <Text>Force Crash Not Promise</Text>
        </TouchableOpacity>
    </View>
);

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start with the supplied TypeScript reproduction and compare the promised and non-promised button handlers in the React Native app. Reproduce the white screen and red screen behavior; done means an exception from the unhandled promise reaches the same visible exception handling as the direct crash.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
react-native, typescript
Domain
mobile
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
25/100

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