[Bugfix:Forum] Fix stats header rendering by not-so-shubh · Pull Request #12698 · Submitty/Submitty

not-so-shubh · 2026-03-30T19:21:35Z

Why is this Change Important & Necessary?

Clicking sortable headers on the forum stats page can cause header labels to render as escaped HTML due to invalid table structure and use of .html() during sorting.

What is the New Behavior?

Headers remain properly rendered as plain text after sorting, and no escaped HTML appears. Sorting and expand/collapse functionality continue to work correctly.

Demo (screen recording):
https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/8dc62a31-5764-4c37-80b9-67c07fc468f1

What steps should a reviewer take to reproduce or test the bug or new feature?

Go to /forum/stats
Click sortable column headers
Verify headers do not render escaped HTML
Test sorting and expand/collapse functionality

Automated Testing & Documentation

No automated tests or documentation changes were required.

Other information

Not a breaking change
No migrations required
No security concerns

Copilot

Pull request overview

Fixes a rendering bug on the forum stats page where clicking sortable headers could cause header labels to show escaped HTML, by correcting the table structure and updating the client-side sorting/expand logic to avoid relying on header HTML.

Changes:

Updated the forum stats table markup to use a proper <thead>/<tbody> structure and removed <a href="#"> inside <th> cells.
Replaced the previous sortTable usage with a forum-stats-specific sorting implementation that sorts grouped user/detail rows and updates sort indicators via text.
Refactored expand/collapse row insertion/removal and moved thread navigation to a delegated cell-click handler.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 2 out of 2 changed files in this pull request and generated 1 comment.

File	Description
site/public/js/stat-page.js	Reworks sorting and expand/collapse logic to avoid `.html()`-based header mutations and preserve grouped rows.
site/app/templates/forum/StatPage.twig	Fixes invalid table structure by adding `<thead>`/`<tbody>` and removes header anchor tags that were contributing to escaped HTML rendering.

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Copilot · 2026-03-30T19:25:55Z

+                    <th class="cursor-pointer" style="width:15%" id="user_sort">User</th>
+                    <th class="cursor-pointer" id="total_posts_sort">Total Posts (not deleted)</th>
+                    <th class="cursor-pointer" style="width:15%" id="total_threads_sort">Total Threads</th>
+                    <th class="cursor-pointer" style="width:15%" id="total_deleted_sort">Total Deleted Posts</th>
+                    <th class="cursor-pointer" style="width:15%" id="total_upducks">Total Upducks</th>
+                    <th style="width:25%">Show Posts</th>


Sortable column headers were changed from links to plain text with a click handler. This makes sorting inaccessible to keyboard users because is not focusable by default and doesn't respond to Enter/Space. Consider rendering the sortable header content as a (or an with proper prevention) inside the , or add tabindex="0" + role="button" and a keydown handler (Enter/Space) to trigger sorting.

Khine12 · 2026-03-31T07:47:00Z

Nice fix — the root cause makes sense. Using .html() on headers that contained tags was causing the escaped HTML to show up after sorting. Fixing the table structure with proper / and removing the anchor tags from the headers is a clean approach.
One thing worth noting — Copilot flagged that removing the tags from the sortable headers means they're no longer keyboard-focusable. Adding tabindex="0" and role="button" with a keydown handler for Enter/Space would keep the sorting accessible for keyboard users.
The screen recording in the issue (#12697) was helpful for understanding the bug. Good work!

JManion32

Great catch on this issue! The new change functions well. Have you considered using the same sorting headers that we use on other pages (see the Docker UI, pending gradeables, and grading page). We should use it here since we are already cleaning up the headers and it would make the page becomes consistent with the rest of the site.

Here is a screenshot of the headers from the grade details page:

not-so-shubh · 2026-04-01T04:52:02Z

Thanks! I updated it to use the shared sortable header pattern and kept the forum-specific grouped-row sorting intact. Tested locally as well.

JManion32

Nice! Functionality and code looks reasonable, but I noticed a small bug:

When user posts are expanded, it shifts the entire table layout.
Main:

Your Branch:

It's good UI/UX to have the expand and collapse buttons in the same spot. Currently, the button moves based on the toggle.

JManion32 · 2026-04-07T18:26:29Z

        const timestamps = $(this).data('timestamps');
        const thread_ids = $(this).data('thread_id');
        const thread_titles = $(this).data('thread_titles');
+


Remove whitespace.

not-so-shubh · 2026-04-11T22:26:15Z

Thanks for pointing this out! I updated the forum stats table so expanding posts no longer shifts the overall table layout, and the expand/collapse button now stays in a stable position.

I also removed the extra whitespace in the JS change.

codecov · 2026-05-01T04:01:43Z

Codecov Report

✅ All modified and coverable lines are covered by tests.
✅ Project coverage is 21.67%. Comparing base (621d276) to head (52af748).
⚠️ Report is 1 commits behind head on main.

Additional details and impacted files

@@            Coverage Diff            @@
##               main   #12698   +/-   ##
=========================================
  Coverage     21.67%   21.67%           
  Complexity     9806     9806           
=========================================
  Files           268      268           
  Lines         36724    36724           
  Branches        489      489           
=========================================
  Hits           7960     7960           
  Misses        28279    28279           
  Partials        485      485

Flag	Coverage Δ
autograder	`21.32% <ø> (ø)`
js	`2.02% <ø> (ø)`
migrator	`100.00% <ø> (ø)`
php	`20.73% <ø> (ø)`
python_submitty_utils	`80.08% <ø> (ø)`
submitty_daemon_jobs	`91.13% <ø> (ø)`

Flags with carried forward coverage won't be shown. Click here to find out more.

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JManion32

Headers now sort in the same way that other tables on the site do:

Nice work!

* main: (50 commits) [Bugfix:Developer] Fix Broken CI (#12851) [Bugfix:System] Restore TCLAPP (#12850) [Bugfix:Submission] Fix non-VCS repo error (#12608) [Feature:Submission] Jupyter warnings outside notebook (#12523) [Bugfix:InstructorUI] Removed feature flag for Bulk Late Days (#12826) [Bugfix:Forum] Fix stats header rendering (#12698) [Bugfix:Autograding] Fix negative number tolerance (#12569) [Bugfix:HelpQueue] Always use Abbreviated Names in OH (#12820) [Bugfix:Autograding] Fix regrade team detection (#12737) [Dependency] Bump Lichen from v23.09.00 to v26.04.01 (#12823) [Dependency] Bump RainbowGrades from v25.10.00 to v26.04.01 (#12824) [Feature:Developer] Remove misc Java utils and TCLAPP (#12819) [Bugfix:TAGrading] Fix 2-panel open-document select (#12577) [Dependency] Bump AnalysisToolsTS from v23.10.00 to v26.04.00 (#12822) [Bugfix:Developer] Fix bump_repo permissions (#12821) [Bugfix:InstructorUI] Change Colors to match in Docker UI table (#12739) [Bugfix:Forum] Reduce Page Caching (#12339) [Bugfix:System] File lost when running install clean fix (#12158) [Bugfix:Submission] No File Rubric submit all user groups (#12812) [Dependency] Bump twig/markdown-extra from 3.23.0 to 3.24.0 in /site (#12721) ...

[Bugfix:Forum] Fix stats header rendering

2af0c29

Copilot AI review requested due to automatic review settings March 30, 2026 19:21

github-project-automation Bot added this to Submitty Development Mar 30, 2026

github-project-automation Bot moved this to Seeking Reviewer in Submitty Development Mar 30, 2026

automateprojectmangement Bot moved this from Seeking Reviewer to In Review in Submitty Development Mar 30, 2026

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of not-so-shubh March 30, 2026 19:22 View session

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not-so-shubh mentioned this pull request Mar 30, 2026

Forum stats headers render escaped HTML when sorting #12697

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JManion32 requested changes Mar 31, 2026

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github-project-automation Bot moved this from In Review to Work in Progress in Submitty Development Mar 31, 2026

Use standard sortable headers on forum stats table

60c6bc2

not-so-shubh requested a review from JManion32 April 1, 2026 21:11

automateprojectmangement Bot moved this from Work in Progress to In Review in Submitty Development Apr 1, 2026

JManion32 requested changes Apr 7, 2026

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github-project-automation Bot moved this from In Review to Work in Progress in Submitty Development Apr 7, 2026

[Bugfix:Forum] Keep forum stats layout stable when posts expand

3ffe9e1

github-actions Bot added the Abandoned PR - Needs New Owner No activity on PR for more than 2 weeks -- seeking new owner to complete label Apr 26, 2026

not-so-shubh requested a review from JManion32 April 28, 2026 21:42

automateprojectmangement Bot moved this from Work in Progress to In Review in Submitty Development Apr 28, 2026

JManion32 removed the Abandoned PR - Needs New Owner No activity on PR for more than 2 weeks -- seeking new owner to complete label May 1, 2026

Merge branch 'main' into bugfix/forum-stats-header-escape

528ed94

Merge branch 'main' into bugfix/forum-stats-header-escape

52af748

JManion32 approved these changes May 1, 2026

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github-project-automation Bot moved this from In Review to Awaiting Maintainer Review in Submitty Development May 1, 2026

bmcutler merged commit 622f781 into Submitty:main May 1, 2026
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[Bugfix:Forum] Fix stats header rendering#12698

[Bugfix:Forum] Fix stats header rendering#12698
bmcutler merged 5 commits into
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not-so-shubh:bugfix/forum-stats-header-escape

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Why is this Change Important & Necessary?

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