[crazytonyli]

Description

Fixes https://linear.app/a8c/issue/CMM-2593/related-posts-in-one-section-look-inconsistent
Fixes https://linear.app/a8c/issue/CMM-2594/related-post-shows-a-gray-box-for-a-video-post

To reproduce the issues: In Reader, open Text after a calendar embed and scroll to More from Art. “Embed gallery: services and sizes” shows a gray box, while “Comment Crash” shows only a title and looks like a stray heading.

1. Ignore video embed URLs when choosing thumbnails, and hide missing images and empty excerpts.
2. Leave out related posts that have neither an image nor an excerpt.

Before	After

Testing instructions

On an iPad in dark mode, open the post above in Reader and scroll to More from Art. Confirm that “Embed gallery: services and sizes” shows its title and excerpt without a gray box, and “Comment Crash” is absent. Check that related posts with images still show their thumbnails.

[dangermattic]

	1 Message
📖	This PR is still a Draft: some checks will be skipped.

Generated by 🚫 Danger

[jkmassel]

CMM-2593 and CMM-2594 are fixed ✅. On the Art post from the description, "Embed gallery: services and sizes" shows its title and excerpt with no gray box, and "Comment Crash" is gone. The new RemoteReaderSimplePostTests pass. Checked on an iPhone 18 Pro simulator (iOS 27.0) in light mode. iPad and dark mode were not checked.

CMM-2595 is not fixed. The thumbnails stay gray because image addresses that redirect are rejected. Details and a fix are in the inline comment.

Two minor things, not blocking:

• hasContentForRelatedPostCard decides which posts are dropped, but no test covers it. An excerpt with only HTML and an image with no excerpt would be good cases.
• The excerpt is converted to plain text twice for each post: once in the filter, once in configure(for:).

[jkmassel]

This doesn't fix CMM-2595. The thumbnails in that issue still stay gray with this PR. The cause is in downloadImage, not in which address we pick.

What happens

• Both posts in CMM-2595 have a valid featured_image, on en-blog.files.wordpress.com. This PR picks the same address as before.
• *.files.wordpress.com answers with a 301 redirect to en.blog.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/….
• URLSession follows the redirect, so response.url is the new address.
• downloadImage(usingRequest:) only accepts the image when response?.url == url. After any redirect that's false, so it reports ImageDownloadError.urlMismatch and the view keeps its gray background.

Who is affected: any image loaded through downloadImage whose address redirects. Older WordPress.com posts use files.wordpress.com addresses, so in related posts it's mostly older WordPress.com posts.

Suggested fix

UIImageView+Networking.swift isn't part of this PR's diff, so this can't be a suggestion:

             DispatchQueue.main.async {
-                if response?.url == url {
-                    ImageCache.shared.setImage(image, forKey: url.absoluteString)
-                    handleSuccess(image, url)
-                } else {
-                    failure?(ImageDownloadError.urlMismatch)
-                }
-
+                ImageCache.shared.setImage(image, forKey: url.absoluteString)
+                handleSuccess(image, url)
                 self?.downloadTask = nil
             }

The check looks like protection against reused cells, but it compares the response with the address the same call asked for, so it never catches a reused cell. Starting a new download already cancels the old one. This changes every caller of downloadImage, not just Reader. If you'd rather keep this PR to Reader, dropping "Fixes CMM-2595" from the description works too.

How this was checked

Check	Result
curl -L on both featured_image addresses	200 after 1 redirect
Scratch unit test, fake server, direct image	Loads ✅
Scratch unit test, fake server, image behind a 301	Fails with urlMismatch ❌
Same test with the fix above	Loads ✅ (all 38 WordPressUIUnitTests pass)
Simulator, this PR, "Stop Paying Extra to Keep Your Site Safe" → More from WordPress.com Blog	Both thumbnails gray
Same build with only the check skipped	Both thumbnails load

This PR	Check skipped

Scratch test

import Foundation
import Testing
import UIKit

@testable import WordPressUI

/// Serves `/old.png` as a 301 to `/new.png`, and `/new.png` (or `/direct.png`) as a PNG.
private final class RedirectingImageProtocol: URLProtocol {
    static let png: Data = UIGraphicsImageRenderer(size: CGSize(width: 4, height: 4)).pngData { context in
        UIColor.red.setFill()
        context.fill(CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: 4, height: 4))
    }

    override class func canInit(with request: URLRequest) -> Bool {
        request.url?.host == "scratch-redirect.test"
    }

    override class func canonicalRequest(for request: URLRequest) -> URLRequest { request }

    override func startLoading() {
        let url = request.url!
        if url.path == "/old.png" {
            let target = URL(string: "https://scratch-redirect.test/new.png")!
            let response = HTTPURLResponse(url: url, statusCode: 301, httpVersion: "HTTP/1.1",
                                           headerFields: ["Location": target.absoluteString])!
            client?.urlProtocol(self, wasRedirectedTo: URLRequest(url: target), redirectResponse: response)
            return
        }
        let response = HTTPURLResponse(url: url, statusCode: 200, httpVersion: "HTTP/1.1",
                                       headerFields: ["Content-Type": "image/png"])!
        client?.urlProtocol(self, didReceive: response, cacheStoragePolicy: .notAllowed)
        client?.urlProtocol(self, didLoad: Self.png)
        client?.urlProtocolDidFinishLoading(self)
    }

    override func stopLoading() {}
}

@MainActor
@Suite(.serialized)
struct ScratchImageRedirectTests {

    private func load(_ urlString: String) async -> String {
        URLProtocol.registerClass(RedirectingImageProtocol.self)
        defer { URLProtocol.unregisterClass(RedirectingImageProtocol.self) }

        let imageView = UIImageView()
        imageView.backgroundColor = .placeholderText
        return await withCheckedContinuation { continuation in
            imageView.downloadImage(
                from: URL(string: urlString),
                success: { _ in continuation.resume(returning: "success") },
                failure: { error in continuation.resume(returning: "failure: \(String(describing: error))") }
            )
        }
    }

    @Test func directImageLoads() async {
        let result = await load("https://scratch-redirect.test/direct.png")
        #expect(result == "success")
    }

    /// `https://en-blog.files.wordpress.com/...jpg` answers 301 → `https://en.blog.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/...jpg`.
    @Test func redirectedImageLoads() async {
        let result = await load("https://scratch-redirect.test/old.png")
        #expect(result == "success")
    }
}

[jkmassel]

Requesting changes so this doesn't merge while the description still says it fixes CMM-2595. Those thumbnails still stay gray with this PR (details, proof and a fix in #26264 (comment)).

Either change works for me:

• Apply the fix in UIImageView+Networking.swift.
• Drop "Fixes CMM-2595" from the description and handle it separately.

The CMM-2593 and CMM-2594 changes look good.

[crazytonyli]

I incorrectly assumed 2595 is fixed, too. I have removed it and will create a separate PR for that.

[jkmassel]

Approving now that CMM-2595 has moved to #26296.

Checked again at 2da1fad05d:

• CMM-2593 and CMM-2594 are fixed ✅. We compared trunk and this branch on an iPhone 18 Pro simulator (iOS 27.0), on a real post whose related posts use YouTube embeds as their featured media. Video posts no longer show a gray box, and a title-only post is left out.
• Every live related post we sampled has a type on its featured_media (227 posts: 144 image, 13 video, 70 empty). So requiring type == "image" doesn't drop real images. It also matches the rule in RemoteReaderPost.m.
• iPad and dark mode were not checked.

The earlier nits still apply and don't block. One more: RemoteReaderSimplePostTests.swift changes when you run swift format on it.