Request a Copy: repeated clicks on submit / send create duplicate requests and emails

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Assessment

Difficulty
2/5
Estimated time
1-3 hours
Newbie friendliness
40/100
Issue type
Bug
Clarity
Clearly specified
Activity status
Active
Tech stack
angular, typescript
Domain
frontend

Research direction

The three affected actions are onSubmit() in the Request a Copy page and grant() and deny() in the response-form components, which the issue links to bitstream-request-a-copy-page, grant-request-copy and deny-request-copy. Check where each button's disabled binding is set and where the REST call is dispatched, and confirm nothing guards against a call already in flight. Done means one click produces one request, the button is disabled with a spinner while pending, and it re-enables after a network error. The author says they plan to open a PR, so coordinate before starting.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Description

bug needs triage

Describe the bug

The Request a Copy form and the grant/deny email response forms do not prevent repeated submissions while a request is in flight. Each additional click on the submit button fires another REST request, causing the backend to create several identical item requests and dispatch multiple duplicate notification emails to authors and submitters.

Affected buttons:

  • "Request copy" on the initial request form (bitstream-request-a-copy-page)

  • "Send" on the grant email form (grant-request-copy)

  • "Send" on the deny email form (deny-request-copy)

  • DSpace Version(s): Seen on DSpace 10.1 and confirmed on main. The buttons are only disabled when the form is invalid (requestCopyForm.invalid), but onSubmit(), grant(), and deny() have no in-flight execution check.

  • Web Browser: Chrome 131, Firefox 132 (reproducible across all browsers).

To Reproduce

Steps to reproduce the behavior:

  1. Navigate to an item containing a restricted bitstream and click the file link to reach the Request a Copy form.
  2. Fill in the required fields (name, email, and message).
  3. In browser Developer Tools (Network tab), throttle network speed (e.g. to "Slow 3G") so the REST request takes 2–3 seconds.
  4. Click the "Request copy" button 3 or 4 times rapidly before the page redirects.
  5. In the browser Network tab, observe multiple parallel POST /server/api/core/itemrequests requests sent (one for each click).
  6. The item contact receives multiple duplicate email notifications for the same request.

(The same behavior can be reproduced on the grant and deny response forms by clicking "Send" repeatedly).

Expected behavior

  • One submission should create exactly one item request and send one set of emails.
  • While the request is in flight, the button should immediately be disabled and display a loading/spinner state.
  • If the request encounters a network error, the button should become active again so the user can retry.

Related work

I have a UI fix ready (in-flight guard, disabled state, and spinner icon on all three buttons) and will open a pull request for this issue.

Question for maintainers: Would you also recommend adding a backend safeguard in DSpace/DSpace (such as rate-limiting or deduplicating identical requests within a short timeframe), or is the UI in-flight guard sufficient?

Dominant language
TypeScript
Stars
180
Forks
577
Avg merge
2d 1h
Merged PRs (30d)
100

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