# Billing Reports — Filter by State

**Date:** 2026-07-31
**Driver:** Fields Auto Group wants invoices split by state (they operate in 3 states). Needs to support both "only Washington" and "everything except Washington".
**Target file:** `pages/ticket/manager_activity.php` (Manager Console → Billing Reports, route `/ticket/manager/activity`)

---

## Goal

Add an optional **state** filter to the Billing Report so a manager can generate:

* **All states** (today's behavior, unchanged default)
* **One state only** — e.g. Fields / WA
* **A subset of states** — e.g. Fields / IL + FL, which is how "everything but Washington" gets expressed

The state list must be derived from the selected group's own locations, not hardcoded per customer. Fields happens to have 3 states; the same control should work for any group.

---

## How the report works today

`pages/ticket/manager_activity.php` is a single self-contained page:

1. Reads `month`, `year`, `tech`, `group`, `rate` from `$_REQUEST`, falling back to the `mct_presets` cookie ([lines 20–83](../pages/ticket/manager_activity.php#L20)).
2. Resolves the group name (`entities.auto_group`) to a list of entity IDs ([lines 101–109](../pages/ticket/manager_activity.php#L101)).
3. Feeds those IDs into the session query as `tickets.fk_entity` ([line 111](../pages/ticket/manager_activity.php#L111)) and pulls `ticket_sessions` joined to `tickets` ([line 114](../pages/ticket/manager_activity.php#L114)).
4. Flattens overlapping sessions, buckets hours per entity into `$flattened_entities`, and totals into `$total_amount` ([lines 116–179](../pages/ticket/manager_activity.php#L116)).
5. Renders two HTML tables (per-location summary, per-session breakdown) and — when `report=1` — the same data as an XLSX via PhpSpreadsheet ([lines 504–609](../pages/ticket/manager_activity.php#L504)).

**This is the key structural fact:** every number on the page and in the spreadsheet flows from `$search_entities`. Narrowing that one array by state gives us a correct filtered invoice everywhere — HTML tables, totals, and XLSX — with no changes to the aggregation or the spreadsheet math.

### Where state lives

`entities.state` — `varchar(25)`, populated by `backend/importEntities.php` from the apidex `vcio-export-entities` feed ([line 34](../backend/importEntities.php#L34)).

Values are **two-letter abbreviations**. Confirmed by `pages/ticket/manager_calls.php`, which compares `entities.state` directly against `$state_abbrs[...]` ([line 259](../pages/ticket/manager_calls.php#L259)).

Note: `locations` / `location_groups` are a *different* concept (Fields' internal site list used by circuits/toner) and carry no state column. The report's "Location" column is an **entity** (`get_entity_name()`), so `entities.state` is the right field.

There is already a full name → abbreviation map at `pages/ticket/manager_calls.php:78-96`, currently local to that file.

---

## Design decision

**A checkbox list of the states present in the selected group. Nothing checked = all states.**

* "Only Washington" → check WA.
* "Everything but Washington" → check the other two.
* One control, no include/exclude mode toggle, and it generalizes to a group in 8 states wanting 3 of them.

Rejected: a single `<select>` with `Only WA` / `Except WA` style entries. Simpler to build, but it cannot express an arbitrary subset, and the option list has to be regenerated combinatorially per group.

The control should render **only when the selected group has more than one distinct state** — that keeps the form uncluttered for single-state groups and avoids hardcoding "Fields Auto Group" anywhere in the code.

---

## Implementation

### 1. Share the state-name map

Move `$state_abbrs` out of `pages/ticket/manager_calls.php:78-96` into `code/functions.inc.php` as a helper, so both pages use one copy:

```php
function get_state_names() { /* returns ['AL' => 'Alabama', ..., 'WA' => 'Washington', ...] */ }
function get_state_name($abbr) { return get_state_names()[$abbr] ?? $abbr; }
```

Keyed by abbreviation this time (the calls page needs name → abbr, so either flip it there with `array_flip()` or expose both directions). Labels then read "Washington" rather than "WA", with a graceful fall back to the raw value if the feed ever sends something unexpected.

### 2. Build a group → states map

One query near the existing `$groups` lookup (`pages/ticket/manager_activity.php:44-48`). Doing all groups at once — not just the selected one — lets the same data drive both the server-side render and the client-side repopulate in step 4:

```php
$group_states = [];
foreach ($SITE['db']->get_items(
  ['entity_system_links', 'entities', 'entity_system_links.fk_entity = entities.pk_entity'],
  [
    'entity_system_links.fk_system' => $SITE['pk_system'],
    'groupby' => 'entities.auto_group, entities.state',
    'orderby' => 'entities.auto_group, entities.state',
  ],
  "entities.auto_group, entities.state"
) as $row) {
  if (!$row['auto_group']) continue;
  $group_states[$row['auto_group']][] = (string)$row['state'];  // '' for NULL/blank
}
```

### 3. Read and validate the request

Alongside the existing `tech` / `group` / `rate` handling (`pages/ticket/manager_activity.php:61-83`):

```php
$search_states = [];
if (is_array($_REQUEST['state'])) {
  $search_states = $_REQUEST['state'];
} elseif ($_REQUEST['state'] !== null && $_REQUEST['state'] !== '') {
  $search_states = [$_REQUEST['state']];
}
```

Then **whitelist against the selected group's own states** — anything not in `$group_states[$search_group]` gets dropped:

```php
$search_states = array_values(array_intersect($search_states, $group_states[$search_group] ?? []));
```

The DB wrapper quotes values (`code/cw_database.inc.php:217-222`), so this is not the only line of defense, but validating against a known set keeps a typo'd or stale URL from silently producing an empty invoice.

Do **not** add `$search_states` to the `$show_results` gate at [line 85](../pages/ticket/manager_activity.php#L85). It stays optional; empty means all states.

### 4. Render the control

In the filter form, after the Group column (`pages/ticket/manager_activity.php:237-254`), add a column that renders one checkbox per state for the currently-selected group:

```html
<input type="checkbox" name="state[]" value="WA" id="stateWA"> <label for="stateWA">Washington</label>
```

Hide the whole column when `count($group_states[$search_group]) < 2`.

Because the group can be changed without reloading, emit `$group_states` as JSON and repopulate the checkbox list on `change` of `#selectFilterGroup` with jQuery (consistent with the rest of the codebase; put it in `$opt['page_script']` with the `<?=$opt['script_nonce']?>` nonce, as the existing tablesorter block does at [line 635](../pages/ticket/manager_activity.php#L635)).

Entities with a blank/NULL state get a `(No State)` checkbox with `value=""` so those locations are visible and selectable rather than silently unreachable.

### 5. Narrow `$search_entities` — the one functional change

Replace the entity lookup at `pages/ticket/manager_activity.php:101-111`:

```php
$entity_query = [
  'entity_system_links.fk_system' => $SITE['pk_system'],
  'entities.auto_group' => $search_group,
];

if ($search_states) {
  // IFNULL() so a selected "(No State)" ('') also matches NULL rows —
  // plain `state IN ('')` will not match NULL.
  $entity_query['IFNULL(entities.state, "")'] = $search_states;
}

$entities = $SITE['db']->get_items([...], $entity_query, "pk_entity");
```

An array value makes `construct_where_clause()` emit `IFNULL(entities.state, "") IN ('WA', 'IL')` (`code/cw_database.inc.php:200-231`). Field keys are interpolated raw, so the `IFNULL(...)` expression works as a key.

> ### ⚠️ Guard the empty-entity case — this is the one that can produce a wrong invoice
>
> `construct_where_clause()` **skips empty arrays entirely** (`code/cw_database.inc.php:200-203`). If a state filter matches no entities, `$query['tickets.fk_entity'] = []` drops the entity condition from the WHERE clause and the report silently widens to **every entity in the system** — a plausible-looking invoice billed to the wrong customer.
>
> Today `$search_entities` is always non-empty because a group with no entities can't appear in the dropdown, so the bug is latent. Adding a state filter makes it reachable. Fix explicitly:
>
> ```php
> if (!$search_entities) {
>   $search_entities = [0];   // impossible pk_entity → correctly returns nothing
> }
> ```
>
> and show a "No locations match the selected state(s)" notice instead of an empty-looking report.

Nothing downstream changes: `$flattened`, `$flattened_entities`, `$total_hours`, `$total_amount`, both HTML tables, and the XLSX all derive from this query.

### 6. Carry the filter through the Download Report link

The download link at [line 629](../pages/ticket/manager_activity.php#L629) must append `&state[]=WA` for each selected state — otherwise the on-screen report and the downloaded spreadsheet disagree, which is exactly the kind of discrepancy that reaches a customer.

While in there: **that link already omits `rate`**, relying on the `mct_presets` cookie to refill it. Add `&rate=` explicitly. A stale or cleared cookie currently yields a $0.00 spreadsheet that otherwise looks fine.

### 7. Label the output with the state scope

Build one string and reuse it:

```php
$scope_label = $search_states
  ? join(", ", array_map(fn($s) => $s === '' ? "No State" : get_state_name($s), $search_states))
  : "";
```

* XLSX title cell, [line 538](../pages/ticket/manager_activity.php#L538):
  `"Engineering Report for {$search_group}"` → `... for Fields Auto Group — Washington`
* XLSX filename, [line 604](../pages/ticket/manager_activity.php#L604): append the scope, e.g. `Engineering Report for Fields Auto Group WA 2026-07 ....xlsx`. Sanitize — it lands in a `Content-Disposition` header.
* On-screen summary paragraph, [lines 613–617](../pages/ticket/manager_activity.php#L613): add a `States:` line next to the existing Agent / Search / Sessions lines.

An unlabeled filtered invoice is indistinguishable from an unfiltered one. This matters more than it looks.

### 8. Presets cookie

Add `state` to the `mct_presets` payload ([lines 172–178](../pages/ticket/manager_activity.php#L172)) so it behaves like `tech` / `group` / `rate`. Two conditions:

* The checked state boxes must always reflect the active filter, so a remembered filter is never invisible.
* Reset `state` whenever the remembered `group` doesn't match the requested `group` — a WA filter left over from Fields must not leak onto another customer's invoice. The step-3 whitelist already drops mismatched values, but clearing it explicitly avoids a confusing half-applied state.

### 9. Optional — add a State column

Low risk on screen, fiddlier in the spreadsheet:

* **HTML** `#tableLocations` ([lines 283–353](../pages/ticket/manager_activity.php#L283)): add a `State` header and `<td><?=htmlspecialchars(get_entity_state($pk_entity))?></td>`. `get_entity_state()` already exists (`code/functions.inc.php:686`) and reads from the per-request entity cache, so no extra queries. Tablesorter picks up the new column automatically.
* **XLSX**: the locations block hardcodes `A:C` ranges for merges, header styling, and the totals row ([lines 554–569](../pages/ticket/manager_activity.php#L554)) and autosizes `A` through `I` individually ([lines 589–597](../pages/ticket/manager_activity.php#L589)). A new column means updating every one of those ranges plus `$table_locations_headers`. Worth doing, but do it as its own step and diff the spreadsheet against a pre-change copy.

Suggest shipping steps 1–8 first, then this.

---

## Implementation notes

Built as described, with three additions the plan didn't anticipate:

* **`state_set=1` hidden field.** Unchecked checkboxes are not submitted, so `state[]` being absent is ambiguous — it means either "fresh page load, use the remembered filter" or "user deliberately cleared every box, bill all states". Without a tiebreaker the preset silently refills a filter the user just cleared. The form now posts `state_set=1` so a submitted request is authoritative even when empty; the Download Report link carries it too.
* **Non-string request values are filtered out** before the whitelist, so a hand-crafted `state[][]=x` can't reach `array_intersect()` and trip an array-to-string warning.
* **The XLSX filename is now sanitized.** `$search_group` comes from the DB and is interpolated into a `Content-Disposition` header; the state scope made that string longer and more visible, so it's now stripped to `[A-Za-z0-9 ._-()]`.

## Verification

Confirm Fields' actual state values before building the UI — the plan assumes abbreviations and a small distinct set:

```bash
mysql -e "SELECT state, COUNT(*) AS locations FROM entities WHERE auto_group = 'Fields Auto Group' GROUP BY state ORDER BY state;"
```

Expect 3 rows of two-letter codes. Investigate before proceeding if you see full state names, mixed casing, or a NULL/blank bucket — each changes a specific decision above (label lookup, normalization, the `(No State)` checkbox).

Then test:

1. **No regression** — existing group with no state selection produces byte-identical numbers to today. This is the important one: the default path must not move.
2. **Single state** — Fields + WA. Location count and total are strictly less than unfiltered.
3. **Subset** — Fields + the other two states. **WA total + other-two total must equal the unfiltered total.** If it doesn't, some location has a state value that isn't in the checkbox list.
4. **Download parity** — XLSX from a filtered view matches the on-screen tables and totals, and its title/filename name the state scope.
5. **Empty result** — hand-craft `&state[]=XX` (or select a state whose locations had no sessions that month). Must show the "no locations match" notice, **not** a system-wide report. This is the step-5 guard.
6. **Cookie behavior** — generate Fields + WA, then switch to another group. No state filter carries over.
7. **Single-state group** — state control is hidden, everything else works as before.

---

## Out of scope / follow-ups

* **Per-state rates.** The report has one `rate` input. If Fields ever needs different rates per state, that's a separate change — probably rate-per-group-per-state stored in the DB rather than typed into the form each month.
* **Splitting one run into multiple invoices.** This plan generates one filtered invoice per run; three states means three runs. A "one workbook, one sheet per state" mode is a reasonable later addition and would reuse everything here.
* **`entities.state` completeness** is owned by the apidex feed, not this app. `backend/importEntities.php` deletes and rebuilds the whole `entities` table on each run, so a location that loses its state upstream silently drops out of a filtered invoice. Test 3 (subset totals summing to unfiltered) catches this if run each billing cycle.
* The `setcookie("mct_presets", ...)` call has no `httponly` / `secure` / `samesite` flags — pre-existing, tracked under the July 2026 security review, not worth entangling with this change.