Survey creates blank features in related tables. Why?

Question

I created a form using Survey123 with a few related tables. When the form is submitted, if there's no data in the related tables, features are systematically created with blank fields. Only some of my related tables are causing this issue, despite the fact that I use  the 'null' option in the EsriFieldType column. The other related tables function as expected. Why?

dougbrowning · Answer

Yes this is a known issue.

https://community.esri.com/t5/arcgis-survey123-questions/related-table-creating-blank-rows-despite-minimal-appearance/m-p/877745

https://community.esri.com/t5/arcgis-survey123-questions/blank-record-being-created-in-related-table-when-using-relevant/m-p/806717

https://community.esri.com/t5/arcgis-survey123-questions/repeat-always-creating-record/m-p/774312

https://community.esri.com/t5/arcgis-survey123-questions/nested-repeat-creating-blank-records/m-p/787410

https://community.esri.com/t5/arcgis-survey123-questions/blank-record-created-when-using-field-list/m-p/764242

https://community.esri.com/t5/arcgis-survey123-questions/blank-rows-in-hidden-repeat/m-p/801750

https://community.esri.com/t5/arcgis-survey123-questions/minimal-appearance-doesn-t-work-if-you-have-3-or-more-nested/m-p/1041860

My project has 3 or 4 tables doing it so hopefully it is coming soon.

AndrewVitale · Answer

I've seen similar behavior, too. I feel like it's more frequent from the WebApp, but would need to experiment a little to say for certain.

It sounds like your repeats are "optional" in a lot of cases? If so, you can try using the `minimal` appearance. This will leave the fields absent from the form until the user clicks the plus button. My theory is that having the fields hidden will prevent the `nulls` from getting written to the related table's feature layer. YMMV.