How to prevent duplicates from being submitted in a free text field

Question

Hi. I'm trying to prevent submission when a duplicate value is entered into a free text field. I tried adding a constraint to the field with the instructions here: Add a unique constraint to a field—ArcGIS Online Help | Documentation

But I don't have the edit button on the unique field. Help please!

jochoa6 · Answer

I'm getting the following error in the field. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. When I test out the survey the field that should be pulling the data is blank.

SyntaxError: Invalid regular expression flag 'n' in expression

Here is the code:

pulldata("@layer", "getValue", "attributes.free_text", "layerURL", concat("free_text ='",${free_text},"'"))

IsmaelChivite · Answer

Hi. pulldata("@layer") may work for you.

Here is some background info: https://community.esri.com/t5/arcgis-survey123-blog/survey123-tricks-of-the-trade-pulldata-quot-layer/ba-p/1224415

I attached an example below for clarity. To use the example:

* Create a survey in Connect from the XLSForm
* Publish the form
* Once the form is published, replace the URL of the feature layer URL in K3 to target your own survey layer. Make sure the layer has query capabilities enabled
* Publish again and submit

Hope it helps.

Avoid Duplicate Free Text.xlsx