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Calculation Warning: How to identify location of circular references in XLS form

KClarkDev_GIS

Hello,

I have a survey with several complex calculations in it, many of which are defined in javascript functions. I see this warning when I am in Survey123 Connect, but I have not been able to identify where this circular reference is. Are there any tips to being able to identify where this issue might be in the XLS form?

I've tried error checking within the formulas tab or Excel but the circular references option is greyed out.

Thanks!

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Accepted answers

ZacharySutherby

Hello @Katie_Clark,

Circular references typically occur when there is an expression in the calculation column that references itself. Another spot would be using the indexed-repeat() or another aggregate function within the repeat itself.

Unfortunately since Survey123 uses the XLSForm specification instead of Excel formulas the formula processing tools that are available in Excel won't work.

All comments

JoshB123

I also have this issue with a new form a created.

I believe it is being caused from the indexed-repeat() however, after testing I can't find any obvious problems with calculations.

Im interested to know if it is ok to ignore this warning, or if it's because I have just not found an error in the calculation yet?

Josh

KenBouchard

I've just created a new form, with the exact same idea as you Katie.

As you said, work as intended and doesn't seem to cause issue.

Since a couple of month passed since your post, would you still say that referencing the position(..) in a repeat don't cause any problems?

I don't want to go too far in creating my form to realize it's causing issues later...

Thanks,

Ken

KClarkDev_GIS

@ZacharySutherby Thanks so much for your response and additional information about how the XLS Form works.

In my case, it was the indexed-repeat as you mentioned. I'm using position(..) in a repeat question to create ID's for each entry based on it's position in the repeat. This works as intended in the survey and isn't causing issues as far as I can tell.

ZacharySutherby

Hello @Katie_Clark,

Unfortunately since Survey123 uses the XLSForm specification instead of Excel formulas the formula processing tools that are available in Excel won't work.

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