Field Maps Designer forgets what's happening with Feature Layers which forget what fields they have

Question

I am trying to build a form in Field Maps Designer but it is really putting up a fight. If I don't save after every change it will revert all changes since my last save as soon as I navigate out of the form. But this new issue is what has broken me.

* I made a feature layer called Other Points in my Content list (not in Field Maps Designer). I used the GPS metadata option, so the only attribute fields it had to start were the automated Esri GNSS fields.
* I opened the map I'm working on in Field Maps Designer and added Other Points by using the "add layers" button in the Forms view.
* I then added a text field and a date field to the form and hit save. It created the text field attribute successfully but not the date field.
* I tried adding the date field two more times and eventually it worked.
* I closed Field Maps Designer and went into the item details of the layer and added a few more fields directly to the layer.
* I went back into Field Maps Designer, where those fields appeared as options in the Form Builder. I added them to the Form and hit save.
* I clicked on a different layer to change something in that form, and when I clicked back to Other Points I got an error message telling me that the three fields that I had added directly "no longer exist"
* I opened the layer details and checked the Fields list in the Data tab. The fields very much still exist.

I tried refreshing the page several times. Sometimes it remembers the fields do exist and I'm able to make one change to the form. Sometimes it does not remember they exist.

When I go to add a point in the map in the Field Maps app while the Field Maps Designer has forgotten these fields, the Other Points layer says "The form contains unsupported data". If the Field Maps Designer remembers these fields, the layer works just fine in the app.

What in the world is happening??? I've posted this in Enterprise questions because these seems like an issue with the way these different components are (or aren't) communicating. My organization is running version 11.5.

katemcc918 · Answer

This is definitely good to keep in mind, but in this case I only started looking at the same data across multiple tabs when I went to cross-check that the fields I was working with did actually exist. I know that Field Maps Designer had recognized the new fields because I pulled them in from the list of existing fields in the form builder. While I was working in that same tab, Designer "forgot" them after I clicked on a different layer to make an adjustment to a different form and then clicked back to the Other Points layer. Could it be a caching issue higher up the chain than my browser?

MarkBockenhauer · Answer

I have experienced similar behavior.  When working on the same portal item in multiple tabs or browsers, things can get out of sync if the browser cache for the specific tab is not refreshed to the currently saved state.   I see this most often when I have Field Maps Designer open and the Map open in Map Viewer at the same time.  If I forget to save a change or forget to reload / refresh after making a change, it's very easy to get the map (browser cache) out of sync between the two browser tabs.

For example:

1. I have the same map open in Map Viewer and Field Map Designer.

2. In Field Maps Designer add a New Form Element.

3. Save the Change in Field Map Designer.

4. In Map Viewer, Zoom map to new location, Change Symbols to new colors

5. Save the Map in Map Viewer.

6. In Field Map Designer refresh / reload the web page.   The form element previously added disappears.

The form element was removed because I made my cartographic edits in Map Viewer using a cached, older version of the map. When I saved in Map Viewer, it overwrote the map that I had previously saved in Field Maps Designer, effectively reverting it to an older state. Had I reloaded the Map Viewer tab (web page) first, it would have picked up the changes made in Field Maps Designer. Then my cartographic edits would have been saved against the current version of the map. Working in multiple tabs with the same map or portal items can be done, but you really need to make sure you’re working with the current version of the data by ensuring the browser cache for that tab is up to date. It’s possible that you’re experiencing something different, but this really does seem like a browser caching issue. Your steps 3 and 4 don’t read like a browser cache problem, but steps 6, 7, and 8 do seem consistent with the browser cache being out of sync.

katemcc918 · Answer

And they're back again!!