idea Add multi-select to Collector for ArcGIS dropdowns in ArcGIS Collector Ideas

Add multi-select to Collector for ArcGIS dropdowns

JohnGillham — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 21:36:42 GMT

The Collector for ArcGIS app supports dropdowns through the use of domains, but currently only allows for a standard single-selection dropdown in the app. Some data collection efforts require the user to choose multiple items to add to the record's field (as comma separated items within a single field). It would be very useful to allow for a way to allow either a multi-select dropdown or a checkbox list for certain data fields displayed in the Collector app.

Re: Add multi-select to Collector for ArcGIS dropdowns

AlanSnow — Thu, 21 Aug 2014 21:53:36 GMT

That would be nice - very useful to redice the number of attributes (and/or checkboxes).

Re: Add multi-select to Collector for ArcGIS dropdowns

GISMike — Tue, 09 Dec 2014 21:05:05 GMT

To piggy-back off of this suggestion, it would also be nice to select an other option and type in a new response. For Ex. If you have a field with Color Type, with Green, Blue, Black as your options and the color is Orange. It would be nice to click Other and type Orange in the field.

Please, please, please at least add the Multi-select field though. This is a huge negative to the Collector App. It has forced me to use a competitors app to do this application (Trimble TerraFlex). I would prefer to stay in the ESRI family though.

Thanks,
Mike

Re: Add multi-select to Collector for ArcGIS dropdowns

ScottPrindle — Mon, 29 Aug 2016 22:30:53 GMT

Hello John,

Thank you for submitting this idea. The functionality you are describing is currently available in Survey123 for ArcGIS, as detailed here (select_multiple).

When voting on this idea, please consider explaining your use case and how this functionality would fit into your current or potential workflows.

Thanks,

Scott

Re: Add multi-select to Collector for ArcGIS dropdowns

ManfredRöhrig — Fri, 03 Feb 2017 13:45:09 GMT

Hi Scott,

I too have this problem. Our organization (www.isip.de) works for the Governmental Agricultural Advisory Services in Germany and amongst others we are providing tools to collect field data on plant pests and diseases.

Our use case is that the advisor for example monitors a field for a range of pests and needs to select one or more from a (pre-defined) list. We could add - let's say - five string fields (Pest1, Pest2,...) and connect them to a attribute domain. But this would either be 'overkill' when the advisors find only three and result in an angry phone call if he finds six.

I dream of a checkbox list in the like of

I know that Survey123 does support this but it lacks the feature of (a) editing existing data and (b) supporting related tables (a bug that had befallen Collector too [BUG-000097876] but was fixed there in the 10.4.1 release) both of which are mandatory to us

Best wishes

Manfred

Re: Add multi-select to Collector for ArcGIS dropdowns

AndrewKeljarrett1 — Fri, 03 Feb 2017 15:56:57 GMT

Piggy backing a little off this, I would also like to say that as well as multi choice dropdown it would be useful to be able edit the output

In our potential scenario, our Tree Team are carrying out surveys on our trees and listing anything of note that represents a risk. Some of that can be limited to a common response e.g. tick all items found under tree (bench, wildlife, signage etc). However for more complex descriptions they are having to use free format text boxes, even though a lot of the text will be the same for each tree as its common terminology. All they are changing each time are the specific measurements for that individual tree. Examples are shown below

Canopy is overgrown by X

Roots are protuding about X metres away from the tree

Contractor Y will be contacted to trim back branches by X

If there was the ability to select from a series of options and this to then populate a text box, they could then go in and amend as necessary.

Thanks

Andy

Re: Add multi-select to Collector for ArcGIS dropdowns

BrianFausel — Fri, 10 Feb 2017 23:02:51 GMT

Use Case:

Our organization has been using Collector to create new layers for various assets. While the field crew is adding features, they sometimes find that the asset requires future repairs. It would be nice to have a "check-box list" attribute of repair options that could be parsed out later (and I'm thinking imported into Workforce for ArcGIS). Right now the workaround is creating multiple separate Boolean attributes (T/F) that represent each repair type.

Re: Add multi-select to Collector for ArcGIS dropdowns

BenWilder — Sun, 13 Aug 2017 16:05:16 GMT

This seems like an obvious feature request that wouldn't need a usage case defense, but here it is anyway.

When we are out surveying plants on parcels slated for the dozer, the municipalities request information about which significant trees can be transplanted or not. In the case of not, there are several reasons why, and more than one can apply.

Currently we have to use a field for each reason, i.e. reason1, reason2, reason3 and so on.

So, our collection form for each plant would read:

Disposition (This is a single-choice domain field)

--------------

Transplant

Remove

Reason for Transplant (This is a multi-select)

Poor health

Low-branching

Sandy (uncohesive soil)

Multi-trunked

Form not suitable

Adjacent plants

The comment above that includes a graphic showing a "Select All" is a great idea.

Re: Add multi-select to Collector for ArcGIS dropdowns

ScottPrindle — Mon, 14 Aug 2017 18:23:56 GMT

Hello Ben,

Thanks for sharing this detailed example. Currently Survey123 offers this functionality, where the multi-select is stored as comma delimited text in a resulting feature layer. However, desktop applications like Pro and ArcMap present the resulting field as text, so the multi-select is somewhat obscured. Are you able to create forms for use in Survey123 for these projects?

Since Collector is designed to consume data that has been created through these desktop applications and other means, their inability to author these at this time puts a limit on what Collector can consume. Survey123 supports this data model because the generation of the dataset begins with XLSForms, and XLSForms define this question type.

I did a brief search but didn't find any existing ideas asking for this same functionality in ArcGIS Desktop. If Survey123 cannot be used for your projects, please consider creating a new idea requesting the same multi-select functionality in ArcGIS Pro.

Thanks for taking the time to participate in ArcGIS Ideas!

-Scott

Re: Add multi-select to Collector for ArcGIS dropdowns

BenWilder — Mon, 14 Aug 2017 19:43:13 GMT

Thanks for the reply, Scott. And thanks for the detailed explanation.

I hadn’t heard about Survey123. Does that come with ArcGIS Desktop? Or is that a product I need to purchase? I will take a look.

Sincerely,

Ben

Re: Add multi-select to Collector for ArcGIS dropdowns

ScottPrindle — Mon, 14 Aug 2017 22:04:05 GMT

Hello Ben,

Survey123 for ArcGIS works with named users in the same way that Collector does. It is also possible to share surveys with other named users (through groups or your organization) as well as anonymously. The primary distinction between Collector and Survey123 is that they are map-centric and form-centric respectively.

As I mentioned in my last post, Collector requires an existing data model and is generally approached from existing GIS data that you'd like to enhance with field work. Survey123 starts with XLSForms. PM me if you've got further questions on Survey123.

Re: Add multi-select to Collector for ArcGIS dropdowns

BenWilder — Mon, 14 Aug 2017 22:30:02 GMT

Hi Scott,

How do I PM you? I tried to Send Message on GeoNet, but I can’t because you aren’t a connection. Can’t find an e-mail for you either.

By the way, I am following you, so you could Message me back, if you like.

Thanks,

Ben

Re: Add multi-select to Collector for ArcGIS dropdowns

deleted-user-cjKSaKqSSkVd — Fri, 20 Oct 2017 18:00:41 GMT

We need this same functionality too, for cataloging the presence or absence of many different possible hazard conditions when performing visual pest surveys for potentially infested trees. If any of a dozen or so possible conditions exist that would make the tree too hazardous for the climbing teams to make a follow-up inspection of the canopy, we need to be able to indicate all of them and it is entirely too cumbersome to have a separate boolean / checkbox field for each one. Survey123 is not going to meet our needs. We need this critical functionality added to Collector. Amazing that people have been asking for it for this long and it still has not yet been added. If the real problem is you don't support it as a geodatabase field type in ArcGIS desktop, then you should fix that and support it there too. It would be a very useful feature there as well.

Re: Add multi-select to Collector for ArcGIS dropdowns

DamonEisenach — Fri, 06 Apr 2018 16:37:04 GMT

We need the same, our crews use collector to record maintenance on related records

for sign maintenance we need to be able to select multiple and it needs to stay related to the original sign, we have it set so our related record isn't a table but a related point layer so we can visualize the record as well.

I don't see how survey123 could work for this, its function is limited compared to Collector.

Re: Add multi-select to Collector for ArcGIS dropdowns

KelseyBoyd — Fri, 06 Apr 2018 17:21:32 GMT

We need this functionality as well, and Survey 123 does not meet our needs. We would like to be able to select multiple plant or animal species from a list rather than have the same question 10+ times to account for each species present within a given area.

Re: Add multi-select to Collector for ArcGIS dropdowns

HeatherFollis — Mon, 09 Apr 2018 17:57:47 GMT

We need this functionality as well and Survey123 only works on point data. We need this functionality for lines and polygons too. Our example is for park trails where we document their multiple uses under one field. We are using a domain for this field but need the select multiple option similar to the way it works in Survey123 for points.

Re: Add multi-select to Collector for ArcGIS dropdowns

JohnMDye — Sun, 12 Dec 2021 11:54:31 GMT

Jeff Shaner‌ & Kelly Gerrow so, for the first time ever, I actually ran into a legit need for multi-select in Collector as well as the rest of the ArcGIS Platform (specifically WAB's SmartEditor widget and the basic MapViewer popup configuration for editing). It took me a while, but I'm finally here and agree that this needs to be given some thought.

It seems to me that this should at least be doable for hosted feature layers, as domains on those are implemented via a simple json key-value list. So in the case of a multi-select, one thought is to use that same data structure with some different logic.

Take the following domain specification for the 'PAYMENT_FORMS' field I created:

{
 "name" : "PAYMENT_FORMS", 
 "type" : "esriFieldTypeString", 
 "alias" : "Accepted forms of payment", 
 "sqlType" : "sqlTypeOther", 
 "length" : 50, 
 "nullable" : false, 
 "editable" : true, 
 "visible" : true, 
 "domain" : 
 {
 "type" : "codedValue", 
 "name" : "Point layer_PAYMENT_FORMS_8ff94d6b-7b8c-4f0e-8838-2fb72098a535", 
 "codedValues" : [
 {
 "name" : "Cash", 
 "code" : "CASH"
 }, 
 {
 "name" : "Check", 
 "code" : "CHECK"
 }, 
 {
 "name" : "Credit", 
 "code" : "CREDIT"
 }, 
 {
 "name" : "Money Order", 
 "code" : "MNY_ORDER"
 }, 
 {
 "name" : "Certified/Cashier's Check", 
 "code" : "CERT_CHECK"
 }, 
 {
 "name" : "Debit", 
 "code" : "DEBIT"
 }, 
 {
 "name" : "Wire Transfer", 
 "code" : "WIRE_XFER"
 }, 
 {
 "name" : "Apple Pay", 
 "code" : "APPLE_PAY"
 }, 
 {
 "name" : "Google Pay", 
 "code" : "GOOGLE_PAY"
 }, 
 {
 "name" : "Venmo", 
 "code" : "VENMO"
 }, 
 {
 "name" : "Zelle", 
 "code" : "ZELLE"
 }
 ]
 }, 
 "defaultValue" : "CASH", 
 "description" : "null"
 }‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍

Clearly, I do not want to have to create a list of domain values with every possible combination so that the user could indicate all forms of payment accepted.

I would think think the codedValue definition could be updated to include an 'isSelected' key for each value. We'll call this new definition type 'codedValueMultiSelect'.

{
 "name" : "PAYMENT_FORMS", 
 "type" : "esriFieldTypeString", 
 "alias" : "Accepted forms of payment", 
 "sqlType" : "sqlTypeOther", 
 "length" : 50, 
 "nullable" : false, 
 "editable" : true, 
 "visible" : true, 
 "domain" : 
 {
 "type" : "codedValueMultiSelect", 
 "name" : "Point layer_PAYMENT_FORMS_8ff94d6b-7b8c-4f0e-8838-2fb72098a535", 
 "codedValues" : [
 {
 "name" : "Cash", 
 "code" : "CASH",
 "isSelected" : true
 }, 
 {
 "name" : "Check", 
 "code" : "CHECK",
 "isSelected" : true
 }, 
 {
 "name" : "Credit", 
 "code" : "CREDIT",
 "isSelected" : true
 }, 
 {
 "name" : "Money Order", 
 "code" : "MNY_ORDER",
 "isSelected" : false
 }, 
 {
 "name" : "Certified/Cashier's Check", 
 "code" : "CERT_CHECK",
 "isSelected" : false
 }, 
 {
 "name" : "Debit", 
 "code" : "DEBIT",
 "isSelected" : True
 }, 
 {
 "name" : "Wire Transfer", 
 "code" : "WIRE_XFER",
 "isSelected" : false
 }, 
 {
 "name" : "Apple Pay", 
 "code" : "APPLE_PAY",
 "isSelected" : true
 }, 
 {
 "name" : "Google Pay", 
 "code" : "GOOGLE_PAY",
 "isSelected" : true
 }, 
 {
 "name" : "Venmo", 
 "code" : "VENMO",
 "isSelected" : false
 }, 
 {
 "name" : "Zelle", 
 "code" : "ZELLE"
 "isSelected" : true
 }
 ]
 }, 
 "defaultValue" : "CASH", 
 "description" : "null",
 "isSelected" : true
 }‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍

From there, all that would need to be done is to present each value in a checkbox array when editing. That would allow users to update the 'isSelected' key for each value. App Devs could determine based on the value of that key whether or not to show all values with a checkbox as 'checked' or 'unchecked' depending on the 'isSelected' key's value or they could simply only show values with where 'isSelected' == true.

Clearly, this would need to be supported by all other apps in the ArcGIS Platform as well, but I think Collector and WebApp Builder would be excellent places to start.

I've added a separate idea to add a new coded value domain type for hosted feature services: https://community.esri.com/ideas/16529

Re: Add multi-select to Collector for ArcGIS dropdowns

Anonymous User — Fri, 07 Feb 2020 11:30:35 GMT

Survey 123 does not meet the majority of collector's user needs, collector is crying out for some of the functionality built into survey 123 such as multi select drop downs as per this post and branch logic.

It would be nice if ESRI stopped trying to direct users to survey 123 when it does not meet the requirements of most asset collection workflows and start listening to their customers and enhance collector. This has dragged on for some years now.

Re: Add multi-select to Collector for ArcGIS dropdowns

KevinColgan — Mon, 20 Apr 2020 20:37:55 GMT

I am building a database to be used by several field crews working a nine county region simultaneously. Each crew needs to be able to easily select multiple items from the same dropdown such as different personnel that performed a task at a specific point, or different species types, without creating a new field. We need to remain map-centric and Survey 123 does not meet other needs as well.

I am on standby for this fix and just wanted to add my specific need while waiting and hoping. This is a huge time-eater for our workflow and not an efficient issue to fix with scripting the night away.

Re: Add multi-select to Collector for ArcGIS dropdowns

JohnMDye — Wed, 29 Apr 2020 15:18:28 GMT

We're still waiting Jeff Shaner‌. I saw your blog post about Collector and big announcements forthcoming. Might I see multi-select capabilities coming down the pipeline? I know this isn't a Collector specific issue but you probably have a really big influence in terms of getting this supported across the platform.