topic Re: Field 2 must equal the value of Field 1 in the same record.. can it be enforced? in ArcGIS Collector Questions

Field 2 must equal the value of Field 1 in the same record.. can it be enforced?

HannesZiegler2 — Fri, 11 Aug 2017 12:00:15 GMT

I have a situation where the value of Field 2 must equal the value of Field 1. Field 2 is a check on Field 1 to ensure data is entered correctly. Is there a way to enforce a rule such that, when entering a value into Field 2 in ArcMap, ArcGIS, and (most importantly) Collector (App), it must match the value already entered into Field 1 and vice versa?

Thank you for your help!

Re: Field 2 must equal the value of Field 1 in the same record.. can it be enforced?

Anonymous User — Mon, 14 Aug 2017 11:48:38 GMT

I have never heard about a function like this in Collector.

I would go for the app "Survey123" where this no problem at all to implement. You could open Survey123 from Collector and send data to that app. You could also change the same feature in Survey123 if you want.

Re: Field 2 must equal the value of Field 1 in the same record.. can it be enforced?

HannesZiegler2 — Mon, 14 Aug 2017 11:52:03 GMT

Hey Johan, thank you for the suggestion, I will look into Survey123, funny this is the first time I've heard about it.

Re: Field 2 must equal the value of Field 1 in the same record.. can it be enforced?

XanderBakker — Mon, 14 Aug 2017 12:23:44 GMT

Indeed for now it is better to go with Survey123 (https://survey123.arcgis.com/ ) as Johan Ekenstedt suggested. You will see in future release that intelligent forms will come to Collector and in the near future there will be attribute rules which will bring this functionality. An alternative would be to post-process the information collected with Collector or have some script update the hosted feature service.

I'm wondering though, why do you have two fields with the same information? Why have this redundancy in your data? Can you elaborate on that?

Re: Field 2 must equal the value of Field 1 in the same record.. can it be enforced?

HannesZiegler2 — Mon, 14 Aug 2017 12:45:16 GMT

Xander, thank you for the details. The client is entering the data manually, and as a precaution there are two fields set up so that the number must be entered twice, reducing the potential for entering a wrong number. This is similar to how some online forms force you to enter an e-mail address twice.

Re: Field 2 must equal the value of Field 1 in the same record.. can it be enforced?

XanderBakker — Mon, 14 Aug 2017 12:55:09 GMT

So, are you looking for a validation of the data and provide feedback if the user entered different information for both fields?

Re: Field 2 must equal the value of Field 1 in the same record.. can it be enforced?

HannesZiegler2 — Mon, 14 Aug 2017 13:00:09 GMT

Yes exactly, that's the intend.

Re: Field 2 must equal the value of Field 1 in the same record.. can it be enforced?

XanderBakker — Mon, 14 Aug 2017 13:08:53 GMT

It isn't possible in Collector at the moment, but this might be possible in Survey123. I will CC Derek Law and James Tedrick , experts on Survey123, to see if they can advise you.

Re: Field 2 must equal the value of Field 1 in the same record.. can it be enforced?

HannesZiegler2 — Mon, 14 Aug 2017 14:47:59 GMT

Thank you! I appreciate all the help

Re: Field 2 must equal the value of Field 1 in the same record.. can it be enforced?

DerekLaw — Mon, 14 Aug 2017 18:38:08 GMT

Hi Hannes,

> The client is entering the data manually, and as a precaution there are two fields set up so that the number must be entered twice, reducing the potential for entering a wrong number.

> ... are you looking for a validation of the data and provide feedback if the user entered different information for both fields?

I can confirm that Survey123 can indeed be enabled to do what you're asking for. You can enable this type of business logic and validation with smart forms, which is a key component of Survey123.

To learn more about Survey123 for ArcGIS:

Survey123 for ArcGIS: Collect Field Data with Smart Forms (60 mins free live training seminar)
Survey123 help documentation
Survey123 YouTube tutorial video playlist

Hope this helps,