topic Re: Field Maps is requiring a field for no reason in ArcGIS Field Maps Questions

Field Maps is requiring a field for no reason

VGalindo — Tue, 07 Mar 2023 20:36:33 GMT

I have a table that can be edited with field maps, but for some reason there's a field that is required on the mobile app even though I do not have required checked on field maps and null values are allowed. I cannot for the life of me figure out how to make it not required. I attached a screen shot to show that it should not be a required field and they should be able to change other fields in the table or delete the value in this field without adding anything. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

Re: Field Maps is requiring a field for no reason

JenniferAcunto — Wed, 08 Mar 2023 13:43:04 GMT

Go to the Data tab of the Item Details for your layer. Check that field and see if null values are allowed. If it is set to No then Field Maps will make it required because the record cannot be submitted without a value for that field.

Re: Field Maps is requiring a field for no reason

VGalindo — Wed, 08 Mar 2023 16:23:40 GMT

Thank you for your reply. I did look at this before, and yes null values are allowed and it looks just like your screen shot. I can also leave the field blank just fine in map viewer, but not in field maps.

Edit: it's also not showing as required in the field maps designer so I'm just completely at a loss here

Re: Field Maps is requiring a field for no reason

MitchellGrafstein — Wed, 08 Mar 2023 17:10:41 GMT

Any chance this is a type field? Are you symbolizing off of this field? Or were you symbolizing off of this field at any point?

Re: Field Maps is requiring a field for no reason

VGalindo — Wed, 08 Mar 2023 17:29:11 GMT

Yes, it has styles based on what crop is selected. I have a test map I created before this one that also has the domain values and styles and works fine--do you think if I delete the styles and recreate them it might help? I'll try it

Re: Field Maps is requiring a field for no reason

VGalindo — Wed, 08 Mar 2023 18:45:08 GMT

I tried just deleting crop from symbology in the web map with map viewer, and that didn't work. I opened the layer itself in map viewer, and the symbology I originally created was all still there. I removed the crop value in symbology here too, but it's still requiring that field in field maps. It seems to have had no effect at all besides getting rid of the color styles.

I'm just wondering if changing it via map viewer (which I only did because it wasn't working right when I changed the web map in the first place) caused this? If that's the case deleting the original symbology on the web layer itself still didn't fix it

Re: Field Maps is requiring a field for no reason

MitchellGrafstein — Wed, 08 Mar 2023 18:57:31 GMT

Are you using any views at all? Or just the source layer? Did you delete the layer and add it back into the map? I believe once there is a type field on a source layer (non-view), it can sometimes be tricky to remove it as a required field. Also, if you are using views, the source layer types I believe are always required even if they are not required for the view.

The types are in the layer itself, not just the layer in the map, so that is where those changes would need to be made (and you may not wish to do so.)

Just as an FYI - Be careful when switching between opening a map in Map Viewer and using the Field Maps web app (Designer, I believe it is called now in AGOL), as it caches the information when you first load it - so you would have to reload your page to capture changes from one or the other. Found this out the hard way after making form changes in one and then making map change in the other, then seeing all my form changes disappear.

I hope this helps. (Also, my apologies if I am ever slow to respond, I check these forums about twice a day at most. I will definitely get back to this eventually though.)

Re: Field Maps is requiring a field for no reason

VGalindo — Wed, 08 Mar 2023 19:09:59 GMT

I think I'm starting to see what went wrong. I was making changes by opening the web map in map viewer, not realizing that didn't also make changes to the underlying web layer, so now they're completely different. People need to be able to work with it in map viewer, but I guess I shouldn't have created the symbology when originally making the map in ArcGIS pro and added it later with the web viewer?

I am just not sure how to fix this. I'm starting to wonder if I'm just going to need to recreate the whole thing.

Thanks for the help, I really appreciate it

Re: Field Maps is requiring a field for no reason

MitchellGrafstein — Wed, 08 Mar 2023 21:14:14 GMT

Happy to help, and you are most welcome...

I believe this is how it works... When you create symbology in ArcGIS Pro, any field you symbolize off of becomes a Type field, and these Types that are created will also have associated Templates.

Without getting too into the weeds with this, just know that if you hosted a service from ArcGIS Pro, every field you symbolized off of will become a Type field and be required. At least, that is how I believe it works, and making changes in layers and even creating views with different symbology will still potentially be inhibited by this initial choice.

You can alter the Feature Templates from Field Maps Designer. You can also alter the Types by opening up a feature service and clicking on the "Visualization" tab, then adjusting which field you are symbolizing off of. It will give you a warning when you make this change that it will affect the type of features you can create. (See screenshot below.)

Just know that any field you symbolize off of in the layer itself will always be required - but you can also have the required field default to Null if that helps your situation.

I hope this did not further confuse the issue and added a little bit of light to the subject.

Re: Field Maps is requiring a field for no reason

VGalindo — Wed, 08 Mar 2023 22:14:35 GMT

That helps a lot. It doesn't look like I can change the default for the field any more, though. I guess I'll have to redo my layers and map and chalk this up to a learning experience. Thanks for everything.

Re: Field Maps is requiring a field for no reason

MitchellGrafstein — Thu, 09 Mar 2023 12:50:22 GMT

You're welcome, happy to help. Hopefully, your next go at it will be successful. Best of luck going forward, and feel free to post here again if you still have any questions.

Re: Field Maps is requiring a field for no reason

VGalindo — Thu, 09 Mar 2023 21:18:22 GMT

I just wanted to mention in case anyone reads this that it doesn't appear that I can make null a default value. The field is a string so typing <Null> as a domain value just writes that, and I can't leave the domain field blank or even just use a space in the field so it will look blank. I hope this is something ESRI fixes in the future, because in this field I need restricted domain values, but they don't necessarily have to put something in it in order to edit other attributes. I still can't think of a good way to deal with this.

Re: Field Maps is requiring a field for no reason

MitchellGrafstein — Fri, 10 Mar 2023 17:05:39 GMT

I was able to enter a string with one space to the codedValue domain and that was sufficient enough to fullfill the required field requirements. Not ideal, but that did work for me. Disappointing that we cannot use an empty string as a default value, but ' ' worked for me.

Oddly enough, I do have one feature saved with the ' ' value, and it looks like the web app couldn't count it even though it definitely exists as a single space in the data. (Should be a (1) next to that first option.) [This is in Enterprise Portal 10.9.1, so it could be different in AGOL.]

Re: Field Maps is requiring a field for no reason

MitchellGrafstein — Fri, 10 Mar 2023 17:13:45 GMT

Just as an FYI, it still cannot "count" it correctly even in the visualization tab, but it does show up correctly in Field Maps. (In my test, I have one blue dot and one red dot. The single space string is erroneously showing up as other here, but it shows up correctly in the mobile application.)

Probably a bug, so I am curious how it shows up for you in AGOL. I have had issues counting up null and blank values in Arcade in the past, as well. I might have to submit a bug report on these types of things at some point.

I hope this helps.