topic Re: Required Fields Allowing Nulls to be Submitted in ArcGIS Field Maps Questions

Required Fields Allowing Nulls to be Submitted

GISJess — Mon, 13 Nov 2023 21:44:52 GMT

Hi,

I am noticing that data in the Field Maps App is being submitted with nulls in required fields. The layers have a mix of required fields with domains and type-in. I uploaded my Web Map from ArcGIS Pro 3.13, where I set the domains and requirements within a FGDB. I also allowed attachments, Editor Tracking and GPS metadata to the editable layers.

I reuploaded the map I was working on, thinking it was a funky one-time glitch, but not only is it the new uploaded Map still allowing required fields to be submitted with nulls, I am now noticing that older maps that have been in use are having this issue..

So far, this has been noticed on an Android phone and tablet.

Is anyone else experiencing this? Could this be due to a new update I am not aware of?

Thanks in advanced for any help.

Re: Required Fields Allowing Nulls to be Submitted

KenBuja — Mon, 13 Nov 2023 22:01:22 GMT

I had this problem with my data and solved it by changing the properties for the required fields so that they do not have the "Allow NULL" option checked (highlighted in yellow). Note that you can only change that property on an empty table.

Re: Required Fields Allowing Nulls to be Submitted

DougBrowning — Mon, 13 Nov 2023 22:02:15 GMT

Have you set this up using Field Maps Designer? That should allow you to config all of this. Using allow nulls is the old way to do it.

Re: Required Fields Allowing Nulls to be Submitted

KenBuja — Mon, 13 Nov 2023 22:04:57 GMT

I had tried doing that in the Designer but had no success in avoiding null values without changing that field property.

Re: Required Fields Allowing Nulls to be Submitted

GISJess — Mon, 13 Nov 2023 22:18:04 GMT

Hi Ken,

Yes, when I created the layers in ArcGIS Pro, the 'Allow Null' option is check off for the required fields before I shared it as a Web Map to AGOL.

Re: Required Fields Allowing Nulls to be Submitted

DougBrowning — Mon, 13 Nov 2023 23:48:48 GMT

There is a check box for required there in the builder that should work. It seems to for us.

Re: Required Fields Allowing Nulls to be Submitted

MitchellGrafstein — Wed, 15 Nov 2023 16:32:34 GMT

I am not sure if this is still the case, but in much older versions of Field Maps, we did find that a user could sometimes navigate around the form enough and sometimes get a required field to lose that designation. I believe that was many, many versions ago though.

Are you actually able to use the form with the values missing and submit a feature or table record? Or are your users submitting data with the proper fields with Null values?

If it's the latter case, unless this has changed in a release without me knowing, users can also use the Edit Multiple tool which does not enforce the form logic - so you would still need to go the route to change its behavior in the underlying layer or table for this scenario.

I hope this helps.

Re: Required Fields Allowing Nulls to be Submitted

AlexaTodd — Wed, 31 Jan 2024 16:59:24 GMT

We've been having this issue since March of 2023. Several crews update case data daily on iPads in the field using Field Maps. The form is configured to require certain fields. Due to the lifecycle of the record, these fields must allow nulls. At random, about 5% of the records updated by crews record a required field as null, even after they have successfully submitted the edits. Our evidence is in the edit tracking—records with the crew account as the last editor, yet the required fields are still null. Crews do not have access to the data any other place than in Field Maps using the forms.

We have an escalated bug open with Esri: BUG-000160038. (Important to note, after doing more work investigating the bug, we learned information that isn’t in alignment with the original description/source of the bug—primarily that the issue does not result from simultaneous use of the underlying data.)

Re: Required Fields Allowing Nulls to be Submitted

Kevin_MacLeod — Thu, 15 Feb 2024 19:14:12 GMT

We are also seeing this. Fields with allow null=false are letting it submit on Field Maps (iOS/Android). The REST service shows Nulls=false on the field. I may have narrowed it a bit - it only affects a field that has domains. Double and Date fields seem to default to whatever the lowest value is in the that attribute field. So, 1899 for Date. (I set blank data to that date intentionally) and it defaults to that. And 0 for 'turns' because that is the lowest value there. I wish they stayed blank and then yelled at the end user, instead. But, at least I will know 1899 is a junk data entry. Again, would be more useful to stay blank and prompt users to enter a value.

But the text field with domains, "Condition" stays blank; but it happily lets users Submit. Even though it shouldn't. This is SDE on prem in SQL Server on ArcGIS Enterprise server 10.9.1. My hunch is maybe this is a bug that is fixed in Enteprise 11.x or if not, it will be fixed at some point.

I see Nulls=false on the Field Maps 'Designer'. I was not able to toggle in Designer as it was greyed out and hard-coded to Require. (using Field Maps Designer to Require fields with Domains DID work, however, interestingly. Those fields allowed nulls at the SDE eGDB level; but using Designer to override and not allow nulls ie Require input, worked) The fields are in a related table, to be used on Inspections. So I am thinking, maybe it's when fields have Domains and on Enterprise 10.9.1? I also tried using the webmap through Portal 10.91 same result, as well as seeing this when accessing the service through a webmap on ArcGIS Online. Also escalated this as a Case with TS. Having 'required' fields is vital for inspections work so that we ensure users enter key info such as Date Inspected, Inspector Name, Condition, etc.

Re: Required Fields Allowing Nulls to be Submitted

Shahadat_Hossain — Thu, 25 Jul 2024 08:49:04 GMT

The same happens also in 11.1. However, if a field remains Null = True in SDE, but only checked as "Required" in the field map design, it does not let you save the data, until the required field is filled out.