topic Re: survey123 string or binary data would be truncated in ArcGIS Survey123 Questions

survey123 string or binary data would be truncated

CaitlinSmith2 — Tue, 07 Nov 2017 15:07:17 GMT

Hi Esri World,

I created a survey using Survey123 Connect and sent it out. Some users report that they get an error message that says: "String or binary data would be truncated. r/n the statement has been terminated" when attempting to answer a multi-line text question. I changed the character limit for this question from the default to 1000, but that doesn't seem to be helping. Any ideas?

Caitlin

Re: survey123 string or binary data would be truncated

JamesTedrick — Tue, 07 Nov 2017 19:27:04 GMT

Hi Caitlin,

Unfortunately, modifying the length of text field storage is not capable within ArcGIS Online, so Survey123 cannot support it.

Re: survey123 string or binary data would be truncated

CaitlinSmith2 — Tue, 07 Nov 2017 21:22:43 GMT

Thanks James. What about the bind::esri:fieldType column in Survey123 Connect? This is where I changed the number to 1000 to override the default value of 250.

Re: survey123 string or binary data would be truncated

JamesTedrick — Tue, 07 Nov 2017 21:25:51 GMT

Hi Caitlin,

That will set the size on initial publishing only- it can't update the size due to the limitation with ArcGIS Online.

Re: survey123 string or binary data would be truncated

TimnaG — Fri, 09 Nov 2018 21:19:47 GMT

Hi James,

Couple of questions:

If we were to set the field length prior to publishing to a value well over 255 characters - what is the upper character limit?
Also - if a survey has been published, but not yet gathered any responses, could Esri not allow for change of field length in Survey123 Connect?

This would allow more flexibility for anyone who has to create surveys for clients/managers who have had a 'change of heart' in the direction they are taking after giving initial instruction (like that never happens LOL). Or is there a workaround by adding a new multiline text field in the XLSForm with the required increased character length specified in the bind::esri:fieldLength column? Or any other 'workaround'? Thanks.

Re: survey123 string or binary data would be truncated

diegocarvalho — Thu, 17 Jan 2019 13:03:56 GMT

Hi James,

In addition to Timna's points, from what I got, we cannot update the field lengths once the survey is publisher, correct?

BUT, here are a few questions:

The forms filled through the web browser respect the same field length as the ones filled in Survey123 app or the web version is limited to 255 characters and can't be changed?
If we change the field length in Connect and republish the survey, it will be changed in the Apps, but not in the web forms?

Tks!

Re: survey123 string or binary data would be truncated

JamesTedrick — Thu, 17 Jan 2019 23:45:17 GMT

Hi Diego, Timna,

On Timna's questions:

1) On the maximum length- the max length for a file GDB's field is 2.147 million (see File geodatabase size and name limits—Help | ArcGIS Desktop ); I would presume that AGO could support that as well.

2) On changing field properties while the feature class is empty - this is possible in the ArcGIS Desktop environment using Alter Field—Data Management toolbox | ArcGIS Desktop . Currently, this is not available in the ArcGIS Online environment.

On Diego's questions:

1) The web browser and field app forms observe the same limitation

2) The field length cannot be directly changed in Survey123 Connect; you would need to delete the field and then recreate it with the new length.

Re: survey123 string or binary data would be truncated

diegocarvalho — Mon, 21 Jan 2019 19:19:37 GMT

Thanks James,

Would there be any other cause for the error message? ("String or binary data would be truncated. The statement has been terminated.")

Re: survey123 string or binary data would be truncated

JamesTedrick — Wed, 23 Jan 2019 22:05:33 GMT

Hi Diego,

There are other potential causes, but most are related the size of a string field. For example, Survey123 Connect used to publish a select_one question's field with a length long enough to hold the values listed at the time of publishing; if a longer entry was added, that would result in this error as well.

Re: survey123 string or binary data would be truncated

TylerBragg2 — Thu, 25 Jul 2019 17:25:00 GMT

James,

I encountered this error after setting several text fields to "multiline," but not setting the character limit. I republished the blank survey with the character limits set, and it works fine without the error now. I wouldn't have thought to do this without this thread.

Thanks!

Marvin

Re: survey123 string or binary data would be truncated

WillWoodroof — Wed, 22 Apr 2020 19:57:12 GMT

Hello,

I have the same error message that is related to a uuid() calculation that is being done. Within Survey 123, I have the ESRI Field type set to "esriFieldTypeString" and my character limit to 10 which matches the size of the text field that it is feeding in AGOL Feature Service. If I take the uuid() calculation off, everything works. Any ideas on how to overcome this issue? Perhaps a different calculation to populate a unique ID for a column, or change of field/limit settings?

Thanks,

Will

Re: survey123 string or binary data would be truncated

WillWoodroof — Thu, 23 Apr 2020 12:09:17 GMT

James,

additional note: if I click on this field that is being populated with the uuid() in the survey on the mobile app, then go to the next field without doing anything to the random value calculated, the form submits fine...So if I don't change any values, just select the field, then go to the next and it works. If I do nothing to this field> fill out the rest of the survey, then it will not submit giving me the error described above. Seems like a bug. Any idea how to overcome this? This field is not set to "required" either.

Thanks,

Will

Re: survey123 string or binary data would be truncated

BernardRIXEN — Thu, 26 Aug 2021 14:04:50 GMT

Hi Diego,

I have found that when invoking a web service through JavaScript (see https://community.esri.com/t5/arcgis-survey123-blog/extending-survey123-smart-forms-with-custom-js/ba-p/898782 ), the JSON output can be big. The hidden JSON line in the XLSForm is another place to look at for an appropriate field length.

Regards, Bernard

Re: survey123 string or binary data would be truncated

WilliamRockwell1 — Wed, 02 Aug 2023 11:45:40 GMT

I had this same problem. I had a survey that pulled weather data, and the JSON field was set to string 256. I changed the length to 1000 and it worked.