Bug with calculations on repeats in Survey123 Connect?

DerekKonofalski — Wed, 11 Dec 2019 18:37:04 GMT

I'm working on an irrigation schedule form in Survey123 and I have a section where I'm stumped because my calculations are coming out wrong but I can't determine why.

The basic calculation data entry goes as follows:

1. Number of days per month the schedule runs (${existing_prog_a_run_days_month})

2. Number of start times per day from 1 repeat (count(${existing_prog_a_start}))

3. A 2nd repeat that asks for a station name, number of minutes (${existing_prog_a_run_minutes}), and number of gallons per minute (${existing_prog_a_run_gal_min}).

The total calculation for amount of water used per month should be the number of days per month * the number of start times * the sum of the water used in each station (which is the number of minutes * the gallons per minute).

I think I've verified that I can't use the aggregate repeat functions to sum arithmetic calculations so I can't do sum(${existing_prog_a_run_minutes} * ${existing_prog_a_run_gal_min}) because that just doesn't work. To get around this, I created a calculate field inside the repeat (${existing_prog_a_run_calculation}) that has a calculation value of ${existing_prog_a_run_minutes} * ${existing_prog_a_run_gal_min} and then am using sum(${existing_prog_a_run_calculation}) to get the totals from the repeat.

Here's the issue: I'm testing with some basic numbers to simplify the calculation and I'm getting what seems to be a concatenated result instead of a sum. So, I'm using 10 days, 1 start time, and 2 stations that both are set to the same values of 10 minutes at 15 gallons per minute. This should boil down to 10 days * 1 start time * (2 * (10 minutes * 15 minutes)). If I set this as a calculate field in the XLSForm, the result that shows up is '1501500' which doesn't even seem like a proper concatenation. If I set it as an integer field (or even decimal), I get the result of '3000' which is what I expect.

In the past, working with calculate fields, I guess I assumed that they were just hidden versions of integer/decimal fields. This little experiment seems to suggest that something else is going on. I've even tried wrapping my calculation with the number() and int() functions to try and force a numeral, just in case, but that doesn't fix the issue.

What am I missing here? Is this a bug or am I unintentionally missing something that explains the incorrect concatenation instead of the addition.

Note that, in the attached worksheet, this will be duplicated for a Program A, B, and C but I'm only working on Program A right now. If anyone imports and/or tests this, you only need to fill in the fields marked "Existing>Program A>Start Time, Run Days/Month", and then 2 "Station Run Times>Minutes, Gal/Min" to get the error. The other fields are optional and don't affect the calculation. The correct/incorrect resulting total shows up in "Total Gallons".

Re: Bug with calculations on repeats in Survey123 Connect?

NickDierks1 — Wed, 11 Dec 2019 22:39:41 GMT

For the line existing_prog_a_run_calculation, set the column bind::type to int. That tells the survey to treat that question as an integer, allowing your next calculation to correctly add its values instead of concatenating them.

topic Bug with calculations on repeats in Survey123 Connect? in ArcGIS Survey123 Questions

Bug with calculations on repeats in Survey123 Connect?

Re: Bug with calculations on repeats in Survey123 Connect?