topic Generated Note Causing Publishing Issue in ArcGIS Survey123 Questions

Generated Note Causing Publishing Issue

PaulLefaive2 — Mon, 28 Apr 2025 19:49:50 GMT

Hi Everyone,

I'm using Survey123 Connect v3.22.49 to publish a lengthy form XLSForm to ArcGIS Online.

My XLSForm, although long, is quite simple, it contains a series of groups (collapsible sections) and no repeats. I've published the form successfully and all appears to be working and I'm able to view, use, and submit on the web version.

However, I further wanted to customize the form by leveraging 'generated_notes_prompt_submitted' in my XLSForm and thats when problems arose. I'd like to customize the post submission screen however when I add the generated note to do this it "breaks my form" in survey123 connect (preceding questions not behaving correctly) and when I try to publish it gets stuck on 'Checking Feature Service' and just hangs to the point that I have to close Survey123 connect and re-launch.

It's strange because I have another form where I have this working with no issue at all.

Anyone run into this issue? Or found a workaround/solution?

Thanks,

Paul

Re: Generated Note Causing Publishing Issue

DougBrowning — Tue, 29 Apr 2025 13:25:27 GMT

Often it is because the note is over 255 chars. Set the bind::esri:fieldLength column to something big like 1,000. Also you can set bind::esri:fieldType to null then it will not make the field in the service if you do not need it.

Re: Generated Note Causing Publishing Issue

PaulLefaive2 — Tue, 29 Apr 2025 13:56:48 GMT

Thanks for your input @DougBrowning . I tried what you had suggested (increase field length and type set to null) and unfortunately the issue is still persisting despite the changes to the XLSForm. I'll continue testing to see what else it could be. Appreciate you taking the time propose an idea.

Re: Generated Note Causing Publishing Issue

PaulLefaive2 — Tue, 29 Apr 2025 14:06:55 GMT

Just wanted to flag an additional detail here that is odd:

When I add the note - 'generated_note_prompt_submitted' at the end of my XLSForm and save it, for some reason in Survey123 connect the Schema tab section becomes empty as if Survey123 connect can no longer read the XLS file and its question fields.

Not sure if this behavior offers any clues as to what could be happening.

Re: Generated Note Causing Publishing Issue

DougBrowning — Tue, 29 Apr 2025 14:55:10 GMT

You are near the 31 char limit for field names but should be ok. Maybe try shorter then I am not sure. Unless you got a formula in there or the copy paste went wrong. Maybe try a new form.

Re: Generated Note Causing Publishing Issue

PaulLefaive2 — Tue, 29 Apr 2025 14:59:51 GMT

@DougBrowning I just did a re-install of Survey123 Connect and created a new form from scratch and added a handful of form questions including a 'generated_note_prompt_submitted' at the very end and still experiencing the issue. Given this I submitted an Esri support case so they can take a look. Will post the solution if one is found working with Esri support.

Re: Generated Note Causing Publishing Issue

PaulLefaive2 — Tue, 29 Apr 2025 19:36:10 GMT

Just an update on what appears to be causing the issue:

A 'generated_note_prompt_submitted' note in Survey123 Connect which is used to customize the "Thank You" page following submission doesn't appear to work with XLForm styles outside of the default style (left blank) or the Pages Style. It doesn't appear to work with Fixed and Dynamic Grid styles unfortunately.

Web Designer does allow for modifying the Thank You page however I'd like to display calculated values from the form and present them to the user upon submission (ex. case id number).

I haven't found a solution or workaround yet but thought I'd post the cause of the issue.

Re: Generated Note Causing Publishing Issue

DougBrowning — Wed, 30 Apr 2025 14:27:25 GMT

Web forms do not support Grid at all could be why.

Re: Generated Note Causing Publishing Issue

Neal_t_k — Thu, 01 May 2025 16:55:08 GMT

As a workaround, you could add a summary/review page to the end of the form before submission and then use the generic Thank You page.

Re: Generated Note Causing Publishing Issue

PaulLefaive2 — Thu, 01 May 2025 18:07:07 GMT

@DougBrowning in the November 2024 Survey123 update Esri announced Grid Layout Support in Survey123 Web (What’s new in ArcGIS Survey123 (November 2024) - Esri Community). I've actually been publishing grid forms configured in Survey123 Connect and the grid layout works well in the web form. However, it appears the grid layout and generated_notes don't work well together.

Re: Generated Note Causing Publishing Issue

PaulLefaive2 — Thu, 01 May 2025 18:09:19 GMT

@Neal_t_k Yes I intend to go the route you suggested. Unfortunately, it was confirmed yesterday working with Esri support that this is in fact a bug and it's been reported to the Survey123 development team to fix. Appreciate your suggestion, definitely a valid option.

Re: Generated Note Causing Publishing Issue

DougBrowning — Thu, 01 May 2025 19:46:19 GMT

I thought so also but my form does not work. It just ignores the grid in the web works in connect. It is a summary page of note fields though. Tried a bunch of options but no love in the grid in the web from.

Re: Generated Note Causing Publishing Issue

DougBrowning — Thu, 01 May 2025 20:40:49 GMT

@PaulLefaive2 I finally got 2 grids to work by adding ?version=latest to the end of the URL in the web. Even though it was a new form it come from a file from last year. This seems to get it stuck on the old version of the web. Could be worth a shot for you.
Found on page 4 of this post https://community.esri.com/t5/arcgis-survey123-ideas/grid-theme-to-be-supported-in-survey123-web-app/idi-p/931504/page/4#comments

Re: Generated Note Causing Publishing Issue

ArthurKayDEQ — Tue, 12 Aug 2025 17:03:24 GMT

Has there been an update regarding this bug? Tried adding a captcha (generated_note_prompt_captcha) to an existing XLSForm survey that was using grid styling, and it prevents publishing. It does work in a simplified test survey if "Pages" overall style setting is used and "field-list" is set for each group appearances.

Re: Generated Note Causing Publishing Issue

MiltonSolano — Sat, 06 Sep 2025 21:14:48 GMT

Folks,

As of today (September 6, 2025), I can confirm that in Connect version 3.23.48 it is not possible to use the dynamic-grid or fixed-grid style in a form and include a custom note. None of them work, except for generated_note_form_title. The others (generated_note_prompt_captcha, generated_note_prompt_submitted, generated_note_form_footer, etc.) do not allow the form to be generated correctly.

If you place one of those notes in a form that uses a grid style, the form displays completely blank and cannot be published.

I wonder when ESRI will address and fix this issue in Connect. I need this fixed ASAP.

Mjss

Re: Generated Note Causing Publishing Issue

ijr — Wed, 15 Oct 2025 21:41:24 GMT

Jumping in here to also ask Esri to please fix this bug. I'd really like some dynamic text from the survey on my thank you page.

Re: Generated Note Causing Publishing Issue

Leo_Lerner — Fri, 07 Nov 2025 21:41:23 GMT

Thanks everyone - logged a new defect for this, will follow up once there is a publicly accessible version.