topic Re: Open List Retain value when Editing Survey in ArcGIS Survey123 Questions

Open List Retain value when Editing Survey

DominicRobergeIADOT — Tue, 27 May 2025 21:49:03 GMT

Hello,

I am following the steps from this post Open List and it's working fine to ge my unique list of values in the dropdown list

https://community.esri.com/t5/arcgis-survey123-blog/survey123-tricks-of-the-trade-open-lists/ba-p/1180879

However, when I Edit the survey, I "loose" the original value that was entered. How can I retain the original value when I am in edit mode?

- I've tried Calculated field , not working

DominicRobergeIADOT_1-1748382234927.png

Attached the section of the spreadsheet showing above.

The process is working fine with CSVs... I just would like to be able to use the "live" data from the map service as users start to add more options for each dropdowns.

Any help or suggestions would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

Re: Open List Retain value when Editing Survey

ChristopherCounsell — Tue, 27 May 2025 22:38:33 GMT

Your field binding is null for the question. You're using this and a calculation to populate the actual field that's hidden in the form.

It means that no field is created for the question with the drop down. No value is submitted for that question, and won't appear again when editing.

You need to consider:

Removing the null bindings (create a field to store the user interface value)

You could also review the whole setup, use calculation modes, but I think it'll get messy and introduce loops. Adding the field is the most straightforward solution if you are editing these values later

Re: Open List Retain value when Editing Survey

Neal_t_k — Wed, 28 May 2025 02:11:03 GMT

Are you pulling your list from the same feature layer that you are writing your answers to? Your field that the answers are being written to is "WEI_DBMS" and you are searching a field titled "SDBMS". It appears, if I am following the "Tricks" post correctly that those two fields should be the same and that you are searching from and writing to the same feature.

NealKittelson_0-1748398062945.png

Re: Open List Retain value when Editing Survey

ChristopherCounsell — Wed, 28 May 2025 03:31:56 GMT

It's a dummy field

It's field binding is null

Re: Open List Retain value when Editing Survey

Neal_t_k — Wed, 28 May 2025 13:37:04 GMT

~~the WEI_DBMS field is not null, it is string and is the coalesce calculation where the data should be stored.~~

@ChristopherCounsell Nevermind, I see what you are saying. The field that appears in the form is not being saved! Hence why it appears blank in the form on edit.

It still appears the answers are being saved to a different feature/field then they are being pulled from though.

Re: Open List Retain value when Editing Survey

DominicRobergeIADOT — Wed, 28 May 2025 15:03:25 GMT

Hi @ChristopherCounsell

Yes, I have 2 "dummy" fields as NULL used as place holder (one for the dropdown list and one for the "Other" option). I do not want to created true fields has I want to use this process for the entire survey and I have about 10 questions with dropdown list.

The current process work GREAT if I create a new entry from scratch. How could I make use of the search functionality to populate a dropdown using live data from the map service, with an Other option in case of a new value for that dropdown and retain the existing value.... all that without having to create 2 extra fields in the layer.

Thanks!

Re: Open List Retain value when Editing Survey

Neal_t_k — Wed, 28 May 2025 15:27:56 GMT

So I think to solve your issue and show what was submitted when edited you would have to unhide your "calculate" field. You could set it as read-only. Your current select-one field would remain blank on edit as it is set to "null" but the read-only field would show as the last submitted entry. However that would update on entry (which I think is the point). I made the changes in the attached.

Re: Open List Retain value when Editing Survey

DominicRobergeIADOT — Wed, 28 May 2025 16:31:07 GMT

@Neal_t_k , I don't think this is going to work as the calculation over write the existing value with the coalesce formula. I am probably going to need an IF statement there instead...

Re: Open List Retain value when Editing Survey

Neal_t_k — Wed, 28 May 2025 18:09:22 GMT

Could you do a pulldata @layer function to pull in the last entry and keep it independent from the current form calculations? i.e. keep your calculate field as was (hidden) and make a new note field (can even be null type) to show what is currently in the database for that particular submission? That would eliminate an funky if() interactions.

Re: Open List Retain value when Editing Survey

DominicRobergeIADOT — Wed, 28 May 2025 18:53:37 GMT

it just make the survey too cluttered.. my users will get confused with this interface.

I would probably need 2 surveys: One for initial data entry and one for data editing.

DominicRobergeIADOT_0-1748458281954.png

Re: Open List Retain value when Editing Survey

Neal_t_k — Wed, 28 May 2025 19:24:38 GMT

Instead of putting as a separate field, what if you put it in the label or the hint?

Re: Open List Retain value when Editing Survey

ChristopherCounsell — Thu, 29 May 2025 00:37:46 GMT

It's not possible to have a select_one question that also allows for raw text entry into the same question/field.

The standard solution is to have an 'other' option in the select_one drop-down that has relevancy to a second question/field. Here the user can manually enter the entry not currently available in the list.

Your current form navigates this well for new entries but won't work for editing existing values. Trying to have this setup this way will expose you to logic loops or issues updating the value later on.

I would recommend the traditional approach (select_one field + relevant other field) or just adding the fields in for your existing workflow. Or, have one form for collecting and another method for editing (be it a survey form or map viewer form).

Re: Open List Retain value when Editing Survey

Neal_t_k — Thu, 29 May 2025 04:34:51 GMT

@ChristopherCounsell The method posted by Ishmael that he references, does in fact allow for what he is describing. He is trying to do exactly what Ishmael is outlining, with the exception of showing the previous answer. The method actually does allow for editing items in the list as well as adding new entries. This method itself could cause issues in data management, multiple spellings. etc, but it does allow for editing of existing items in a live list.

Re: Open List Retain value when Editing Survey

ChristopherCounsell — Thu, 29 May 2025 05:17:27 GMT

The exception you identify is the actual issue of this post.

The current spreadsheet and blog workflow allows for dynamic entry of additional values into a list. It achieves this through two null fields for a dummy user interface. These then calculate into a hidden field that actually stores the data.

The issue is that these fields are NULL. When you edit the existing record via the survey123 website or the survey123 inbox, the form loads again and the NULL fields are empty. The calculation triggers and clears out the existing value in the hidden field.

We can brainstorm ways to only calculate the hidden field in certain circumstances but most of these methods involve loops. E.g. calculating coalesce(field1) on the same field1 creates a dependency loop as you are running the calculation on the same field the input is required from.

I think the best bet would be for the user to use the calculationMode=whenEmpty in the parameters for the hidden species question. However it also means it won't be able to be updated later on when the user interacts with the null ui

Re: Open List Retain value when Editing Survey

Neal_t_k — Thu, 29 May 2025 14:21:09 GMT

Yes, but the solution to that is your original solution to make those 2 fields not "null". When I tested it, I needed to perform a fresh republish and rebuild the species list, but the original answers were retained, was able to alter my original answer which in turn updated the live list. And in new submission see the live list. I can see potential for this causing headaches, but what he is proposing is possible without running into cyclic dependency.

Re: Open List Retain value when Editing Survey

DominicRobergeIADOT — Thu, 29 May 2025 18:23:05 GMT

@Neal_t_k and @ChristopherCounsell

Thank you both for all the inputs. As I mentioned before, I am trying to minimize the number of fields in the feature class. So I tested adding a true field for the dropdown list.... everything is working fine EXCEPT if I select the Other option.

ex: Original WEI_BMS field has value of JSON, I update the data using the dropdown field (WEI_DBMS_List) to Shapefile and Submit.... both fields have the Shapefile value

If original WEI_BMS field has value of Shapefile, I update the data using the dropdown field (WEI_DBMS_List) to Other ... then I get the option to add a new value: let's say I add KMZ and Submit.... WEI_BMS field will have KMZ and the new WEI_DBMS_List field will have Other has a value.

DominicRobergeIADOT_0-1748541377254.png

I added a pulldata formula in the Calculate and if I click Recalculate I will get the JSON there. I don't want users to have to click to refresh the data.

So how could I pass the WEI_DBMS value to the dropdown list if the value is Other?

I tried coalesce and if statement and both of them create an error with the parsing.

Re: Open List Retain value when Editing Survey

Neal_t_k — Thu, 29 May 2025 21:49:54 GMT

I am not sure where you are on this with out providing an xlsx. Following our thread I think the provide example attached is what you are trying to achieve. Try this out with a fresh publish, You will have to update the search url and build your list by make some submissions and manually editing the entries in the feature layer. See if this example is what you want, and then update your form based on it. And you may need to do a fresh publish on your form to get it to work correctly.