Feb 2024 Update - Edit Widget - Discard Edit Prompt issues

TL2 · ‎03-05-2025

If you attempt to do something that would discard any edits without saving them, such as change your selection, the widget warns you that you have unsaved edits that could be lost and prompts you to either confirm or cancel.

This is misleading. You receive the prompt if the edit window opens but no data is edited. There should only be a prompt if edits are made, not if data is loaded. You should not have to select Update to exit and avoid the prompt. I consider this a bug, please fix ASAP.

BlakeMorrison · ‎03-05-2025

https://community.esri.com/t5/arcgis-experience-builder-questions/issue-with-edit-widget-on-experien...

DanielFox1 · ‎03-06-2025

Hi @TL2

There was a bug identified for this issue, which is currently in review, please raise with your tech support team if you feel you are encountering this issue.

"BUG-000174801 - After the ArcGIS Online February 2025 release, ArcGIS Experience Builder's Edit widget will throw "Discard the edits?" message only after the first Map widget feature selection change in an ArcGIS Server service, when the web map has a Smart Form configured with a calculated expression that uses a Portal function and the Edit widget's "Select" action is not chosen first"

BlakeMorrison · ‎03-06-2025

Hi @DanielFox1

Where would one find such information for themselves?

BlakeMorrison · ‎03-07-2025

Following up on this myself. I've contacted tech support. They didn't quite understand why I was contacting them. They told me I can search for that bug and sent me to https://support.esri.com/en-us/search where the bug cannot be found. Then I was told that as the bug was new, it may not be visible for some time.

Is there a way in the future that someone might be able to browse through the active bugs to confirm they are not alone. At the moment the only option is to post about it on this forum which the ESRI staff don't seem to appreciate and it's creating a bizarre environment of buck-passing.

ChristopherCounsell

We should ALWAYS reach out to technical support and get attached to a bug if we are getting the issue but see the number on the technical support pages or the community forum. Don't just see the bug and move on. Contact Support and get attached. What should happen is:

Open support case and describe issue + provide bug/discussion
Support will try to verify that the behavior you are seeing matches the defect (a lot of the time, it is not going to be the same issue)
Support attaches the bug to your case and your organization
You can then escalate the defect via My Esri and subscribe to updates

Esri tracks the impact of a defect through the number and size of accounts attached to the listing. More people attached to the defect = more recognition the impact is widespread and the likelier it'll get fixed.

Tech support analysts can range from extremely skilled veterans to new juniors mostly dealing with repeated/basic questions like "how do I install Pro". Sometimes we need to grit our teeth and guide them to the outcome we are looking for. Sometimes it may be that the defect is actually not the issue, or they need to explore further before attaching to the defect. In your case it sounds like a new analyst not understanding the workflow. I would suggest:

Reiterating that you have encountered X issue, believe it to be this bug, and would like this to be attached to the bug
Clarify that being attached to the bug allows you to track the issue, escalate it, and identify workarounds listed on the defect
Ensuring you provide any additional information as they request e.g. the bug lists ArcGIS Server but we are only working in ArcGIS Online. What versions of software, when did you start experiencing it...

Re public bug listing - only reviewed issues impacting a majority of users will end up on the tech support search pages. There's a lot of garbage that makes its way into the system as a 'bug', or niche issues that users may mistakenly broadly believe applies to them due to the limited detail on the listing.

Daniel Fox's advice here is correct and definitely not passing the buck. It appears to be a known issue, we should all be throwing our weight behind the bug via the support mechanisms.

BlakeMorrison

Thanks for the attempt at clarification on the expected workflow/behaviour. I believe the issue exists in your first sentence where it is expected that someone who is having an issue should know it's already an extant bug, while you also acknowledge that bugs are not necessarily made available to view.

I think I'm overthinking this. I'm just very confused when tech support tell me to post on the forums (previous situation) and then esri reps on the forums tell me to contact tech support. I'm still not sure how I should have known the bug was extant? And I feel discouraged about either using the forums or contacting tech support as I'm fairly often being told that "this already exists, contact someone else", rather than "we're communicating internally to resolve this issue"

ChristopherCounsell

Tech support is a formal channel where defects can be lodged with Dev teams and visible to account managers. Community is a discussion forum, sometimes with great insights direct from the product teams. It doesn't replace support.

For bugs, the answer is always technical support. ALWAYS. They can work with you to identify the issue, create a new bug, or attach to an existing one. This should be done even if you come across the defect on the public support page or community forum.

The community is a public discussion forum. Most acting individually. Someone from ESRI saying it's a known issue saves us a lot of work; the issue is with the Dev team and anyone impacted should be contacting tech support.

Support may direct you to the community if you are on a personal use licence (limited support) or are asking questions outside their scope, like workflow or design advice.

https://support.esri.com/en-us/knowledge-base/scope-of-support-000029916