Duplicate feature layer after re-publishing form

[Daniel_Perkins]

Hi all, any help appreciated. 

I have an existing Survey123 form published with Survey123 connect (using AGOL). When I make changes to the XLSform which change the data schema, I get the normal warning dialogue box which says "The existing feature service is not compatible with the survey." When I check the slider saying "I understand the existing feature service will be deleted" and Publish, all seems to work. 

However I now have two matching feature services in AGOL with the same name. One has the old data (collected prior to the re-publish) and it stays static. The other one has all data going forward. The only difference I can see is the data itself and the modified date. I have scoured the help documents and I don't think this is by design, but perhaps it's a new release feature? I can see why it would be good in concept, but it's causing issues for me, which makes me think it's a bug. 

This has happened to me twice now. Any thoughts welcome, thank you.

[DavidPike]

I think it should be deleted but it's been a while.  It may be due to delete protection being on the Hosted Feature Layer.

it shouldn't be a weird duplicate in any case, rather just another hosted feature layer with the same name.  The XLS should point to the new service.  You'll see different endpoints in the REST interface e.g. service_784373byg478erjgjrg439

You should see the new endpoint referenced in the .iteminfo and debug\createService.json files in MySurveyDesigns folder for your Survey.

[Neal_t_k]

I have noticed this too.  I just checked and there are no delete protections on mine.  I assumed it was an archiving feature that was new cause it hadn't happened in the past.  If it is a feature, it would be nice to have the file renamed to something else because it is confusing have multiple with the same name.  

[TylerGraham2]

It happens to me when I'm testing a live form and update the schema. I think they are assuming I may want to save the data and keeps it around.  However, I have noticed with the latest Survey123 update where it is creating results and form views of the layer that those view layers seem to remain tied to the original feature service rather than the republished one, which has caused problems with sharing results.  

[Daniel_Perkins]

Yeah @TylerGraham2 same here. Issues with the view layers is my main concern, along with the confusion.

@DavidPike no delete protections on mine either.

[Tweed_ShireAdmin]

I am having the same issue occur and it is impacting the data that can then be viewed in Survey 123 (AGOL) in the data tab. 
Some surveys which have had many changes are ending up with more than 4 feature layers for the same survey. 
Are there any ways to clean this without loosing data?

[TylerGraham2]

I'm not sure what will happen to the ability to add fields in Survey123 Connect if you go this route, but you could add fields via Pro and update the feature layer that way. Then in Connect set the name to match the field name you created in Pro.  If you publish a feature layer from scratch using Pro and design a survey from it, you can't add fields via Survey123 Connect, you have to add them in Pro. I'm not sure what happens if you add fields using Pro to feature layers created using Survey123. (Read that as create a new form and test it on that before you mess with your production data) 

I haven't tried this Frankenstein approach to updating the feature layer, I either do the database setup strictly in Connect or in Pro. if you try it, be aware that you may need to add a submission_url  in the settings tab of the xlsform for the existing form.