Is there a single document that catalogs differences between Connect and Web designed surveys

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05-21-2020 11:58 AM
Trippetoe
Occasional Contributor III

Hello,

We are working to roll-out Survey123 to an entire department in our Organization. The questions that come up most often are around the differences between surveys designed with Connect and those designed on the Survey123 website. Additionally, we are asked the differences in functionality for a given survey that is rendered in the Field App vs rendered on the Web. A typical question goes something like this: if i create a survey in Connect that takes advantage of multi-language support, will that functionality be supported if the survey is taken on the web (which unfortunately i dont yet know the answer to  ) 

Does a document exist that identifies the differences in survey design and survey rendering depending on which app was used to design the survey and which app is used to render the survey?

I have found this site which is a small step in the right direction ( Quick reference—Survey123 for ArcGIS | Documentation ). In many blog posts, the author often mentions functionality differences and whether something will render differently. For example there's this line "The Survey123 web app does not support nested repeats." from a recent blog post (https://community.esri.com/groups/survey123/blog/2020/04/09/survey123-tricks-of-the-trade-repeats ). But it's not realistic to ask new users to comb thru all the blog posts and other sites to find this information bit by bit. I think folks (including me) want a definitive list that is comprehensive and is easy to access/find.

Thanks.

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2 Replies
Shwu-jingJeng
Esri Regular Contributor

Hi Tom,

It really depends on how complext your form would be and the knowledge/skills the author has.

This paragraph also explains when user should use survey123 web designer or Connect to author the survey.

Frequently asked questions—Survey123 for ArcGIS | Documentation 

I would also recommend to check What's new in Survey123 to see what new features are introduced to Connect and web app before you author the survey.

What's new in Survey123—Survey123 for ArcGIS | Documentation 

Hope this helps,

Thanks

Trippetoe
Occasional Contributor III

Your reply and links are helpful. Thank you. But i also think that your reply is an example of what i am trying to work past or thru - you've suggested multiple places to check, neither of which really answers the comparison question. Is there a single site or page that documents the differences? Perhaps the nature of Survey123 and how quickly esri is making improvements to it just make that type of site/document not feasible?  But it sure would be helpful!

Here's a hopefully more precise example.... in the FAQ you referenced, there is this line: 

If you need more advanced question types or more complex rules, you'll need Survey123 Connect for ArcGIS. 

What are the more advanced question types and what are the more complex rules? How can i know really what authoring tool to use before i jump in.  It's possible that what i think is an 'advanced question' type is not the same as what you think is an advanced question type. I could spend a good chunk of time preparing a survey that ultimately has one of the 'advanced question types' without ever considering it as advanced. I hope that makes sense.

Here's my real world experience. About three years ago i sold a client on using Survey123 without ever considering that 'nested repeats' were not supported.  It was a huge bummer when several weeks into development i ran into that limitation. To the credit of the Esri team, they heard my feature request and eventually nested repeats become a standard bit of a survey created with Connect - but not with the web app.  Those are the types of things i'd like to see in some sort of checklist or some such comparing the authoring experience and the rendering capabilities.  I know its impossible to think of every feature an app does not have so it would have been impossible to document 'does not support nested repeats' - i am not asking for that. I'd like to start with a full, detailed comparison of what functionality the two apps do have, and go from there.

Thank you for listening.

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