Multiple Photos in Survey123

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09-16-2015 08:28 AM
TonyStrothers
New Contributor III

Hello,

We are wanting to use Survey123 for a field inspection form and we were wondering if Survey123 can be set to take multiple pictures without having to set each picture as its own field. Either one picture or 12 pictures. Does anyone know if this is possible? If so, how is it done?

Thanks!

Tony

1 Solution

Accepted Solutions
IsmaelChivite
Esri Notable Contributor

[Updated September 1 2020]

Please refer to this blog post for details: https://community.esri.com/groups/survey123/blog/2020/08/07/survey123-tricks-of-the-trade-photos  In short, you can use the multiline appearance on an image question to enable multiple photos on a single image question. 

Hi Tony,

there are two approaches here that you can take:

1- Add multiple image questions in your form. Please note that Survey123 for ArcGIS will store your photos always as attachments, so technically no multiple fields are created in the feature service. I like this option the best because the photos get attached to your survey123 feature layer, making it very easy for you to look at your photos in web map popups. You can add as many image questions to a Survey as you like.

2- Use a repeat. You  can add an image question within a repeat.  Repeats are not my favorite approach, because photos are attached to a related table, making it very difficult to access the photos: you need ArcGIS Pro or ArcMap. However, with repeats you can let people take an unlimited number of photos.

PhotoRepeat.png

Looking at upcoming enhancements, we want to support capturing multiple photos with a repeat without pushing the attachments to a related  table.  This will get the bests of repeats (unlimited photos) and adding image questions to your survey. We are looking at adding this functionality in either the September or October updates.

Ismael

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42 Replies
IsmaelChivite
Esri Notable Contributor

[Updated September 1 2020]

Please refer to this blog post for details: https://community.esri.com/groups/survey123/blog/2020/08/07/survey123-tricks-of-the-trade-photos  In short, you can use the multiline appearance on an image question to enable multiple photos on a single image question. 

Hi Tony,

there are two approaches here that you can take:

1- Add multiple image questions in your form. Please note that Survey123 for ArcGIS will store your photos always as attachments, so technically no multiple fields are created in the feature service. I like this option the best because the photos get attached to your survey123 feature layer, making it very easy for you to look at your photos in web map popups. You can add as many image questions to a Survey as you like.

2- Use a repeat. You  can add an image question within a repeat.  Repeats are not my favorite approach, because photos are attached to a related table, making it very difficult to access the photos: you need ArcGIS Pro or ArcMap. However, with repeats you can let people take an unlimited number of photos.

PhotoRepeat.png

Looking at upcoming enhancements, we want to support capturing multiple photos with a repeat without pushing the attachments to a related  table.  This will get the bests of repeats (unlimited photos) and adding image questions to your survey. We are looking at adding this functionality in either the September or October updates.

Ismael

TonyStrothers
New Contributor III

Thank you sir!!! I really appreciate your hands on approach to helping all of us. The Survey123 application is amazing and I hope Esri sees it all the way through because the potential is enormous.

KevinRobert1
New Contributor III

I am using the first solution oulined. Is there a way to put a relevant clause that will show the "image2...3...4.." only when an image has been added? Instead of seeing 5 image question on the suvey?

IsmaelChivite
Esri Notable Contributor

I am guessing you could do something like this:

Q0: Take a Photo (image question)

Q1: More photos? (yes no question. Default to NO)

Q:2 Take Photo 2 (use relevant statement to show only if Q1 is yes)

Q3: More photos? (yes no question. Default to NO) (use relevant statement to show only if Q1 is yes)

Q:4 Take Photo 3 (use relevant statement to show only if Q3 is yes) etc

JamieKelly1
Occasional Contributor

It seems like a change has been made to Survey123 when it comes to image questions in a repeat to capture multiple attachments for a record.  At version 1.8 I'm pretty sure all the images were stored as attachments to the main record, now at version 2.4 it seems that all the images are stored as a related table containing a row that contains an attachment field for each individual image.

Is there a way to set up a survey to allow users to add multiple attachments to a single feature layer without having to generate a schema with a related table?

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JamesTedrick
Esri Esteemed Contributor

Hi Jamie,

There hasn't been a change in behavior- images that are in a repeat (as this Ismael's answer describe) appear in separate table as attachments of a repeated row.  Other images are stored as attachments of the parent form.

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Hi,

Can I add question without having to add it’s field to the database?

Otherwise if I will follow your suggestion that I will have images-1 fields of questions in my DB.

 

Iris hadar

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by Anonymous User
Not applicable

Hi Iris,

Yes you create questions in your survey without adding fields to the database, this is done using the esrifieldtype column and setting it to null. Note that this means any answer or data saved to that question in the survey will not be submitted and stored in feature layer. Generally using null field type questions is just for display or calculation purposes in your survey.

You mention images-1, what do you mean by this?

Phil.

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irishadar
New Contributor III

Hi Phil,

Thank you so much for your answer, it really solved my problem !!!!!

I didn't know it was possible.

thank's again.

best regards,

iris hadar

2018-07-23 2:44 GMT+03:00 Philip Wilson <geonet@esri.com>:

GeoNet <https://community.esri.com/?et=watches.email.thread>

Re: Multiple Photos in Survey123

reply from Philip Wilson

<https://community.esri.com/people/Philip.Wilson-esristaff?et=watches.email.thread>

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