Reference offline data from previous submissions on device

[GuyWeerasingheAFF]

Hi all

I have a request from our team and I’m not sure it can be done

Background:

We collect our data in an offline environment - usually a single device is used on the survey. Whilst on survey, users record animal IDs from 1-xy (per survey). We currently use S123 to collect data from each group of animals. So one submission may be from group 10 with IDs (4-6), and the next submission will be for group 11 and IDs 7-10. Group sequential IDs are managed from field maps and passed over to S123 when we initiate a collection. The users need to remember what individual ID they are up to and input the next ID when they go for their next collection. 

problem: the field users are making simple errors with entering the new ID of animal being sampled. 

desired solution: Is there a way to reference existing/max IDs in the outbox (while in offline mode) and pull that to the new submission? Like can we query the SQLite database on the device from S123 and pull the ID into the next survey?

tested approaches: 

1. I’ve previously had sampled IDs captured in the field maps and the user had to enter their max ID when the callback returned them back to Field Maps - problem is that it still requires the user to remember and submit - guaranteed to be forgotten

2. I do have a functional pulldata from layer to get the max ID of the activity but this only works when online. 

3. We’ve restored to writing the latest ID onto our work pants - but not exactly a future-proof idea

I think that this functionality currently doesn’t exist but wanted to see if anyone else has tackled this for offline users

cheers 

[abureaux]

existing/max IDs in the outbox (while in offline mode)

Short answer is "no".

You could take the max ID from the submitted record and add it to the instance_name so it can at least be viewed from the Inbox though.

[GuyWeerasingheAFF]

That is already in play - the downside is that the user needs to cycle between the two apps (S123 and FM) and review before they commit to another collection (due to the existing callback function, they never get to see the outbox/inbox, once they submit their form, it returns straight back to Field Maps to continue with the work). 
So the current workaround would be to target teh group they are going to sample from. Before clicking the hyperlink in Field maps, they need to switch apps, look at the outbox, assess the max ID and then return to field maps to trigger the callback to S123 and back again. 

[ChristopherCounsell]

No. This will always be messy working offline with groups.

I would suggest moving the complexity to post processing. Run a script to calculate sequential numbers. There's a sample script in ArcGIS pro field calculator for this