Survey123 Connect converting XLSForm spins forever

[RobertHarris5]

Hi, we are new to Survey 123 so I could use a little help. We have an enterprise setup with Server and Portal 10.5.1 with DataStore installed. I am attempting to create a test survey using a community template called Damage Assessment. I have tried several other samples as well and I keep getting the same result. Whenever I attempt to create the survey or update the survey, the message 'Converting XLSForm' comes up and spins forever. Not sure if it makes a difference, but I am using a Windows 7 desktop with Excel 2010 to try to publish the survey, and I am connected to our enterprise portal, not ArcGIS Online.

Has anyone else run into this and have any helpful hints?

[DavidErel1]

Unfortunately I don't have a solution, but you aren't alone. I recently started a form from a blank template and was doing fine. then shortly after passing the 300 rows mark I have having the exact same problem. The form was doing great, then of a sudden the next save/refresh causes Connect to just hang. I've even been able to reproduce this on two other machines. Hopefully someone knows what may be the cause.

[RobertHarris5]

Ok, after some research... I was able to successfully perform a fresh install of the application on a different computer. On the current computer (The one with the issues), I have had various versions of this application, from the Beta version to the last version. It appears that when an uninstall of this program is performed, it leaves behind some files that can cause this issue. This is evidenced by the fact that after an uninstall/reinstall, the application still recognizes my portal without me having to reconnect to it. 

[JamesTedrick]

Hi Robert, derel‌

Survey123 Connect hanging while the 'Converting XLSForm' message is displayed may indicate an issue with your network connection.  To accomplish the conversion process, Survey123 Connect uses an API at https://survey123.arcgis.com to convert the XLS file to an XML file.  It is also possible that the form is taking long enough to process that the request is timing out; this would be the case only with very, very many questions and very, very long choice lists.

[DavidErel1]

James

I'm glad you replied. I was wondering if there was a web process going on in the background or not, and the huge delay in waiting for the form to load (and eventually just hanging till killed in task manager) is what I suspected. We are trying to building a survey that is essentially comprised of about 13 categories totaling around 600 lines in excel. If we are experiencing this timeout issue at only about 450 lines, clearly 600 won't fly.  Do you have any suggestions on how to handle such a situation?  I was considering doing each category separately and having some sort of ID field to then tie them all back together later, but was hoping to do it all in one form.

Thanks!

[JamesTedrick]

Hi David,

450-600 questions shouldn't be an issue for the form conversion.  Can you share the XLS file that is currently breaking the conversion process?

[DavidErel1]

Certainly. I have attached the file.

Thanks!

[JamesTedrick]

Hi David,

It looks like your form has nested repeats (repeats within repeats).  This isn't supported but doesn't normally cause Survey123 Connect to hang.  In debugging this, there apparently is an interaction with the repeat_count values an some other properties that is causing a loop in the program- well try to isolate that further. 

[DavidErel1]

Thanks James. I'll look at handing my form a different away to eliminate the nested repeat.  If you see something else, please drop me an email.

Greatly appreciate the help!

[DavidErel1]

If it helps any, it hangs on the "Loading Survey" progress. It clears the "Converting.." progress bar quite quickly.