Survey123 isn't sending SOME photos

KristenSchafer

I am creating a survey to be used with the field app for collecting forest plot data. This requires photos of the plot to be taken, with 6 required photos and the option to add 2 additional photos (other1 and other2) if necessary. The first 6 photos send just fine, but if the 2 additional photos are taken they do not send. There is nothing different about them in the Excel form, and they are not in repeats.

Any help would be much appreciated!

Thanks.

abureaux

Any chance you can link the XLSX?

Unless you set them to null, those fields should send without issue.

KristenSchafer

Yes, I have attached the photo portion of the xlsx here.

abureaux

Thanks!

There is nothing there that would prevent those attachments from being sent. Here is a test submission I tried:

So when you say "if the 2 additional photos are taken they do not send", do you mean that they never send? Or that they only don't send some times?

Also, when sending the survey from your device, what does the attachment upload step say? I.e., when you send a survey, if you take 7 pictures, it will upload 7 attachments. Does the number that appears on screen match what you'd expect it to?

If you are just hearing reports from field staff that they aren't sending, if may mean that they simply forgot to take a photo. I've had that before. And to eliminate that possibility, I make everything required (at least indirectly). For example, you could add a <select_one yes_no> question asking to add additional photos. If they answer "yes", you show the extra photo questions and make them required. That way, you can inspect the submission and see what they selected for that question.

KristenSchafer

That's exactly why I can't pinpoint why they aren't sending. When I take the photos and then send the survey it only ever says that it's uploading 6 attachments when there should be 8. Although, the photos still show up in the 'My Survey Attachments' folder in my files on the iPad. Is it possible it could be an IOS limitation?

I'll test out your suggestion of making them indirectly required and see if that solves anything. Thank you for help in assisting me.

abureaux

Limitation, no. Bug, maybe.

I am also on iOS for the field app (that is where I did my tests). I am using an iPhone 13 @ iOS 18.1.1.

It may be worth checking:

What version of S123 Connect are you using? Current is 3.21.62
What iOS version are you using? Make sure you check for and pending updates
If you use the XLSX you attached to this thread, do you still see the same behaviour? Or does this behaviour only exist in that one full survey?
Enable logging and send a survey again. The logs may have something.

KristenSchafer

I found a solution, it is incredibly simple however, I do not understand why it worked. I changed the wording in the 'name' column from 'other1' and 'other2' to 'add1' and 'add2' and that seemed to fix it. Thank you for you help, I very much appreciate it!

abureaux

Glad you got this working!