why won't my Survey123 results send? No error, just stuck on attachments

[NicolasPfeffer-Taggart]

First, my setup:

-ArcGIS Enterprise 10.5 (Workgroup Advanced with 5 portal users) Base-Installation (portal, server, datastore) hosted on a single Azure

-Survey123 App for Android v2.3.29 (though previous versions did this as well) on ASUS MeMo Pad 7 and Lenovo Yoga Tab 3 8" devices (as well as a handful of iPhones, and various moto and samsung phones, depends on what my crew has on hand any given day)

-publishing results to the Hosted Feature Service that was created when I first published this survey from Survey123 Connect

What happens:

My users spend 1-3 days offline collecting data on a form that includes up to 2x places for photos. When they return, they connect to WiFi and initiate sending from their tablet. Without failure, at least one (typically many) of the 12 tablets simply gets stuck at "adding attachment 1 of..." (1 or 2, its not consistent). When I say stuck, I mean hours can go by, days even (weekend), without an error message or a change in state of the app or dialog. If I tap the back button, I'm returned to the form's main page, there may be a handful of items that made it through, and there are still a number of unsent items in the outbox. Here's the kicker... when I open the survey that was stuck, and locate the questions with the image(s), there is no thumbnail, but there is a filename for the associated image. If I simply delete the image (tap the little x button) and resend, that form will upload, and maybe 50% of the time the very next record gets stuck just the same. 

What I've tried:

Initially, I thought maybe the internet connection and subsequent bottleneck of 5 to 8 devices uploading might be the issues. I've instructed and maintained that crew should only upload one tablet at a time... no difference... I've even taken tablets to a known high-speed WiFi connection at home (75mbps down / 25mbps up) and tried one-by-one to no avail. Sometimes they stick, sometimes they go....

Then I caught wind that some of my crew believed they were able to take multiple photos per question (not the case, there are 2x separate questions for photos without any repeat group). They indicated they would take one photo, then click the camera button again and take another. I've tried to recreate this, but of course it works fine when I do it, I simply end up submitting the last photo I took successfully... 

I'm lost at this point... has anyone else experienced this? Am I missing something entirely? Thanks everyone for your help!

[NicolasPfeffer-Taggart]

Thanks Jean-Yves Landry, I had hoped that your example would be the case for my users but I double checked for spelling errors or accidental deletions to no avail... I've logged the transaction to a file and will post the results to James's reply shortly

[SunnyF]

Also having the same issue - my users aren't sending photos most of the time. When I press "send now" it doesn't respond... just looks as if I've tapped the "send now" button and the menu doesn't actually go away and nothing actually sends. When I press "send later" button, the menu goes away but there's no outbox. There is absolutely no response from the app, no error, etc.

[JamesTedrick]

Hi Sunny,

This sounds different than most of the discussion in this thread.  Can you provide some additional information:

- What device(s) are you using?  Which OS?

- What version of Survey123 is on the phone?

[SunnyF]

I'm using an iPhone6 with Survey123 version 2.4.72 and the latest OS. I was having this problem prior to the app update. The original survey I published was published a year ago - I don't even know what version, but I made a quick one with Survey123 Connect version 2.4.60 and am having the same issue. These are public surveys. I can submit through the form when I sign into Survey123, and I can submit to the form when not signed in and prompted to open within the browser on my iPhone (Safari). So it seems that the only time I have an issue submitting is with the app itself. We have tested on Android as well and it's having the same issue. 

[JamesTedrick]

Can you share the form with us to try to replicate?  Is this working against a service published with Survey123 or an existing feature service?

[SunnyF]

I've tried it with an existing feature service (originally created with the original survey) and then just recently when I published a fresh test one, it created the new feature service. Form and other folder contents attached.

[JamesTedrick]

Hi Sunny,

The issue is an interaction between the repeat_count you have set & the geopoint question in the repeat.  When a repeat_count is set, the specified number of repeat records are created.  While it sets a maximum (which is how you're using it), it also sets a minimum number of records to collect. In this situation, if one of your staff collected 10 features, there would be 40 'blank' rows accompanying them.  The app is holding up because the geopoint question in a repeat cannot be null.

As a work around, I would recommend removing the repeat_count and possibly use another question or note to tally the features; a note could appear once 50 features are collected asking them to submit at that point or a question with a constraint could invalidate the survey.

[SunnyF]

Hmmm... interesting. I've had the survey up for almost a year now with field staff using it and entering repeats with geopoints, no problem. When did this suddenly become incompatible? Is there any attempt to bring it back? It was very useful for them to take multiple points inside one survey. Thanks! 

[SunnyF]

Oh - also, we tried testing it on an Android and still not working. Likewise- my coworker's survey (different) still seems to work just fine - so I don't know how mine magically broke.  

[JamesTedrick]

Hi Sunny,

Which version did this survey last work on?  Too my knowledge, this is the first that we've seen this issue.  Hopefully the workaround I outlined above can address the issue.