Survey 123 in Web App Builder to Edit Existing Feature's Related Table

[Amanda__Huber]

I think it would be incredible to harness the power of Survey 123 cascading form technology in Web App Builder's application to edit an existing feature's related table. 

This could be an extremely powerful integration for organizations who need to collect information on existing features and don't want new geometry.  

Currently the only option out there (that's configurable and that I'm aware of) that allows you to edit/add related table data is the Polling Template. This app is great, but a bit cumbersome and not quite as powerful as Survey 123. I propose that there be an option to either embed the Survey 123 form into an iframe in the pane or make it a Widget itself. 

[Lake_Worth_BeachAdmin]

you can have the feature point to a custom URL schema that directs the user to the survey123 form and you're ablew to specify what the OIDs are and etc...

Integrate with other apps—Survey123 for ArcGIS | ArcGIS 

[Amanda__Huber]

Hi Joe, 

Thanks so much your suggestion! I am currently using that technique as my workaround in my WAB app. 

That's actually what gave me the idea to make this post, there's gotta be a better way. The url technique does work well, don't get me wrong, but any time a user has to navigate away from the app it leads to another potential point of failure. It's great that the URL opens in a new tab by default, but depending on the audience/users it could be a bit cumbersome or confusing. If the user doesn't realize that a new tab was opened they may not know how to return back to the app. 

That's why I propose to keep it all in the same browser window. The Smart Editor Widget has similar capabilities, the ability to Hide, Require, Disable Fields using expressions to ultimately create a cascading form, but it's a lot more difficult to build and is a much less robust form than Survey 123. If there could be a Survey 123 Widget that could point to an existing/newly created survey in your organization that's based of an existing feature, it would be great! It would be mobile friendly and have the best of both worlds! 

[ScottPrindle]

Hello Amanda,

Thank you for submitting this idea! I've removed the Survey123 category, since this is requesting functionality within Web AppBuilder and its widgets.

The cascading form functionality seen in Survey123 is primarily inherited from XLSForms, which define the data structure for services to be published from Survey123 Connect or the website. The service contains more complex configurations than most feature services and data models published for other uses, so I can see how the Smart Editor Widget may take a lot of effort to mimic some of these behaviors.

When you say you want the cascading form functionality from Survey123 in Web AppBuilder, are you only interested in hiding/showing fields, disabling fields, and calculations? Or are you interested in more of the functionality that XLSForms have to offer?

You had also mentioned a need for easier editing of related records in general. Is this something that you find difficult in all widget configurations that allow you to add or update related records, or is this idea primarily focused on the cascading form functionality? Would it be feasible to move the entire workflow into Survey123, either using an existing feature service, a new survey with the Inbox, or a combination of the two? Are there other tasks that these workers accomplish within your Web AppBuilder application that must remain as a separate app?

Thanks,

Scott

[Amanda__Huber]

Hi Scott, 

Thank's so much for responding to my post!

I have been able to mimic some of the cascading capabilities through smart editor by setting up rules based on answers, but as I mentioned before it's very difficult to do. In addition since smart editor

Ideally, the power of  a XLS form and its capability would be great and would allow the user to continue to use S123. My conceptualization is to keep S123 and WAB as separate products but have the capability to embed a S123 into widget (like an iframe) or (even better) have a Survey 123 Widget that you can point to one of your published surveys. Please see mock-up below. 

To be honest, There doesn't seem to be a option for editing related records that  also has a good user interface in AGOL as a whole much less in WAB. In the mentioned above smart editor widget, we have to use Geoevent automation to push the data from the input parent table to the related child table and then clear these fields for the next observation. This is something that S123 does effortlessly.

We are actually using S123 with an existing feature service. In one of our other WAB applications we are using S123 as a hyperlink which passes attributes from the parent table point clicked on to the related child table via the in the URL syntax. This works great, but the problem is when users (typically and older generation of volunteers) click on this hyperlink on a mobile device it navigates them away from the WAB to a new tab. This can be confusing for users, if they don't know how to return to the WAB to complete more observations. Ideally a all in one S123 and WAB in one would be great. No navigating away from the app, and a streamlined observation process for users (with a robust XLS form capabilities in the back end). 

If you're interested or would like to see how we're using these technologies first hand, I would be more than happy to set up a screen share meeting with you. 

Concept art for S123 Widget in WAB: 

Thanks again so much for your time, 

Amanda Huber