Some FAQs I had about the Citizen Problem Reporter Solution

[KateKeeley]

I have spent some time this month trying to understand how the Citizen Problem Reporter solution works There are a lot of basic questions I had that I couldn't find answers to on the Get Started page or elsewhere on the world wide web. 

I thought I'd share some of the answers I've figured out with the automated deployment of the Citizen Problem Reporter Solution and see if anyone else has other questions/solutions!

Question	Answer
Why do I only see "Configured group is invalid or no items have been shared with this group yet." on my Reporter application?	This has to do with the fact that the configured group does not contain at least one map with at least one editable layer that is accessible to the current user. If the group does contain an editable map with an editable layer, then check the sharing. It may be that you haven't updated the sharing of the group or if you have, perhaps you are not Signing In with the proper account -- Sign in with ArcGIS if it isn't shared publicly. I kept trying to sign-in as Guest longer than I care to admit.
Why can't I see the image tab on a selected report in the Citizen Problem Manager?	This tab is only visible when the selected report contains at least one image attachment, or images and charts defined as part of the popup configuration.‎
Why can't the user attach photos to reports?	Attachments aren't enabled. When you do this process automatically, the layers are automatically uploaded to AGO. The attachment section of the form where photos and other supporting files can be added to the report is only available when attachments are enabled on the layer.‎ This can be easily done by going to the feature layer in AGO and clicking "Enable Attachments".
How do I add fields in the form of the Reporter?	Open ArcGIS Pro. Go to the Share tab and click on the ArcGIS Solutions button. The Task Pane will open. Click Configure an ArcGIS Solution. The first step is Adding Fields (note: you can skip this step). For Input Table, navigate to My Content and click the published feature layer that you want to add the field to. You have the option to select the Report Layer or the Comment Table for the this. Which form are you editing? What the person reporting sees (Report Layer) or what the person commenting on the report sees (Comment Table)? Give it a Field Name, define the Field Type, and Field Alias. Check if you want it to be required. The Field Domains field is for if you already have domains created. If you want to create domains, that is in the next step. Click Run. Once the Run finishes, you may continue adding fields, or move on to the Next Step. Here you can Modify Domains. If you want a field to be a drop down menu, configure some Field Domains! If you don't want it to be drop down (and, instead, just a field) Skip this part. Now navigate to the map on AGO the feature layer is on (for example the Snow/Ice feature layer will be on the Snow/Ice Problems Web Map) Click on the three dots next to the layer of the form you want to edit and click on Configure Pop-up (for example, if you  want to edit the form that commenters see, do this for the Snow/Ice Complaint Comments Table Then ensure that the Display and Edit check boxes are checked for the fields you want to display and edit. Here you can also change its alias, change the order of it, and format it.
How do I delete fields in the form of the Reporter?	Open ArcGIS Pro. Add the Report Layer or Comment Table that the field is located in to the map and open its attribute table. Right click the field you want to remove. Click delete.
How do I turn off fields in the form of the Reporter?	If you don't want to display a field, but you aren't ready to delete it, go to the AGO web map that the layer is on. Go to Configure Pop-Up and then click Configure Attributes and just uncheck the Display.
Why can't the user edit the fields in the form?	First, when you are creating the field in the Configuration Task via ArcGIS Solutions, it's vital that you give the field a Field Length. The other issue may be that editing isn't enabled on the layer or in the pop-up. When you are in the AGO web map, Configure Pop-Up and then click Configure Attributes  and ensure that the Editing box is checked in addition to the Display check box.
How can manipulate how every report/comment looks?	As far as I can't tell, you can't change the look of the form itself. However, once the report/comment is posted, you can change how this looks. This again happens in the AGO Web Map layer pop-up. When you go to Configure Pop-Up you have a few options. Under Pop-up Contents --> Display dropdown, change it to A custom attribute display --> then CONFIGURE. Here, you can add your own text and pull information from the report/comment fields (by clicking the + box; see image below).  Scroll to the bottom where it says Pop-up Media. Here you can add a standard image/chart to all of the posted reports/comments.
How do I change colors and text in the Reporter? IMPORTANT NOTE: it is highly recommended that when these changes are made to Reporter maps/layers/applications, they are also made to the respective maps/layers/applications in the Manager for consistency and clarity purposes.	# In Pic Above Description Website to go to Thing to change 1 Application Logo Configure the Reporter Web App Theme tab --> Application logo --> Paste link here 2 Application Title Configure the Reporter Web App General tab --> Application title Theme tab --> Header text color 3 Header Color Configure the Reporter Web App Theme tab --> Header background color 4 Basemap Configure the specific AGO Web Map for the issue category (in this case you are configuring the Animal Control Problems map; it's the first map that pops on the Reporter). You can also add any layers you want and they'll show up. 5 Symbology Configure the AGO Web Map for the issue category --> You can have one symbol for all the reports in the issue category, or have a different one for each type of problem (change this in the Style window Choose an attribute to show; either show location only or choose an attribute such as Type of Problem) --> Click options to define the symbol you want to use. Note: it doesn't appear that the heatmap option works. 6 Issue Category Image Configure the Item Details of the issue category Web Map Edit the Thumbnail of the map 7 Issue Category Name Configure the Item Details of the issue category Web Map Edit the title of the map 8 Issue Category Description Configure the Item Details of the issue category Web Map Edit the Summary and Description of the map 9 Issue Category Pane Color Configure the Reporter Web App Theme tab --> Body Background Color # In Pic Above Description Website to go to Thing to change 1 Issue Category title Configure the specific AGO Web Map for the issue category Rename the feature layer in it 2 Report Title Configure the specific AGO Web Map for the issue category Configure the pop-up title for the layer. You can make the title be based on static text or dynamic text based on the report # In Pic Above Description Website to go to Thing to change 1 Response after a citizen reports a report Configure the Reporter Web App Form tab --> Submission Message --> write your message in the box 2 Form fields Configure the specific feature layers & AGO web maps See FAQ questions and answers: How do I add fields in the form of the Reporter? How do I delete fields in the form of the Reporter? How do I turn off fields in the form of the Reporter? 3 Report It Button Configure the Reporter Web App Theme tab --> Button text color and button background color

Do you have other solutions or questions? I'd love to hear them!

[JayHodny]

Hi Kate,

Very useful information thank you.  I too have been trying to get this particular solution working too for quite some time, and just found your FAQ note.  I figured out that the web maps have to be shared to Everyone.  The web map app and the hosted feature layers only need to be Group shared.  If there are web maps I don't want to see in the app, for example, Blight Problems, I changed the sharing to Organization.  I am trying to add a layer that represents my city municipal boundary, in the field 'Name of an uneditable polygon layer' on the Form tab of the configure tool, but no luck, and this is where I need help.  Have you tried this?  I was hoping to restrict the reports to within city limits.  Many thanks! Regards, Jay‎

[pokateo_]

Hi Jay!

I was recently trying to figure this out too, but I couldn't figure out how to do it. I thought maybe it had something to do with the fact that the layer was "editable", but I never got around to trying that. Perhaps try ensuring the layer is indeed "uneditable"?

Let me know what you figure out!

[JayHodny]

Hi Kate,

I will keep trying to figure it out, and maybe someone seeing our discussion will have an answer as well. I did create another CrowdSource app several months ago, and managed to get my city municipal boundary layer (as an uneditable polygon layer) established in it. How I did this I do not remember! I added the boundary feature service to the only Web map I had in this app, added the name of the service in the config field, and this seemed to work. If I clicked on a location outside of the boundary, I received a message saying the ‘feature cannot be added outside of study area,’ so I did manage to get it to work. I thought I had some notes written on what I did, but alas I am not finding anything.

With the current Citizen Problem Reporter app, I am including four of the available web maps (Water/Sewer Problems, Road Problems, Trash Problems and Snow/Ice Problems). I am using the feature layers as is, no changes to fields or domains for now. I added the municipal boundary to the Water/Sewer web map, but it only shows in the app when that Problem tab is selected. And then it does not prevent me from adding a point outside of the city boundary. I hope we don’t want to have to add the city boundary to every web map used.

Also, do you know how the various Citizen Problem Reporter web maps are included in the app? I thought maybe there was a list in the Reporter config tool where one simply selects the web maps to include? For now, I manage the maps by adjusting the sharing property. Web maps are shared to Everyone, but the app and feature layers are Group shared. The web maps I am not using are shared to the Organization, and therefore do not show in the app.

We should not have to spend hours or a month trying to figure out how to develop and configure these wonderful Esri Solutions. Esri’s online help is great, but we could use more “user example” instructions, e.g., what exactly is entered into the “Name of the uneditable polygon layer” field in the Form tab of the config tool. I tried adding a simple feature layer name and the full URL to the service, nope.

Thanks for your reply, I intend to review your FAQs again.

Sincerely,

Jay

[KateKeeley]

Hi Jay!

I agree with you that there should be more help options. It's always fun and helpful to learn from peers, but it can be frustrating about simple things like, "how are web maps included in the app?"

To that question, I believe you are absolutely right that it has to do with sharing properties. I think that whatever map is shared to the Citizen Problem Reporter Group will show up in the application, so removing it from the group will remove from the application. But this is just theory. I'll have to play with it to see that it is true in reality.

[JayHodny]

Hi Kate,

I was slightly wrong in testing of the municipal boundary feature service as per my earlier email. I added the service to the Water/Sewer Problem web map again. I entered the service name in the config field. Then in the web map app, I tried to submit a report outside of the city limit’s and I got the message I cannot add the feature. So I think this is a way to use this field. I will now add the same feature service to the other web maps and test.

Regards,

Jay

[JayHodny]

Hi Kate,

I made some progress. I added the municipal boundary to each web map, and disabled the municipal layer pop-up in each. There is also the option in the app config tool (Options tab) to not display the pop-up of a non-editable layer, which I think will do the same thing, but globally.

I noticed if I click on an existing report, the app does not open the record. I have to click on the records until I find the report previously entered to see the content. Frustrating.

I think I have this app functioning well enough to test with some users. There are still some config settings I need to figure out, and I need to configure the Manager now.

Regards,

Jay

[AllisonMuise1]

Here are two help topics that address the questions listed above:

Create maps - Crowdsource Reporter | ArcGIS for Local Government 

Configure Crowdsource Reporter app - Crowdsource Reporter | ArcGIS for Local Government 

To summarize these topics to address the specific questions posed above:

Maps and layers do NOT need to be shared with Everyone to be accessed in the application, but accessing non-public content requires you to access the application by clicking the ArcGIS button on the sign in page and you must use credentials that have access to the content. To access the app as a guest or using social media, the layers, map, and app must be shared with Everyone.

Maps that contain layer that have Add and Update capabilities, have editable fields in the popup, AND are shared with the group configured in the application are shown in the app. To remove a map from the app, unshare it from this group; to add a map, share it with the group.

To see uneditable layers in the app, you must add the layer to all the maps where you want it displayed, and you must enable this capability in the app config.

To restrict where features can be drawn, add an uneditable polygon layer to every map where you would like to restrict submissions. This layer must have the same name in the TOC of all maps, but the layers can point to different services and they can have different geographies. Definition queries and filters are also honored. Specify the name used for this/these layer(s) in the app configuration.

I am not able to reproduce the issue mentioned above with regards to accessing records. The details of any report are displayed when I click the report from the list or from the map. Can you be more specific about how you are expecting to access the report?

-Allison

[JayHodny]

Allison,

Thank you for all of this great information!

Sincerely,

Jay

[ShariForbes]

Thank you so much for info about the uneditable polygon layer as I was stumped on how to make that work. I created the shapefile and upoaded it to our AGOL account as a hosted feature service. It does restrict with a nondescript message "Feature cannot be added outside study area". Is there any way to customize this message?