Hello,
we have an ongoing survey and we have started collecting data but when we submit the form it cannot be submitted because the note is set as mandatory response.
please help.
Hi @l.pomana,
Can you share a screenshot of the message you are getting?
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Hello,
sorry, but it seems that there was no systemstic testing of the form before starting data collection.
A note type should only be required = true, if this is controlled by a relevant clause to stop the form flow in an error situation.
Is there any relevant filter for this note? Or for the group block where the note is inside?
There is no easy solution for you.
- You need to deploy a new corrected version of your form.
- You may open a new form and copy all data manually and delete the old case (and finally also the old form version)
- Or you may copy the cases to a computer and upload them manually (after deployment of the corrected version). I am not sure if this works fully with the old/new version situation.
If there is any relevant clause covering the note, you may manually adapt the entered case data in a way that this relevant becomes false and the note is skipped.
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Hi @wroos ,
How do you do the last option.
âOr you may copy the cases to a computer and upload them manually (after deployment of the corrected version). I am not sure if this works fully with the old/new version situation.â
Thank you
As @wroos correctly alludes to, a âNoteâ question is really just semantic sugar for a regular âTextâ question which only just displays the questionâs label; but you cant actually âanswerâ the (non)question because - in addition - the associated XForm control binding has
<bind nodeset="/foo/bar" readonly="true()" required="false()" type="string"/>
which basically say you cant answer it (readonly=true()) but its also not required (required=false()) so it wont affect your ability to submit the form.
But it appears whomever wrote your original form might have, inadvertently, explicitly set required=true for the note? If so, this could result in you being presented with a paradoxical question that you cant answer (readonly=true), but are required to do so (required=true).
End of day, as @wroos states, your form is âbadâ and needs to be fixed and redeployed.
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Thanks @Xiphware ,
We have fixed the form and redployed it and it is now working fine. But unfortunately we already collected data on the old and problematic form. And i was just requesting if any option or we just have to manually reenter the data into new form.
Thanks
Hi @l.pomana - thank you so much for posting about this. I am conscious this is already almost 3 years ago, but just wondered if you had found a solution for the issue? I am facing the exact same issue now, where I have accidentially set a background calculation field as ârequiredâ and collected data with the form which cannot be submitted. I have now corrected the form, but am worried I will loose the data already collected if I canât submit this form? I am surprised there is no way to force submission despite the required field problem? Thank you so much!
Hi @Enya . Unfortunately i did not find any solution. We had to re-enter the already collected data again into the new revised form. Luckily it was only a few survey and hope it is the same for you too.
Thanks
Are you using KoboCollect (or equivalently ODK Collect) or Enketo to collect the data?
If former, you may be able to pull the (incomplete) submissions off the phone using Briefcase. Caveat: Briefcase is no longer supported, so YMMV⌠Failing that, youâd have to get your hands dirty and manually run Android Debug Bridge (adb) | Android Studio | Android Developers to pull off the raw submission data files off the phone. But at least that will preserve the raw data.
Neither of these are for the faint-of-heart however. 
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