Error: Generic Exception: Error Improperly formatted XML

I have the same error in the app, because the web form works like a charm. The firs error that I had was Error: Generic Exception: Error: (500) at https://kc.humanitarianresponse.info/submission?deviceID=collect%3ABm6q1MqWtMb3Ji6D, I tried to send again and again, and get this error: Error: Generic Exception: Error Improperly formatted XML

@saludcontigo, do you mean you get this error message when trying to submit a submission from your Collect android app?

Exactly, I deleted and updated the form, but it show the same

Is the date and time of your device OK?

Yes, today

Which version of the KoBoCollect android app are you using? Could you also let us know the device name and OS it’s using?

KoBoCollect v 1.30.1
Phone: Xiaomi Mi A2
Android Version 10

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OK as a cross check, would you mind downloading your xlsform from your server and test them through this online validator to see if there are any syntax issues?

Don’t show any syntax error. I Upload the form, because don’t have any information important.aUy4NispBxbpn5mAfKt9wp.xml (4.0 KB) aUy4NispBxbpn5mAfKt9wp.xlsx (7.2 KB)

@saludcontigo, I made a quick check with the xlsform you shared. I slightly modified your xlsform to check. The modified xlsform is as follows:

survey tab of the xlsform:

choices tab of the xlsform:

Image 2

Reference xlsform:

aUy4NispBxbpn5mAfKt9wp.xlsx (11.1 KB)

So when checking with the xlsform (shared above) I observed that the data when collected with Enketo I was able to submit the data to the server similarly while collecting data through Collect android app I got this error message:

So I again edited the xlsform and then removed the :red_square:, :green_square: and :yellow_square: button from the expression used under the calculation column and then I could submit the same through the Collect android app too. So, here my preliminary guess is that the calculation column is not supporting the icons you are trying to use.

Maybe @Xiphware should be able to add more to my observations.

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Thanks, I removed the emojis, and the form works good in the android app. And I think that it’s a option you can to fix.
Thanks again :relaxed::relaxed:

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Hello. thanks for your support and I have the same problem with data submission. It shows an error- Improperly formatted XML. It works for near 1000 submissions but doesn’t work for 12 submissions with the same device. I’ve checked with the online validator and found an error. Please give me advice.

Welcome to the community, @rme_team! Would you mind sharing with the community a screenshot of the error message you are getting? This should help the community understand your issue pictorially.

Thanks a lot for your prompt response and support. I’ve checked the answers which are failed to submit .Found out that in one question (free comment box , they entered emoji as answer. So, I’ve removed the emojis and can be submitted. Thanks again.

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Thank you for sharing your solution with the entire community @rme_team! This is very helpful and should benefit the entire community having similar issues. :heart:

Hi! We have the same error in the Kobo app and having read this thread I believe it is because emojis were used in a free text box. However, we cannot find a way to edit the forms now in order to remove the emojis. Are they lost or is there a way to retrieve them? Thanks a lot in advance!

Welcome to the community, @annika_richter! Do you mean you wish to upload the data from the KoBoCollect android app forcefully to the server?

@Kal_Lam Thank you for the quick reply! Ideally we would just like to edit the forms to remove the emojis and then resubmit them. But they do not appear in the menu “Edit Saved Form” and therefore we don’t know how to access them.

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Maybe it’s in the XLSForm (questions, options, calculations) which you will need to update at the form level.

But that would mean that we should be unable to make any submissions with this form, right? However, it worked perfectly fine with all other submissions, only the ones with emojis are causing trouble.