Having issues with begin name on line 103 and cannot deploy a form

[waxmanalex]

Having issues with begin name on line 103 and cannot deploy a form. (attached). Any help would be great. I also tried the ODK form checker and just cant figure the solution.

CP_Checklist_2021.05.24.xlsx (38.8 KB)

[Kal_Lam]

Welcome back to the community, @waxmanalex! Have you validated your xlsform through this online validator? It should help you find syntax issues present within your xlsform. Feel free to reach us back if you are still not able to solve your issue even with the online validtor.

[waxmanalex]

Hey Kal,

I tried with the validation but with the syntax flagged my adjustments don’t seem to fix the issue.

Further help is greatly appreciated.

Alex

[wroos]

Hello @waxmanalex ,
First add a name to group line 103 (as the error message indicated).
Then check again and you will see that you have unbalanced begin / end structuring.
You have 16 begin, but 18 end group. (You can see easily this with Excel data filter).
Kind regards - esp… to UNICEF.

[Kal_Lam]

@waxmanalex, kindly please follow the instructions suggested by @wroos. Also please note that the online validator does not fix the syntax issue for you. It will flag the syntax issue for you and you will need to follow the same to fix it. You may have to repeat this process until your xlsform is free from errors.

[waxmanalex]

Am doing so and think I got it out of the way.

However having other (possible) syntax matters using the checker.

Question - do I keep using THIS thread if the syntax is about an issue other than “begin name”?

[Kal_Lam]

@waxmanalex, would you mind sharing a screenshot of your issue you are referring to?

[waxmanalex]

i.e. now that I fixed the earlier syntax issue (thanks), I have new ones like the attached. I just do not know (since it is a new syntax topic) if I should continue to use this thread on another type of syntax issue.

[Kal_Lam]

@waxmanalex, you will need to check it repeatedly (until you solve the issue completely) i.e. fix the issue and then run the online validator again.

[waxmanalex]

Thanks Kal - I am doing this but I do not know what this latest error message means. I checked the “case-insensitive” nature of things but don’t see a case sensitive issue. Thus I cannot move on the next syntax run. i.e. I don’t know what that message is telling me to fix

[waxmanalex]

This is the file in case

CP_Checklist_2021.05.24.xlsx (39.2 KB)

[Kal_Lam]

@waxmanalex. looking at your xlsform I see that there are 32 yes_no_partial name that are duplicated.

Please note that these names should be unique and should not be repeated. Maybe you could rename them as yes_no_partial_1, yes_no_partial_2 and so on.

[stephanealoo]

HI @waxmanalex
In addition to the elaborate solutions by @wroos and @Kal_Lam. Please consider the following
too

Unable to deploy survey form

Hi @olasteven When I look at your form, I notice that there are general mistakes which would not allow you to use your form. I strongly suggest that you should take a very thorough look at your form to ensure that you correct each error ; this will avoid the back and forth where support is looking at each instance of error and pointing it for you. I will thus generalize the following issues on your form. A name must conform to the following parameters Each variable name must be unique; dup…

Stephane

[waxmanalex]

Thank you for the tangible help, Lam. And that you appreciate the nature of such a forum to provide help to those who do not use KoBo every day and to begin with is not entirely user friendly to such persons.

[waxmanalex]

Kal hi.

I worked through the earlier issues and thanks.

Re: your comments on the yes_no_partial apply because:

a) I was able to upload it and preview.
b) yes_no_partial is an intended select for many (most) of this questionnaire and I don’t think one has to give unique identifiers for the same thing for every question (I have seen this done before as as long as it is set up right once in the choices section - i.e. the select one consistently refers to a set).

I appreciate your help as it is granular and helpful as that is what this forum is for - to help those who use KoBo infrequently and then find themselves in a humanitarian situation stuck with deadlines and reduced capacity. This is WAY more helpful than jargon-riddled answers one sees from others. Appreciated.

[waxmanalex]

Hey Stephen,

Thanks - I think you were using response you have used before with other users in the past [olasteven at the start of your message] and I appreciate the wide ranging tips.

These sorts of time, input and clarity are what infrequent users of KoBo need and are far more helpful than tersely dropping jargon as made by other (annonymous) users.

[waxmanalex]

wroos…you may think you are being helpful but - believe it or not- there are people on this “help” forum who have not idea what jargon like stepwise means. Some of us infrequently use Kobo in constrained humanitarian settings where time and resources are limited and I believe this is part of the reason this fora exists. So, when we come on to a help chat like this - straightforward, jargon free, tangible help is far more useful. Also being anonymous and dropping jargon…not so helpful on a humanitarian knowledge sharing platform.

[Kal_Lam]

@waxmanalex, please have a look at the image attached below:

Column A (type) is OK. But if you look at Column B (name), it is repeated. This is the variable name, and hence it should be unique as the system cannot understand if you have a duplicate value here.

[tinok]

@waxmanalex

wroos…you may think you are being helpful but - believe it or not- there are people on this “help” forum who have not idea what jargon like stepwise means. Some of us infrequently use Kobo in constrained humanitarian settings where time and resources are limited and I believe this is part of the reason this fora exists. So, when we come on to a help chat like this - straightforward, jargon free, tangible help is far more useful. Also being anonymous and dropping jargon…not so helpful on a humanitarian knowledge sharing platform.

@waxmanalex I think this is pretty unfair to @wroos who took time to download and test your XLSForm and write a post that was intended to help you troubleshoot. We want to encourage all users to help newcomers with their issues, and criticizing someone who was trying to help you is not OK. Rather, feel free to ask “What did you mean with ‘stepwise’?” In this case, I think he meant to say “iteratively” or step-by-step, meaning that the validator requires checking multiple times after fixing each issue. KoBo users come from lots of backgrounds and for many English is not the first language, and most also work under extreme time constraints so their responses can’t always be as detailed as possible. I hope you’ll also be able to help other users in the future with such queries, our community forum depends on all of us.

[waxmanalex]

Thanks @tinok for your feedback. I honestly did not know how to interpret the two comments from that user wroos - both of which led me to even greater confusion. For the record my sense of confusion was observed by another user (above in the thread and without any solicitation from me) who termed the help as “elaborate”.

My sincere apologies and I certainly was not commenting on language and or idiom … I genuinely thought that wroos user was suggesting that use another software called ‘stepwise’ to somehow check my forms. Your comments are nevertheless appreciated.