Parent-child form functionality in dynamic file attachments

User Support Form Building
1

I would like to to confirm some details about the parent-child form functionality in dynamic file attachments. Could you please verify the following statements? (Yes/No responses will do unless I have misunderstood something)

  1. The user needs to add records in the parent for the record to appear in the child form.
  2. Records will only appear in the child form if the record in the parent is synced online.
  3. A possible workaround would be to add records in the child form, run a python script to identify changes and append them to the database of the parent form. Alternatively, would I need to replace the entire dataset in the parent form rather than append the changes (I did this to populate the parent form)?

Thank you for your assistance.

2

Would you mind to provide a full example of option 3 for the community, please?

1 Like
3

I may have an easier method. Please confirm if this will work. As a recap, I am currently using Dynamic Attachments in my Kobo Toolbox database to add fields for entering records that is not already in the parent dataset. However, since the data will be collected over 6 visits, I want to add new records back into the parent database and also any changes. I am wondering if uploading data-cleansed records to my database would be a simpler way to achieve this using the link below.

My plan is to

Cleanse the dataset externally in excel before proceeding.

Delete existing records to avoid duplication. I will also make sure the dataset has the correct column names before uploading it using the link below.

Do you think this is a more straightforward approach? Please let me know if you have any suggestions or feedback.(Manually Uploading Submissions — KoboToolbox documentation)

Please confirm. Cheers. David

4

@DavidT, if you wish to make six visits, you could design your form so that the form also has six different questions for each visit. You could then skip the relevant visits by controlling with a question that captures the visit number so that the required questions will only appear when you go for data collection.

5

Hint: Attention, please. Using relevant will delete all not-relevant data on save of the form. So, this is not an solution for accumulating/adding data in multiple visits (with a single form).

If you use the relevant filter for one visit only. it will work, but with disadvantages:

  • Each visit will create/store a new case (table row).
  • It will be difficult to control a fixed overall sequence of visits.
  • You might get/store same questions in different separated variables (relevant groups).