Best ways to avoid crashes and increase how quickly forms load to ODK collect

I have a very long survey that works on ODK collect, but it takes quite a
long time to load and sometime crashes. Unfortunately I don't have the
option of separating this into multiple forms (which I've been told would
be ideal).

What are some of the best ways to avoid crashes and increase how quickly
forms load to ODK collect ?

For example, I've been told repeat groups can slow things down. Is this
true? We currently have 1 very small repeat group (4 questions) and 1 very
large repeat group (hundreds of questions that are asked of each farm a
person works on). But no nested repeat groups.

Does having many groups and nested groups slow things down?

Thanks,
Sam

Hi Sam,

It's my understanding that the longer and more complex the form, the more
memory and processing-power you will want on your data-collection devices.
If you haven't already settled on your hardware, you may try some more
powerful devices.

Best,

Chris

··· On Sat, Feb 16, 2013 at 3:38 PM, Sam wrote:

I have a very long survey that works on ODK collect, but it takes quite a
long time to load and sometime crashes. Unfortunately I don't have the
option of separating this into multiple forms (which I've been told would
be ideal).

What are some of the best ways to avoid crashes and increase how quickly
forms load to ODK collect ?

For example, I've been told repeat groups can slow things down. Is this
true? We currently have 1 very small repeat group (4 questions) and 1 very
large repeat group (hundreds of questions that are asked of each farm a
person works on). But no nested repeat groups.

Does having many groups and nested groups slow things down?

Thanks,
Sam

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Hi Chris,

That sounds right from what I understand. Unfortunately, we already have
the phones and they are not very powerful at all. In fact, sometimes just
swiping between questions seems to take forever. Sadly, it's just not an
option to get new phones where we are.

Thanks,
Sam

··· On Saturday, February 16, 2013, Christopher Robert wrote:

Hi Sam,

It's my understanding that the longer and more complex the form, the more
memory and processing-power you will want on your data-collection devices.
If you haven't already settled on your hardware, you may try some more
powerful devices.

Best,

Chris

On Sat, Feb 16, 2013 at 3:38 PM, Sam <samantha.elghanayan@gmail.com<javascript:_e({}, 'cvml', 'samantha.elghanayan@gmail.com');> wrote:

I have a very long survey that works on ODK collect, but it takes quite a
long time to load and sometime crashes. Unfortunately I don't have the
option of separating this into multiple forms (which I've been told would
be ideal).

What are some of the best ways to avoid crashes and increase how
quickly forms load to ODK collect ?

For example, I've been told repeat groups can slow things down. Is this
true? We currently have 1 very small repeat group (4 questions) and 1 very
large repeat group (hundreds of questions that are asked of each farm a
person works on). But no nested repeat groups.

Does having many groups and nested groups slow things down?

Thanks,
Sam

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Repeats with 100s of questions is generally not a good idea. You may want
to think about how to break things up into separate forms for each farm and
use a simple identifier to tie them together.

··· On Sat, Feb 16, 2013 at 2:57 PM, Samantha Elghanayan < samantha.elghanayan@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi Chris,

That sounds right from what I understand. Unfortunately, we already have
the phones and they are not very powerful at all. In fact, sometimes just
swiping between questions seems to take forever. Sadly, it's just not an
option to get new phones where we are.

Thanks,
Sam

On Saturday, February 16, 2013, Christopher Robert wrote:

Hi Sam,

It's my understanding that the longer and more complex the form, the more
memory and processing-power you will want on your data-collection devices.
If you haven't already settled on your hardware, you may try some more
powerful devices.

Best,

Chris

On Sat, Feb 16, 2013 at 3:38 PM, Sam samantha.elghanayan@gmail.comwrote:

I have a very long survey that works on ODK collect, but it takes quite
a long time to load and sometime crashes. Unfortunately I don't have the
option of separating this into multiple forms (which I've been told would
be ideal).

What are some of the best ways to avoid crashes and increase how
quickly forms load to ODK collect ?

For example, I've been told repeat groups can slow things down. Is this
true? We currently have 1 very small repeat group (4 questions) and 1 very
large repeat group (hundreds of questions that are asked of each farm a
person works on). But no nested repeat groups.

Does having many groups and nested groups slow things down?

Thanks,
Sam

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Thanks Gaetano. Unfortunately the main constraint is that it all needs to
be on one form-- and we already have the PDAs.

Instead of having the large section be a repeat group, would it be better
(in terms of speed of loading to PDA, speed of swiping btw questions, and
crashing) to just assume an upward bound of farms (say 10) and copy paste
the repeated section (which is about 1,000 lines) that number of times (in
this example 10)?

Thanks

··· On Monday, February 18, 2013, Gaetano Borriello wrote:

Repeats with 100s of questions is generally not a good idea. You may want
to think about how to break things up into separate forms for each farm and
use a simple identifier to tie them together.

On Sat, Feb 16, 2013 at 2:57 PM, Samantha Elghanayan < samantha.elghanayan@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi Chris,

That sounds right from what I understand. Unfortunately, we already have
the phones and they are not very powerful at all. In fact, sometimes just
swiping between questions seems to take forever. Sadly, it's just not an
option to get new phones where we are.

Thanks,
Sam

On Saturday, February 16, 2013, Christopher Robert wrote:

Hi Sam,

It's my understanding that the longer and more complex the form, the more
memory and processing-power you will want on your data-collection devices.
If you haven't already settled on your hardware, you may try some more
powerful devices.

Best,

Chris

On Sat, Feb 16, 2013 at 3:38 PM, Sam samantha.elghanayan@gmail.comwrote:

I have a very long survey that works on ODK collect, but it takes quite a
long time to load and sometime crashes. Unfortunately I don't have the
option of separating this into multiple forms (which I've been told would
be ideal).

What are some of the best ways to avoid crashes and increase how quickly
forms load to ODK collect ?

For example, I've been told repeat groups can slow things down. Is this
true? We currently have 1 very small repeat group (4 questions) and 1 very
large repeat group (hundreds of questions that are asked of each farm a
person works on). But no nested repeat groups.

Does having many groups and nested groups slow things down?

Thanks,
Sam

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Post:

In a related example, if you have a group of questions that is relevant
only if a previous question is answered in a specific way (say a yes/no
that must be answered yes), is one of the following options better than the
other (again to increase speed and/or to avoid crashing):

A. Have a group, where the entire group is relevant on previous answer = yes
B. No group and just the list of questions, where each question is relevant
on previous answer = yes

Thank you

··· On Mon, Feb 18, 2013 at 1:36 PM, Samantha Elghanayan < samantha.elghanayan@gmail.com> wrote:

Thanks Gaetano. Unfortunately the main constraint is that it all needs to
be on one form-- and we already have the PDAs.

Instead of having the large section be a repeat group, would it be better
(in terms of speed of loading to PDA, speed of swiping btw questions, and
crashing) to just assume an upward bound of farms (say 10) and copy paste
the repeated section (which is about 1,000 lines) that number of times (in
this example 10)?

Thanks

On Monday, February 18, 2013, Gaetano Borriello wrote:

Repeats with 100s of questions is generally not a good idea. You may
want to think about how to break things up into separate forms for each
farm and use a simple identifier to tie them together.

On Sat, Feb 16, 2013 at 2:57 PM, Samantha Elghanayan < samantha.elghanayan@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi Chris,

That sounds right from what I understand. Unfortunately, we already have
the phones and they are not very powerful at all. In fact, sometimes just
swiping between questions seems to take forever. Sadly, it's just not an
option to get new phones where we are.

Thanks,
Sam

On Saturday, February 16, 2013, Christopher Robert wrote:

Hi Sam,

It's my understanding that the longer and more complex the form, the more
memory and processing-power you will want on your data-collection devices.
If you haven't already settled on your hardware, you may try some more
powerful devices.

Best,

Chris

On Sat, Feb 16, 2013 at 3:38 PM, Sam samantha.elghanayan@gmail.comwrote:

I have a very long survey that works on ODK collect, but it takes quite a
long time to load and sometime crashes. Unfortunately I don't have the
option of separating this into multiple forms (which I've been told would
be ideal).

What are some of the best ways to avoid crashes and increase how
quickly forms load to ODK collect ?

For example, I've been told repeat groups can slow things down. Is this
true? We currently have 1 very small repeat group (4 questions) and 1 very
large repeat group (hundreds of questions that are asked of each farm a
person works on). But no nested repeat groups.

Does having many groups and nested groups slow things down?

Thanks,
Sam

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Post:

1000 questions is probably not a good idea. We are working on ODK Survey
(an alternative to ODK Collect) that will support "sub-forms" from a larger
form so you can still think of it all as one starting point. But that is
just in alpha right now and won't be ready for production for a while.

A is the better option below.

··· On Mon, Feb 18, 2013 at 6:06 AM, Samantha Elghanayan < samantha.elghanayan@gmail.com> wrote:

In a related example, if you have a group of questions that is relevant
only if a previous question is answered in a specific way (say a yes/no
that must be answered yes), is one of the following options better than the
other (again to increase speed and/or to avoid crashing):

A. Have a group, where the entire group is relevant on previous answer =
yes
B. No group and just the list of questions, where each question
is relevant on previous answer = yes

Thank you

On Mon, Feb 18, 2013 at 1:36 PM, Samantha Elghanayan < samantha.elghanayan@gmail.com> wrote:

Thanks Gaetano. Unfortunately the main constraint is that it all needs to
be on one form-- and we already have the PDAs.

Instead of having the large section be a repeat group, would it be better
(in terms of speed of loading to PDA, speed of swiping btw questions, and
crashing) to just assume an upward bound of farms (say 10) and copy paste
the repeated section (which is about 1,000 lines) that number of times (in
this example 10)?

Thanks

On Monday, February 18, 2013, Gaetano Borriello wrote:

Repeats with 100s of questions is generally not a good idea. You may
want to think about how to break things up into separate forms for each
farm and use a simple identifier to tie them together.

On Sat, Feb 16, 2013 at 2:57 PM, Samantha Elghanayan < samantha.elghanayan@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi Chris,

That sounds right from what I understand. Unfortunately, we already have
the phones and they are not very powerful at all. In fact, sometimes just
swiping between questions seems to take forever. Sadly, it's just not an
option to get new phones where we are.

Thanks,
Sam

On Saturday, February 16, 2013, Christopher Robert wrote:

Hi Sam,

It's my understanding that the longer and more complex the form, the
more memory and processing-power you will want on your data-collection
devices. If you haven't already settled on your hardware, you may try some
more powerful devices.

Best,

Chris

On Sat, Feb 16, 2013 at 3:38 PM, Sam samantha.elghanayan@gmail.comwrote:

I have a very long survey that works on ODK collect, but it takes quite
a long time to load and sometime crashes. Unfortunately I don't have the
option of separating this into multiple forms (which I've been told would
be ideal).

What are some of the best ways to avoid crashes and increase how
quickly forms load to ODK collect ?

For example, I've been told repeat groups can slow things down. Is this
true? We currently have 1 very small repeat group (4 questions) and 1 very
large repeat group (hundreds of questions that are asked of each farm a
person works on). But no nested repeat groups.

Does having many groups and nested groups slow things down?

Thanks,
Sam

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Wow that's great. Our survey would definitely benefit from something like
that. Surprisingly we've gotten a 3,000 line (in xls) survey seeming to
work in test runs on ODK.

Thanks for the answer on the last post.

Any chance you know if there's a better option between these two?

Instead of having the large section be a repeat group, would it be
better (in terms of speed of loading to PDA, speed of swiping btw
questions, and crashing) to just assume an upward bound of farms (say 10)
and copy paste the repeated section (which is about 1,000 lines) that
number of times (in this example 10)?

Thanks
Sam

··· On Tuesday, February 19, 2013, Gaetano Borriello wrote:

1000 questions is probably not a good idea. We are working on ODK Survey
(an alternative to ODK Collect) that will support "sub-forms" from a larger
form so you can still think of it all as one starting point. But that is
just in alpha right now and won't be ready for production for a while.

A is the better option below.

On Mon, Feb 18, 2013 at 6:06 AM, Samantha Elghanayan < samantha.elghanayan@gmail.com> wrote:

In a related example, if you have a group of questions that is relevant
only if a previous question is answered in a specific way (say a yes/no
that must be answered yes), is one of the following options better than the
other (again to increase speed and/or to avoid crashing):

A. Have a group, where the entire group is relevant on previous answer =
yes
B. No group and just the list of questions, where each question
is relevant on previous answer = yes

Thank you

On Mon, Feb 18, 2013 at 1:36 PM, Samantha Elghanayan < samantha.elghanayan@gmail.com> wrote:

Thanks Gaetano. Unfortunately the main constraint is that it all needs to
be on one form-- and we already have the PDAs.

Instead of having the large section be a repeat group, would it be better
(in terms of speed of loading to PDA, speed of swiping btw questions, and
crashing) to just assume an upward bound of farms (say 10) and copy paste
the repeated section (which is about 1,000 lines) that number of times (in
this example 10)?

Thanks

On Monday, February 18, 2013, Gaetano Borriello wrote:

Repeats with 100s of questions is generally not a good idea. You may want
to think about how to break things up into separate forms for each farm and
use a simple identifier to tie them together.

On Sat, Feb 16, 2013 at 2:57 PM, Samantha Elghanayan < samantha.elghanayan@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi Chris,

That sounds right from what I understand. Unfortunately, we already have
the phones and they are not very powerful at all. In fact, sometimes just
swiping between questions seems to take forever. Sadly, it's just not an
option to get new phones where we are.

Thanks,
Sam

On Saturday, February 16, 2013, Christopher Robert wrote:

Hi Sam,

It's my understanding that the longer and more complex the form, the more
memory and processing-power you will want on your data-collection devices.
If you haven't already settled on your hardware, you may try some more
powerful devices.

Best,

Chris

On Sat, Feb 16, 2013 at 3:38 PM, Sam samantha.elghanayan@gmail.comwrote:

I have a very long survey that works on ODK collect, but it takes quite a
long time to load and sometime crashes. Unfortunately I don't have the
option of separating this into multiple forms (which I've been told would
be ideal).

What are some of the best ways to avoid crashes and increase how quickly
forms load to ODK collect ?

For example, I've been told repeat groups can slow things down. Is this
true? We currently have 1 very small repeat group (4 questions) and 1 very
large repeat group (hundreds of questions that are asked of each farm a
person works on). But no nested repeat groups.

Does having many groups and nested groups slow things down?

Thanks,
Sam

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