Briefcase export to csv doesn't include SubmissionDate when exporting form from Central v08

[Odil]

I'm pulling then, exporting data into csv file from Central (v08) using ODK Briefcase (v1.17.4).
SubmissionDate column is always empty in every form I tested.

If I pull data from Aggregate and then export into csv I can see that there are dates in SubmissionDate column.

Is this a bug?

Kindly,
Odil

[LN]

This post just popped into my mind as it’s related to ongoing conversation about Central’s submission storage strategy and a Central bug you reported. The SubmissionDate is injected by Aggregate when it reassembles submissions. Central does not modify incoming submissions in any way. We’d have to make a separate Central API request and find a place to store the submission date to have it available for export.

You and I have talked a bit about Central-Briefcase in another thread. As I mentioned, we consider direct exports from Central the primary way to get CSVs out so we wouldn’t prioritize this. If someone wanted to take it on we could talk through possible approaches. The Central export has SubmissionDate and the same format as the Briefcase export.

I think your major barrier to directly using the API was a bug that affects certain forms with repeats. Thanks to you sending me your form, we have a fix that should be released shortly. I’ll be sure to tag you once it’s available. In the next Central version, we’ll add an endpoint to request just the root CSV (as opposed to the zip of all data) and may do the same for repeats if there’s demand.

[Vinia_Marciano]

Hi. Is there an option to remove group names when directly exporting the csvs/data from ODK Central? This option is available in Briefcase but when we use Briefcase, the export does not include SubmissionDate. The field is present in the table but is empty. In processing our data, we need to have the field names without the group names and we also need the SubmissionDate column data.

Thank you very much.

Vinia

[Matthew_White]

Hi @Vinia_Marciano! I just wanted to make sure you saw my post here:

How to remove group names when downloading data from Central

Hi @Vinia_Marciano! ODK Central does not currently (as of v1.0) have an option to remove group names from the column headers in the submission CSV download. What software are you using to manage or analyze your data? Could you say more about what would be useful about being able to remove group names? Is it to make the column headers more easily readable, or does the software you're using have limits related to the length of column headers? (For example, I think the maximum length of a variable…

[aurdipas]

Hi @Matthew_White,

99.9% of the projects I'm involved with remove group names for the analysis. They need to have directly the variable names (group and nested group names are just noise).
That's why we remove it via briefcase or we use ODK Meta to remove it.
Honestly it would be great to have in a future version the option to download data without group names directly via Central.

[Vinia_Marciano]

Hi @Matthew_White! Yes, I did. Many many thanks! Very useful information, and your response is very much appreciated.

Cheers,

Vinia