2. What steps can we take to reproduce this issue?
3. What have you tried to fix the issue?
4. Upload any test forms, screenshots, or logs below.
Just wondering if it were possible to easily duplicate (and then modify) a form definition in ODK Central? For example, a complex form is designed for one project. Another project needs something very similar but wants to add/remove/update a few fields. How simple is it to copy a form from one project to another?
This is certainly possible! You can download the XLSForm file and then edit it in a spreadsheet software such as Excel. XSLForm is a well documented standard for authoring forms. If copy/ pasting question rows between different forms you'll need to make sure the column order is the same. If you're only modifying option lists or making other minor changes, you may be able to update the form version without deploying a whole new one. See the docs on updating forms to a new version for more info.
My guess is that @trialsize uploaded an XLSForm update, didn't increment the version number, and manually entered a version number when Central warned about this. When you respond to that warning, Central doesn't update the XLSForm because it's not so easy to update Excel spreadsheets, it only updates the XForm.
Interesting, I don't recall anyone receiving a warning, and there are only two forms loaded for testing. I think @danbjoseph is correct and the XForm was initially loaded. Good to know about all these though - thank you for the quick responses!
I’m wondering if this feature is still being pursued or others are in need of it? I’m thinking right now for testing purposes if I have a form that has a lot of different media files it would be SUPER convenient to have a button to duplicate a template-ish form within a project (maybe with the default option to not duplicate submission data) with all the form attachments media, etc. I’m always losing random media files, which is definitely my fault and on a slow connection this means uploading a lot of files that are already on the Central Server.
If forms could share media, would that solve the pain point?
You'd upload a new form referencing the same media files as an older form you have access to, and the media upload would show all expected media files with an icon ‘already exists’.
It sounds like you are making a good case for media as entities. I'm currently doing some other automated magic behind the scenes with Google sheets/drive to solve my current media problems thats mostly about iterating forms in the field.
and on a slow connection this means uploading a lot of files that are already on the Central Server.