"Form update failed" for DRAFT forms - Improvement suggestion for ODK Collect

Hi,

It's not really a bug in COLLECT, but still a bit of improvement needed if possible for better user experience.

I drafted a form and uploaded to central. Keeping it in DRAFT mode, I scanned the QR code in the collect app and did the testing. Once successful, I PUBLISHED the form and it became available for general use. However, since my collect app has the draft form as a project, it is giving me FORM UPDATE ERROR, since it cannot find the form on the server (which obviously has been upgraded to published status). The alert is kind of un-needed, since draft forms are meant to be in testing mode. I know I can delete it from project settings, but still it is unwanted.

As I said, it's not really a bug. But I think it would be good if ODK COLLECT could be configured to not throw alerts for the forms in DRAFT mode. This would make things easier on the interface side.

Thanks,
Saad

1 Like

I agree there's some lack of polish there that we should improve! We've de-prioritized it because it affects form designers as opposed to field staff but it sure is annoying to have to remember to delete the project in Collect.

We also have some thoughts on improving the entire draft experience to make it a project-level concern because so many workflows involve multiple forms. I've moved your suggestion to the Features category so we can remember that it's a pain point and gather ideas on the topic as we design an improved experience.