How to build XML answer forms from audit.csv files

Support
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1. What is the issue? Please be detailed.
Only one of my enumerators managed to submit the form successfully, which generated both an audit.csv file and an XML file. However, the other enumerators completed their forms, but they couldn’t upload them. As a result, only the audit.csv files were generated without the corresponding XML files, and I need the XML to extract the survey answers.

After investigating, I found that ODK Collect was dropping some photos, even though they were part of a required question. The successfully submitted form is located in the instances folder, while the incomplete ones are in folders containing only the photos and audit.csv files, with no other files or subfolders.

2. What steps can we take to reproduce this issue?
I believe you can try deleting a photo from the ODK Collect directory of one of the answers on your mobile device after saving the form as a draft, then attempt to send it afterward.

3. What have you tried to fix the issue?
I’ve tried to construct the XML files (which I need) from the audit.csv files using Python, but I haven’t been able to build them perfectly, as some elements are still being misplaced. Only one enumerator managed to generate both an audit.csv file and the corresponding XML file. So, I wrote a script to generate an XML file, which I then compare with the one created by ODK Collect to check if the construction was successful.

4. Upload any forms or screenshots you can share publicly below.

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Hmm.. before discussing / proceeding with the possible solutions, I wanna ask 3 questions:

1. Which server? - ODK Aggregate OR ODK Central?
2. Why is there a need to access the ODK Collect's file directory on the android device to retrieve the .xml for the submissions? Is it because some data collector had to submit those filled submissions, but instead he / she saved them as draft and never submitted those and now you are looking for those? If yes, then why not just finalize those submissions and send them to the server (retrieving .xml are easier from the server)?
3. Which version of ODK Collect under use?

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  1. I am using ODK Central, hosted on Digital Ocean.

  2. The data collector tried to finalize the form, but received an error. However, ODK collect saved an audit.csv file in the ODK Collect directory (10 failed to finalize). One of the data collectors managed to finalize the form and I got both the audit.csv and the XML file.

  3. The version is V2025.1.5

  4. The error when finalizing the form says, "Sorry, form save failed! java.lang.Boolean cannot be..."