Image Capture fields: Getting it to work correctly

Users
1

Hello folks --

I am trying to use an image capture field in a form. After putting this
field into the form, and filling out the form on the app and capturing a
single image into the appropriate field, I have had no luck getting the
form to get uploaded into CCHQ. It just hangs and eventually seems to give
up, remaining in the "you have one form which has not been submitted."

-- I have read your documentation that says that if the image is more than
1mb, that we should expect it to fail or hang.

-- therefore, in this new samsung phone, I made sure that, when it came
time to take the pic, I chose the lowest resolution that the samsung
interface presented me -- "2.0M" which is 1600x1200." But, of course,
it still hangs. I suppose there is a decent chance that even that low
setting still results in a file size greater than 1MB. (however, when I
watch the thermometer progress in the android pull-down-from-top center, I
see commcare's progress uploading, and it only gets to 560K before
hanging.)

-- after killing that failing form, I later had successes transmitting
forms with no images attached, so it is clearly the image field that's
causing a problem.

-- My questions --

1-- Is there a way to set the phone to set an even LOWER level picture
resolution? In other words, this is the same as saying "on a newer-model
phone, is there a way to get Image Capture to work?" ... since newer
phones tend to force too-high image resolutions...? (also, if it's possible
that image *size *is not my problem, let me know)

2-- I also noticed that, WHEN I had one form stuck in the phone's queue, I
then went in and I filled out a second form, but when the image question
came up, I put NO image at all. And the result was, that since it was stuck
in the app BEHIND the one that was halted due to having a too-large image,
that this one got stuck in the phone also, even though it was small, lean,
and had nothing to block it. So, just to confirm -- when the phone is
trying to sync forms up into the cloud, am I right that the phone is not
able to allow an OK form that's second in line to transmit upwards? In
other words, the app can only transmit the one that's first in line, and if
it fails, then all others behind it are held up?

thanks much!

Eric

2

NOTE -- one additional fact -- I subsequently found the image that had been
taken by the app, and emailed it to myself -- it proved that it seemed only
to be 535K. (which I do admit is not tiny in some contexts, but it's
below the 1M limit your materials discussed.)

Just in case that helps you to troubleshoot or answer my questions...
thanks! --Eric

3

Hey Eric,

There is a project setting called "Only accept secure submissions" that you
can turn off which usually allows submissions to go through. Note that we
don't recommend turning off this setting as it will allow anyone to
maliciously post data to your project. However, if you are comfortable with
that tradeoff then you can try it.

We are actively working on fixing multimedia submissions to work more
smoothly and particularly while still using secure submissions - though it
is a large chunk of work. If you'd like to wait for that to finish before
trying it out that's also an option, though we don't yet know timelines.

cheers,
Cory

··· On Mon, Mar 23, 2015 at 11:13 PM, Eric Stephan wrote:

NOTE -- one additional fact -- I subsequently found the image that had
been taken by the app, and emailed it to myself -- it proved that it seemed
only to be 535K. (which I do admit is not tiny in some contexts, but it's
below the 1M limit your materials discussed.)

Just in case that helps you to troubleshoot or answer my questions...
thanks! --Eric

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4

Hi Cory and Eric,

We have found this to be a restriction too. We are testing the Moto G 4G -
it has defaults that are hard to change (i.e. needed to find an external
camera app specifically created to tweak picture size etc.) The average
shot was between 1.5-3.0 mb, As Eric said this hangs the upload. We are
also wanting to shoot video and upload this, these files are larger by
their nature.

The other question was regarding the queue, if a form hasn't been
submitted, does thi automatically stop all other forms being submitted?

Best

Tim

··· On Tuesday, 24 March 2015 12:36:19 UTC, Cory Zue wrote: > > Hey Eric, > > There is a project setting called "Only accept secure submissions" that > you can turn off which usually allows submissions to go through. Note that > we don't recommend turning off this setting as it will allow anyone to > maliciously post data to your project. However, if you are comfortable with > that tradeoff then you can try it. > > We are actively working on fixing multimedia submissions to work more > smoothly and particularly while still using secure submissions - though it > is a large chunk of work. If you'd like to wait for that to finish before > trying it out that's also an option, though we don't yet know timelines. > > cheers, > Cory > > On Mon, Mar 23, 2015 at 11:13 PM, Eric Stephan <este...@fhi360.org > wrote: > >> NOTE -- one additional fact -- I subsequently found the image that had >> been taken by the app, and emailed it to myself -- it proved that it seemed >> only to be 535K. (which I do admit is not tiny in some contexts, but it's >> below the 1M limit your materials discussed.) >> >> Just in case that helps you to troubleshoot or answer my questions... >> thanks! --Eric >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "commcare-users" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to commcare-user...@googlegroups.com . >> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. >> > >
5

Tim,

If a form submission fails due to network errors (as would likely be the
case here), the entire submission process will stop and CommCare will not
attempt to submit the remaining forms.

Best,
Will

··· On Tue, Jun 23, 2015 at 5:30 AM, Tim wrote:

Hi Cory and Eric,

We have found this to be a restriction too. We are testing the Moto G 4G -
it has defaults that are hard to change (i.e. needed to find an external
camera app specifically created to tweak picture size etc.) The average
shot was between 1.5-3.0 mb, As Eric said this hangs the upload. We are
also wanting to shoot video and upload this, these files are larger by
their nature.

The other question was regarding the queue, if a form hasn't been
submitted, does thi automatically stop all other forms being submitted?

Best

Tim

On Tuesday, 24 March 2015 12:36:19 UTC, Cory Zue wrote:

Hey Eric,

There is a project setting called "Only accept secure submissions" that
you can turn off which usually allows submissions to go through. Note that
we don't recommend turning off this setting as it will allow anyone to
maliciously post data to your project. However, if you are comfortable with
that tradeoff then you can try it.

We are actively working on fixing multimedia submissions to work more
smoothly and particularly while still using secure submissions - though it
is a large chunk of work. If you'd like to wait for that to finish before
trying it out that's also an option, though we don't yet know timelines.

cheers,
Cory

On Mon, Mar 23, 2015 at 11:13 PM, Eric Stephan este...@fhi360.org wrote:

NOTE -- one additional fact -- I subsequently found the image that had
been taken by the app, and emailed it to myself -- it proved that it seemed
only to be 535K. (which I do admit is not tiny in some contexts, but it's
below the 1M limit your materials discussed.)

Just in case that helps you to troubleshoot or answer my questions...
thanks! --Eric

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6

Hi Will,

Thanks for this.

Might it be an idea to have an alternative - If there is only one form with
a large file as an example and 15 other smaller forms then surely getting
the others back could be an idea?

Normally I have found that the app needs a reset to clear, thus losing all
other forms.

Best

Tim

··· On Wednesday, June 24, 2015 at 1:35:42 PM UTC+1, William Pride wrote: > > Tim, > > If a form submission fails due to network errors (as would likely be the > case here), the entire submission process will stop and CommCare will not > attempt to submit the remaining forms. > > Best, > Will > > > > On Tue, Jun 23, 2015 at 5:30 AM, Tim <tim.bu...@gmail.com > wrote: > >> Hi Cory and Eric, >> >> We have found this to be a restriction too. We are testing the Moto G 4G >> - it has defaults that are hard to change (i.e. needed to find an external >> camera app specifically created to tweak picture size etc.) The average >> shot was between 1.5-3.0 mb, As Eric said this hangs the upload. We are >> also wanting to shoot video and upload this, these files are larger by >> their nature. >> >> The other question was regarding the queue, if a form hasn't been >> submitted, does thi automatically stop all other forms being submitted? >> >> Best >> >> Tim >> >> >> >> On Tuesday, 24 March 2015 12:36:19 UTC, Cory Zue wrote: >>> >>> Hey Eric, >>> >>> There is a project setting called "Only accept secure submissions" that >>> you can turn off which usually allows submissions to go through. Note that >>> we don't recommend turning off this setting as it will allow anyone to >>> maliciously post data to your project. However, if you are comfortable with >>> that tradeoff then you can try it. >>> >>> We are actively working on fixing multimedia submissions to work more >>> smoothly and particularly while still using secure submissions - though it >>> is a large chunk of work. If you'd like to wait for that to finish before >>> trying it out that's also an option, though we don't yet know timelines. >>> >>> cheers, >>> Cory >>> >>> On Mon, Mar 23, 2015 at 11:13 PM, Eric Stephan wrote: >>> >>>> NOTE -- one additional fact -- I subsequently found the image that had >>>> been taken by the app, and emailed it to myself -- it proved that it seemed >>>> only to be 535K. (which I do admit is not tiny in some contexts, but it's >>>> below the 1M limit your materials discussed.) >>>> >>>> Just in case that helps you to troubleshoot or answer my questions... >>>> thanks! --Eric >>>> >>>> -- >>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >>>> Groups "commcare-users" group. >>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send >>>> an email to commcare-user...@googlegroups.com. >>>> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. >>>> >>> >>> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "commcare-users" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to commcare-user...@googlegroups.com . >> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. >> > >
7

Tim,

if you navigate to the list of Saved Forms on the device you can long-click
a form in the queue to delete it, which will let other forms through.

Note that this will result in the loss of that data (and possibly the phone
needing a re-sync with the server, since it's already processed the form
which the server now missed).

We've also very recently made an update to our infrastructure which should
have helped with the reliability of submitting multimedia files, which may
be worth testing.

-Clayton

··· On Wed, Jun 24, 2015 at 5:16 PM, Tim wrote:

Hi Will,

Thanks for this.

Might it be an idea to have an alternative - If there is only one form
with a large file as an example and 15 other smaller forms then surely
getting the others back could be an idea?

Normally I have found that the app needs a reset to clear, thus losing all
other forms.

Best

Tim

On Wednesday, June 24, 2015 at 1:35:42 PM UTC+1, William Pride wrote:

Tim,

If a form submission fails due to network errors (as would likely be the
case here), the entire submission process will stop and CommCare will not
attempt to submit the remaining forms.

Best,
Will

On Tue, Jun 23, 2015 at 5:30 AM, Tim tim.bu...@gmail.com wrote:

Hi Cory and Eric,

We have found this to be a restriction too. We are testing the Moto G 4G

  • it has defaults that are hard to change (i.e. needed to find an external
    camera app specifically created to tweak picture size etc.) The average
    shot was between 1.5-3.0 mb, As Eric said this hangs the upload. We are
    also wanting to shoot video and upload this, these files are larger by
    their nature.

The other question was regarding the queue, if a form hasn't been
submitted, does thi automatically stop all other forms being submitted?

Best

Tim

On Tuesday, 24 March 2015 12:36:19 UTC, Cory Zue wrote:

Hey Eric,

There is a project setting called "Only accept secure submissions" that
you can turn off which usually allows submissions to go through. Note that
we don't recommend turning off this setting as it will allow anyone to
maliciously post data to your project. However, if you are comfortable with
that tradeoff then you can try it.

We are actively working on fixing multimedia submissions to work more
smoothly and particularly while still using secure submissions - though it
is a large chunk of work. If you'd like to wait for that to finish before
trying it out that's also an option, though we don't yet know timelines.

cheers,
Cory

On Mon, Mar 23, 2015 at 11:13 PM, Eric Stephan este...@fhi360.org wrote:

NOTE -- one additional fact -- I subsequently found the image that had
been taken by the app, and emailed it to myself -- it proved that it seemed
only to be 535K. (which I do admit is not tiny in some contexts, but it's
below the 1M limit your materials discussed.)

Just in case that helps you to troubleshoot or answer my questions...
thanks! --Eric

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Groups "commcare-users" group.
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