Hello all,
We are planning to use the OTA restore functionality in CommCare for our
project and we have uncovered what we believe to be a problem with the Case
XML being returned by CommCare HQ during a restore. It seems that the OTA
restore Case XML is not reflecting the changes made to a case after the
original client registration. This is probably best explained via an
example. Our CommCare app has several forms, the three most common forms
are a client registration form (run once per client), a follow-up form (run
n times per client), and a closing form (run once per client). When you
submit a new client to CommCare HQ, after completing the registration form,
and then do a OTA restore the Case XML restores perfectly. If you then
complete the follow-up form, submit to CommCare HQ, and then do a restore,
the changes you made to Case XML (in the Case XML element) do not
appear in the OTA restore. Similarly, if you try to close a case, using the
closing form, the fact that the case is closed is not restored OTA. I can
check the contents of the OTA restore by visiting
http://dev.commcarehq.org/ota_restore and entering our credentials. Indeed,
the Cases appear frozen in their original state from when I first submitted
the client registration form.
If I never do an OTA restore and just keep adding clients, doing follow-ups,
and closing cases, everything works perfectly. It's when I do an OTA
restore that we loose the Case updates from the follow-up and closing forms.
Interestingly, referrals do not seem to experience the same problem. These
seem to restore perfectly and in the correct state.
I wanted to make sure it wasn't just our app that would have this problem,
so I compiled the pathfinder app and ran through the same process. Indeed,
this behavior is replicated in pathfinder, as well.
I was mostly wanted to verify that this is not expected behavior. I know
that CommCare HQ 1.0 is almost here and perhaps this is addressed in this
release.
Best,
Stephen