Report templates

The Survey123 Report tool allows you to design your own personalized templates and produce multiple reports at once.

A report can contain the following:

• A summary section
• A single survey record
• A single survey record and a summary section
• Multiple survey records
• Multiple survey records and a summary section

Printing reports is an ArcGIS Online Premium Service and consumes credits. A minimum cost of 0.5 credits is charged. Once multiple survey records are included in a report, the report is charged 0.5 credits per survey record. Any related records of a single survey record can be included in the report at no extra charge. Additionally, the user performing a paid operation must be assigned a user role that includes the Feature report privilege. See Configure roles in ArcGIS Online for more information.

A report template is a Microsoft Word file (.docx) that provides placeholder text with specific syntax. When printing a report, this placeholder text is replaced with the contents of the corresponding fields from the survey response. This placeholder text can be used with any formatting, tables, images, or other personalization to create a template specific to your needs.

To create a template, click the Report button on the bar above the map on the Data tab, and click Manage templates. A new window appears, allowing you to download a sample, upload a new template, or edit the name and summary of an existing one. Click New template to upload a new report template, while also providing a name and summary for your template once uploaded. Alternatively, you can use the Download sample template link to download a sample template based on your survey.

Expressions

The response to a question can be displayed in a report template by providing its name encased with curly brackets such as { and }, and preceded by a dollar sign. The following expression would display the response from a text question called firstname.

${firstname}

You can also use expressions to define the responses to display in the report and how they are displayed. An expression can be a single question name, a calculation involving one or more questions, or a question name with methods and parameters to constrain or apply style to the response. An expression uses the following notation:

${questionname | method:parameter}

An expression may include multiple methods and parameters or none at all. Parameters may be either values from other questions or a fixed value.

The following expression would display the calculation of a number question called floweringtrees divided by a number question called totaltrees. When referring to multiple questions in the same expression, the individual question names only need to be directly named and do not need additional curly brackets.

${floweringtrees / totaltrees}

The following expression would display the x coordinate value from the location question, where getValue is the method and x is the parameter.

${location | getValue:"x"}

Not all question types support expressions and methods. The following table lists which methods and parameters you can use with which question types.

Method	Parameters	Connect question type	Web designer question type	Description
getValue	-	All question types	All question types	Retrieves the raw data value from the feature layer, or raw image from an attachment.
getValue	x, y, z, wkid	geopoint	Map	Retrieve the x, y, z coordinates individually in a specified spatial reference. The wkid parameter is optional, and will be the same as the spatial reference of the feature layer if omitted.
getValue	length, area, unit, measurement type	geotrace, geoshape	Map	Returns the length of a polyline, or the perimeter or area of a polygon, in given units and whether the measurements are planar or geodesic. Default measurement type is geodesic.
getValue	name, size	image, file	Image, Signature, File	Returns the file name or size of an attachment.
getValue	width, height, x, y, date, time, direction	image	Image, Signature	Width and height return the integer value of the image width and height in pixels, and x, y, date, time, and direction return values read from the image EXIF, if present.
appearance	multiline	text	Multiline text	Used to retain the line breaks in the string. If no appearance specified, answer returns a single line string.
appearance	bullets	select_multiple	Multiple choice	Returns answer in bullet format.
checked	choice value	select_one, select_multiple	Multiple choice, Single choice, Single choice grid, Dropdown, Likert Scale, Rating	Returns a checked checkbox if the field value equals to choiceValue; otherwise, returns an unchecked checkbox.
selected	choice value	select_one, select_multiple	Multiple choice, Single choice, Single choice grid, Dropdown, Likert Scale, Rating	If coded value domain exists, returns true if the field value equals the choice value; otherwise, returns false.
countselected	-	select_one, select_multiple	Multiple choice, Single choice, Single choice grid, Dropdown, Likert Scale, Rating	Returns the number of selected choices.
selectedAt	index	select_one, select_multiple	Multiple choice, Single choice, Single choice grid, Dropdown, Likert Scale, Rating	Returns the string at index position in the choice list. Index starts at zero.
locale	language code	date, dateTime, start, end, decimal	Date, Date Time, Number	Returns localized date, time and number.
format	format string	date, dateTime, integer, decimal, start, end	Date, Date Time	Returns a formatted date string.
utcOffset	offset value	date, dateTime, start, end	Date, Date Time	Returns a UNIX time which is shifted by the UTC offset value.
mapSettings	web map item ID, map scale	geopoint, geotrace, geoshape	Map	Specifies basemap and scale when printing the map image.
mapRotation	degree	geopoint, geotrace, geoshape	Map	Specifies rotation angle when printing the map image.
drawingInfo	currentLayer, feature layer URL	geopoint, geotrace, geoshape	Map	Specifies the drawing information when printing the map image, including symbol, label, and transparency.
src	image URL	image	Image	Specifies the source URL of a dynamic image element.
size	width, height, max width, max height	image	Image	Specifies the size of the printed image.
round	places	decimal, geopoint, geoshape, geotrace	Number	Rounds a decimal number to specified decimal places.
useGrouping	boolean	decimal	Number	If true, returns number with grouping separators determined by the locale; otherwise, if false, no separators used.
toFixed	places	decimal, geopoint, geoshape, geotrace	Number	Specifies fixed number of digits after the decimal separator. It will pad zero if required to meet fixed number of digits.

On the Manage templates window, select Quick reference to open a page containing example syntax for expressions to modify the response displayed in a report for each question in your survey. To copy this syntax, click the Copy to clipboard button, which you can then paste into a template document. Once a template has been uploaded, use the options in the Report panel to produce your report. For more information, see Print reports.

The following sections describe common use scenarios of expressions for each question type and gives examples.

Text

Multiline text questions—created either by adding a Multiline Text question in the Survey123 web designer or using the multiline appearance for a text question in Survey123 Connect—ignore carriage returns by default, displaying the response in a single block of text. An expression can be used to display the response to the question with carriage returns as follows:

${multilinetext1 | appearance:"multiline"}

Place this expression on a dedicated line; otherwise, errors will occur.

Numbers

Basic mathematical operators can be used with numerical questions, which can be used to add, subtract, multiply, divide, or find the modulus of the responses to these questions. The following are examples:

${number1 - 15}

${number1 * 6}

${number1 / number2}

${number1 % number2}

Sugerencia:

If your expression includes a complex mathematical expression, consider using brackets to ensure that the report generation produces the result you expect.

For decimal questions, the round expression can be used to set a maximum number of decimal places to which the value is rounded. The following example rounds the number 3.141592 to the five decimal places of 3.1416:

${decimal1 | round:4}

The toFixed expression can be used to set a maximum number of decimal places to which the value is rounded. The following example fixes the number of decimal places in 3.14 to 3.140:

${decimal1 | toFixed:3}

You can use the format expression to display the response to a number question in a specific way by using placeholder characters. The following placeholder characters are supported.

Character	Description
.	Decimal separator.
,	If placed in the format, adds group separators, with group size determined by the number of digits between the first group separator placeholder and either the decimal point placeholder or the end of the expression. If not added, no group separators are used.
0	Required digits. If the response has less than the required number of digits, it will be padded with zeroes.
#	Optional digits. If the response has more than the provided number of digits, the number will be rounded.

Sugerencia:

The decimal and thousands separators will be displayed in the printed result based on the chosen locale.

The following example returns the response to a maximum of three decimal places with thousands separators, rounding if necessary.

${decimal1 | format:"#,##0.###"}

Images and other attachments

For image questions, sizes can be set to ensure that your reports have images of consistent size. The format for these expressions is as follows:

${image1 | size:width:height:max_width:max_height}

The width and height values control the set size of your image, measured in pixels. While these values are required for the expression, providing a value of 0 will place no restriction on that dimension of your image. For example, the following expression forces the width of your image to be 300 pixels while preserving the aspect ratio of the image:

${image1 | size:300:0}

The maximum height and width values limit the maximum size of an image and are optional values. The following example forces the width of the image to be 300 pixels and restricts the image height to no more than 200 pixels:

${image1 | size:300:0:0:200}

Image questions can also have image details extracted and displayed in a survey response. This can be used to display the file name and size of the image as follows:

${image1 | getValue:"name"}

${image1 | getValue:"size"}

${image1 | getValue:"width"}

${image1 | getValue:"height"}

The same method can be used to display EXIF data from the image, showing details of where and when a photo was taken, as follows:

${image1 | getValue:"x"}

${image1 | getValue:"y"}

${image1 | getValue:"date"}

${image1 | getValue:"time"}

${image1 | getValue:"direction"}

To display the original image at its full size and quality, use the expression without any method, or use the getValue expression without any value:

${image1} or ${image1 | getValue:""}

To display the original image at full quality but a set size, use the getValue and size expressions together.

${image1 | getValue:"" | size:300:0}

Nota:

If you are setting an image's size while using any other expression parameter, size must be placed last in the expression.

Dates and times are stored as strings in EXIF data, so these values cannot be formatted in a report using the format expression for date and time questions. If formatting these values is important, consider performing the EXIF extraction as part of your survey using the pulldata() function. For more information, see Images.

The getValue expressions above can also be used to extract data from any valid properties in any type of attachment, including the results of image, audio, and file questions. The properties that can be extracted from all attachments are as follows:

${file1 | getValue:"name"}

${file1 | getValue:"size"}

${file1 | getValue:"globalId"}

${file1 | getValue:"id"}

${file1 | getValue:"contentType"}

${file1 | getValue:"keywords"}

If all attachments to the feature are images, use the following placeholders with each placed on a dedicated line:

${#$attachment}
${$file}
${/}

To return multiple images submitted to the same question in a response, use the image question's name instead of $attachment:

${#image1}
${$file}
${/}

This method is useful for displaying images in ArcGIS Enterprise versions prior to 10.8.1, or for displaying images that were added to a feature outside of Survey123. The following example displays the file names of all attachments attached to a feature:

${#$attachment}
${$file|getValue:"name"}
${/}

To display an image from online, provide its source URL with the src expression when referring to the $image keyword instead of a question name:

${$image |
src:"https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/13/Esri_Headquarters%2C_Building_Q.jpg"
| size:400:0}

Map questions

All questions that make use of a map—including geopoint, geotrace, and geoshape—have common methods and parameters that you can use to modify their presentation in reports.

Map questions support setting the web map item ID and map scale as optional parameters when you precede these values with mapSettings:. In the following example, a map scale of 1:100,000 is used:

${location | mapSettings:"10df2279f9684e4a9f6a7f08febac2a9":100000}

For all map questions, you can use the mapRotation method to define the clockwise rotation of due north in relation to the view. It accepts values from 0 to 360.

${location | mapSettings:"10df2279f9684e4a9f6a7f08febac2a9":100000 | mapRotation:90}

If you leave the web map item ID as an empty string, the default basemap for the question is used. Setting the map scale to 0 causes the map to zoom to the geometry for the question.

Map questions also support the size expression available for image questions. You can use this expression to control the resolution of the map displayed in the report, as shown in the following example:

${location | size:400:400}

You can use the mapSettings and size expressions together to provide a web map ID and map scale as well as a map image resolution, as shown in the following example:

${location | mapSettings:"10df2279f9684e4a9f6a7f08febac2a9":100000 | size:400:400}

Nota:

If you're setting a map's size while using any other expression method, size must be placed last in the expression.

If your survey doesn't contain a map question or you're creating reports for feature layers without an associated survey, the geometry of a question can still be returned using the ${$shape} placeholder.

By default, a map question will display using a default map symbol, regardless of symbology set in the feature layer. You can use the drawingInfo method to extract and use the drawing information stored in a specific feature layer, including the symbol, label, and transparency used. You can specify this information either from the current layer or from a specific feature layer through a provided URL.

${location | drawingInfo:"currentLayer"}

${location | drawingInfo:"https://.../FeatureServer/0"}

If your survey doesn't contain a map question or you're creating reports for feature layers without an associated survey, the geometry of a record can still be returned using the ${$shape} placeholder.

Geopoints

For geopoint questions, you can use expressions to display the latitude or longitude values from the question as follows:

${location | getValue:"x"}

${location | getValue:"y"}

You cannot display both values with one expression; if both values are needed, you must use both expressions.

Sugerencia:

You can also display the altitude value through a similar expression but only if the underlying feature layer supports z-values:

${location | getValue:"z"}

By default, latitude, longitude and altitude values return the original value provided in the survey response, without truncation. As these values can often be much longer than needed in a report, consider using the round or toFixed expressions to round the value to a specific decimal place.

${location | getValue:"x" | round:3}

${location | getValue:"x" | toFixed:3}

By default, these values are output to the same spatial reference used by the survey's feature layer. You can set a different spatial reference as an additional parameter by providing its WKID:

${location | getValue:"x":4326}

Geotrace and geoshape

For geotrace and geoshape questions, you can use the getValue expression to display the length of the line or the perimeter of the polygon, respectively:

${polyline1 | getValue:"length":"meters":"planar"}

For geoshape questions, you can also use the getValue expression to display the area of the polygon:

${polygon1 | getValue:"area":"hectares":"geodesic"}

The units and calculation method are optional parameters. The following units are accepted for length:

• feet
• kilometers
• meters
• miles
• nautical-miles
• yards

The following units are accepted for area:

• acres
• hectares
• square-miles
• square-kilometers
• square-meters
• square-feet
• square-yards

Alternatively, you can use any of the esriSRUnitType Constants or esriSRUnit2Type Constants supported by ArcGIS REST API. In your expression, use the numeric code for the constant without quotes as follows:

${polyline1 | getValue:"length":109002:"geodesic"}

If no units are specified, the default is kilometers for length or square-kilometers for area.

The method can be either geodesic or planar. If no method is specified, geodesic is used by default.

Date, time, and date-time

To ensure that your date and date-time questions are presented in a way that's accurate to your region's formatting, you can use an expression to format the question to match a provided locale. Place the locale method first in an expression, and the locale code must be in lowercase.

${datetime | locale:"pt-br"}

Nota:

For information on a specific language's locale code, see Wikipedia's List of ISO 639-1 codes. However, keep in mind that not all of these languages are supported by Survey123.

By default, all date and date-time values stored in a feature layer are displayed in coordinated universal time (UTC). You can use the utcOffset method to alter the display of these values in a report to match a specific time zone. The following expression displays the response to a date-time question offset from UTC by one hour:

${datetime | utcOffset:"+01:00"}

The utcOffset method supports the formats +01:00, +0100, and +01 and returns the same result. You can also use this method to alter the display of the response submission time. Be aware that utcOffset does not work with time questions.

For date and date-time questions, you can use an expression to format the date using DD, MM, and YYYY placeholders for day, month, and year, respectively. The following expression displays only the day and month, omitting the year:

${date | format:"DD/MM"}

You can also format the time in date-time questions, using HH, mm, and SS as placeholders for hours, minutes, and seconds, respectively. The following expression displays the day, month, hours, and minutes:

${datetime | format:"DD/MM HH:mm"}

Nota:

You must place the format method at the end of the expression.

Multiple choice

If a select one question is referred to in a placeholder by itself, for example, ${select_one}, it will return the choice label. If a select one question is used in an expression, or if the question uses an external select, a single choice question will return the value of a choice item. The following example uses a choice value, rather than a label, for a conditional statement:

${if select_one=="choice1Value"}The user selected the first choice.${/}

To intentionally display the value of a choice rather than the label, use the getValue expression:

${select_one | getValue:""}

For both select one and select multiple questions, you can use an expression to place a check box next to a choice item, which is filled depending on the response to the question. The following expression displays when the yes option has been selected for a question:

${select_one | checked:"yes"} Yes

Select multiple questions support expressions to output the total amount of choices selected, and to output a specific selected choice:

${select_multiple | countSelected}

${choiceQuestion1 | selectedAt:2}

Nota:

The selectedAt expression begins counting selected choices at zero. This means that ${choiceQuestion1 | selectedAt:2} will return the third selected choice.

Select multiple questions also have a supported expression to return all selected choice items as a bulleted list as follows:

${select_multiple | appearance:"bullets"}

Nota:

If the label of your choice item contains double quotation marks, they must be preceded by a backward slash; otherwise, your report will not print. A backward slash is not necessary for single quotation marks. The following is an example:

${select_one | checked:"Service provided by \"Greg's Plumbing\""} Service provided by "Greg's Plumbing"

Repeats

To access questions in a repeat, add a repeat section to your template. For a repeat named defects, the ${#defects} placeholder denotes the start of the repeat section, while ${/} denotes the end. Placeholders pointing to questions in the repeat must be between the repeat section's start and end placeholders.

Nota:

To print the contents of a repeat in a table, ensure that both the starting tag and the ending tag are placed inside the table or outside the table. A report can't be generated if one of these tags is inside a table while the other is outside it. In most cases, if a start tag and an end tag are placed inside a table, the start tag should be in the first cell and the end tag should be in the last cell.

To access questions in a nested repeat, place its tags between the tags for each repeat layer above the intended repeat section. The following is an example:

${#repeat1}
${#repeat2}
${#repeat3}
${field1InRepeat3}, ${repeat2.field1}, ${repeat1.field1}, ${mainLayer.field1} 
${/}
${/}
${/}

Report expressions cannot read special characters, such as hyphens, when referencing layer names using the ${layername} syntax. When referencing a layer that contains a special character in its name, use an underscore in place of special characters. Alternatively, you can refer to the layer through the $layers keyword and either the layer name or layer ID, for example, ${$layers["my layer name"]} or ${$layers[0]}. This can be useful with duplicate layer names.

To reference a field in your repeat that has the same name as its parent repeat, use the full path syntax including both field name and repeat name. For example, ${sharedName.sharedName}

To limit the printing of your report to a select number of repeats, rather than every repeat associated with the response, use the resultRecordCount method to set a specific number of repeats to print:

${defects | resultRecordCount:20}

you can use the orderByFields method to determine the order in which repeats will be printed. Declare a field name, followed by ASC or DESC, and the repeats will be printed according to that field's input in either ascending or descending order, respectively:

${defects | orderByFields:"state_name ASC, pop2000 DESC"}

To display the index of a repeat record, use the getValue expression with the reserved keyword $feature. This example will produce 1 for the first record in a repeat, 2 for the second, and so on:

${#defects}
${$feature | getValue: "position"}
${/}

Report queries

you can use aggregate functions to produce queries of the values in your printed responses. These queries are best suited to a summary section, which will only appear once in a report, regardless of the amount of responses printed. For more information, see Report queries.

Conditional report elements

You can show or hide elements of a report conditionally using if statements. You can use the if statement by typing an expression in the starting ${if expression} placeholder, with ${/} denoting the end of the conditional segment. Some examples of if statements that you can use to show or hide parts of a report are the following:

• ${if photo1} displays the section only if the photo1 question has been answered.
• ${if integer1>0} displays the section only if the answer to the integer1 question is a positive number.
• ${if ((geopoint1 | getValue:"y")>0)} displays the section only if the geopoint is in the northern hemisphere.
• ${if multiple_choice1 | selected:"A"} displays the section only if the multiple choice question has had the choice 'A' selected.
• ${if (repeat1 | getValue:"count")>=3} displays the section only if repeat1 contains three or more records.

In the following example, the text in the second line will only appear in the report if high is selected for the priority select one question:

${if priority | selected:"high"}
High priority issues must be addressed within seven days.
${/}

To check if a response contains a value for a question, only use an if statement referring to the field name directly with no other operators, for example, ${if photo1}. This format ensures that empty strings, null values, and undefined values are all considered empty values. This format applies to string, number, date, and attachment field types. When this format is used with repeats, the section will appear as long as there is at least one instance in the repeat.

To use conditional statements with date and time questions, perform calculations using Epoch time (milliseconds elapsed since January 1, 1970). For example, ${if (date1|getValue:"") < 1602735375000} displays the section only if the value in the date field is older than October 14, 2020. Be aware that report syntax doesn't have an equivalent to the XLSForm today() or now() functions, so it's impossible to compose a conditional statement for times relative to when the report was printed.

The following logical operators are supported in if statements:

Operator	Description
||	True if one of two statements returns true
&&	True if both given statements return true
!	True if the statement is not true
==	True if the two given values are equal to each other
!=	True if the two given values are not equal to each other
>	Evaluates if the first value is greater than the second value
>=	Evaluates if the first value is greater than or equal to the second value
<	Evaluates if the first value is less than the second value
<=	Evaluates if the first value is less than or equal to the second value

Limitations

The following limitations exist when using report templates:

• Your map will not appear in your report if the map is using a web map version earlier than 2.0, which was released in July 2014.
• Your map will not appear in your report if your ArcGIS Enterprise portal doesn't have a valid SSL certificate.
• Report templates are only supported when using the Survey123 website with ArcGIS Enterprise 10.5 and later.
• Printing using report templates does not work with ArcGIS Enterprise deployments that aren't public facing. Attempting to do so will present a getaddrinfo ENOTFOUND error.
• Printing using report templates does not work with ArcGIS Enterprise deployments that use Integrated Windows Authentication (IWA).
• A maximum of 1,000 reports can be printed in a single report request.