FrontlineSMS Forms Problem - possible size limit?

[Claudia Bernett]

Hello,

We've encountered a problem using Forms. Everything was working well, but we were using a short test form. We implemented the full form which is quite long, and are now encountering the following issue - the software on the desktop confirms that the form was sent to the server, but the handset never receives the alert that a new form is available. Reading other posts here, it does seem like a size limit might be the issue - but it is unclear as to whether it still exists, or what it is. 

Any other suggestions? Or if it seems like it might be size limit - what is that size, and is there a way we can tell how big a form is before we send it?

Thank you!!
Claudia

[Laura Walker Hudson]

Email to laura at frontlinesms dot com and copy alex@ - can you include an explanation of what you were doing at the time, i.e. how many phones, how many forms were being submitted...

Thanks!

Laura

[Claudia Bernett]

hi laura!

i sent the email a few hours ago and just wanted to be sure you got it as i haven't heard back yet. we're continuing to test in the meantime - but help would be greatly appreciated.

thank you!
claudia

[Laura Walker Hudson]

Hey Claudia

Wanted to come back and let you know that our devs have looked at your logs and have been unable, so far, to see the issue. We can no longer see huge numbers of forms being sent and received, but we also don't have our Forms-experienced dev here with us - he's back in a couple of weeks. I realise this isn't useful for your timelines.

In the meantime, if you haven't been able to sort this out, I really would recommend completely deleting Forms from the phones AND reinstalling FrontlineSMS and deleting its database, and sticking with Forms without lots of data in them or lots of fields.

Do let us know how you're getting on?

Laura

[Claudia Bernett]

HI Laura!

Thanks so much for checking back in - we did get it working again with some time and a re-install. I am fairly sure it was the size of the forms - we have them currently chunked into sizes which seem to be manageable for the device and server. However (and I will post this as a separate thread too) - we now have a concern related to the cost of submitting the forms. It looks to be that each form (and we have about 5 now) requires something like 5-8 SMS credits. In Guatemala, this can be a bit prohibitive. For this test, the NGO is purchasing the phones and SIM cards, but otherwise this would be a pretty solid barrier to using the platform. Do you know if and how people have worked around this in the past? We are currently looking into unlimited pre-pay plans which would be far better at least for this test, but still prohibitive for use by the communities in the future.

Thanks for the support!!

Claudia

[Laura Walker Hudson]

Hi Claudia

There isn't really a a way around this without the prepay bundles you propose. Again I would advise looking at other means of digital data collection - e.g. if GPRS exists it may be cheaper to use PDAs/smartphones/java phone GPRS data collection tools if the information you're collecting is lengthy, or combine SMS for the time-critical data with other slower means of data collection if time is the critical factor. If there's no GPRS or the areas you're working in are remote, then it is a bit of a rock and a hard place to be stuck between...

Thanks for your patience and glad we could be of some help. Do keep us posted on the outcomes of your project and let us know if we can help further.

Best wishes

Laura