Apparent change in behavior of "+" key inside repeat groups with style=pages

[eochieng-lab]

Describe the bug Ona currently runs on Enketo V3.1.0

The problem is that:

1. Pressing “+” inside the repeat group adds a repeat group and adds one more page, but
2. Does not take the user immediately to the first question of the new repeat group (like it used to do, sometime back)

I checked with three different forms. In the past, pressing “+” inside a repeat group added a repeat group and took the user immediately to the first question in the new repeat group. But now it no longer does this on any of the forms.

You can reproduce the strange behavior with the enclosed xls form. SimpleExampleNewBug-2022-03-23.xls

Also, I made a short video where I step through the example test form and show the changed behavior.

We also tried the forms out on Kobotools to see if that mattered, and the “new” behavior happens there too.

Thus, it seems possible that the change of behavior results from some change at the level of Enketo. Please advise. The new behavior confuses the enumerators, who are not very sophisticated with phone apps, so it would be very convenient to revert to the previous behavior of the “+” button inside repeat groups.

[eochieng-lab]

@MartijnR , anyone looking into this issue?

[lognaturel]

No one immediately, @eochieng-lab. If your team wants to take an initial look that would be great.

[eochieng-lab]

@lognaturel , thanks for the feedback. Unfortunately, we've tried to look into this internally but haven't been able to find a solution since it doesn't seem to lie on the Ona platform.

[jnm]

Just to share some useful information from the mailing list: the behavior seems to have changed between 2.5.19 and 2.8.1. https://groups.google.com/g/enketo-users/c/-KZfLQ9r_S4/m/ZQaIhrz2AAAJ

it doesn't seem to lie on the Ona platform

Martijn is mostly retired from maintaining Enketo at this point. The good folks at Get ODK Inc. (lognaturel, eyelidlessness, et al.) have assumed the mantle of primary maintainers, but getting issues like this fixed relies on other organizations (like Kobo, which I represent, and Ona) contributing labor.

[eochieng-lab]

Thanks @jnm , I also do represent Ona but since Martijn is retired from maintaining Enketo, I wasn't sure who would be resourced to take this up. I presume the reason is because there haven't been many users reporting this so it hasn't been treated as high priority at the moment.

[lognaturel]

Thanks for the update from the list and for the summary of the current state of things, @jnm. You got it, @eochieng-lab, this is low on the priority list at the moment. If it's high priority for you, consider taking it on. Otherwise it will be triaged and addressed eventually.

Our current focus is on fixing long-standing inconsistencies between ODK Collect and Enketo. Usage data across the ecosystem (including Ona and Kobo) suggest the most common workflow is using Collect for field data collection and then viewing and editing submissions with Enketo.

[eochieng-lab]

You're welcome @lognaturel. Thanks as well for the clarification. Makes sense why this will be triaged and not given priority. We will request the user to wait for now.

[lognaturel]

I don't think this is specific to pages. See for example https://test.getodk.cloud/-/single/gUWR7u9FfJdbZ6MJdQMKLagGmOSo7E3?st=dwv3jcV2UiFXOcv5!JTXhLeeig69JtZpZ6IbtOA52!KunHHObr9XwctqdpVBNTnM . I don't know how it was before but I would expect that after adding a repeat the first question in the new repeat instance would have focus. The current behavior makes it hard to use keyboard navigation.