More query operators for the Category Selector in ArcGIS Online Operations Dashboard

[Zach_Robinson]

The Category Selector in Operations Dashboard currently allows Single choice selections and Multiple choice selections. The query operators for Multiple choice selections are "include" or "does not include." These operators do not offer the same functionality as the operators "contains" or "does not contain." ESRI Customer Support explained this to me in an email:

I've done some digging into this issue and I think I've pinpointed the confusion.The 'include' operator works as an 'equals' operator when only one value is selected, works as an 'IN' operator when multiple values are selected, but never works as a 'contains' operator. This means that the query is looking for fields that exactly match the string you've configured as the query value. The result of this is that when you select multiple values, for example [category1] AND [category2], the category selector will filter to show only features that have [category1] OR [category2] as the value for the selected field. However, a feature that has the value of [category1,category2] would not be shown because the value is not an exact match despite containing both search terms.

My idea is to add two additional operators to the Category Selector in Operations Dashboard: "contains" and "does not contain." These operators will allow querying categories that are comma-separated in a single field. (This comma-separated format is standard for Multiple Choice data from Survey123.)

[Scott_Sambell]

Absolutely need this yesterday. 

[WillyG]

Species in our plant pest systems is now proliferated throughout multiple feature layers. Some concatenated, some not.  Being able to use LIKE in selectors, using domain codes from a certain field to trigger multiple layers / elements in a dashboard would be hugely beneficial. This would drastically improve the user experience and I can't think of a single enhancement that is more needed in dashboards right now.

[KyleWikstrom]

To provide an additional use case, our organization configures Survey123 forms that include Select Multiple question types. When a mobile user selects multiple choices for these questions, the choice values are stored in a single attribute field, are concatenated, and delimited with a comma, ",". Supervisors consume the submitted data using ArcGIS Dashboards, and often need to filter the data based on if the attribute value contains any variety of the Survey123 form's Select Multiple choices.

Example: A mobile user completes a Survey123 form where the form includes Select Multiple questions, such as, "What follow up tasks are required?", and choice options include "Repair post," "Repair sign", "Replace barcode sticker", "Trim vegetation", etc. The mobile user selects "Replace barcode sticker" and "Trim vegetation". In the office, a supervisor uses the submitted data to plan maintenance activities and ensure field technicians have the correct amount of resources to perform maintenance activities. The supervisor often asks questions of the data such as:

• "How many new barcode stickers to we need to create and where do they need to go?"
• "How much vegetation trimming or grass cutting needs to take place and where?"

Supervisors use ArcGIS Dashboards to monitor and understand inspection related activities, and then use the application's capabilities to support decision making and planning. Supporting the supervisor's ability to query and filter their department's data in ways that enable them to query and filter multiple combinations of the data values is very important to their workflow and ability to plan operations efficiently.

We have implemented a workaround as described in this Blog (https://community.esri.com/t5/arcgis-survey123-blog/understanding-multiple-choice-questions-in/ba-p/...), where we have normalized the data by leveraging Survey123's configuration options to store the mobile users' Select Multiple selections in multiple attribute fields that are configured as hidden questions. While this can be an effective way to store the data such that ArcGIS Dashboards supports querying and filtering it using any combination of survey results, this has not been an effective use of space for the Dashboard users, and the use of multiple selectors has not been efficient to use or configure.

Our main objectives are to:

1. UI/UX - Effectively use the space provided in ArcGIS Dashboards applications to support intuitive use of data filtering and querying actions.
2. Streamline Configuration - Minimize the amount of configuration required by the content creator to support user workflows.
3. Simplify Data Management - Remove or reduce the amount of data required to support queries and filters, and consequently reduce the amount of any manual post-processing tasks on the data that a data technician is required to perform in order to support simplified UI/UX.

Once this becomes a supported configuration, the creators of ArcGIS Dashboards will need the ability to manually enter the string values that will be used by Dashboard users to query if an attribute value contains one or more of the string values configured in the Selector.

Hoping for and looking forward to seeing a Data Contains String configuration option in ArcGIS Dashboards.

[KinleyWinchester]

I don't see this in the comments, forgive me if I missed it.  I found another workaround using Data Expressions.

https://doc.arcgis.com/en/dashboards/latest/get-started/create-data-expressions.htm

More specifically this expression:

https://github.com/Esri/arcade-expressions/blob/master/dashboard_data/SplitCategories(PieChart).md

You don't need to change your source table, from Survey123 for example.  It creates a new featureSet by splitting the multiple choice field using the commas and adds a COUNT field.  This can be used in pie charts, gauges, lists, tables and you can create actions from defined values in a selector.

Just select the New Data Expression instead of a data layer. Using the FeatureSetByPortalItem function in Arcade will populate your Portal name, and you can get the ID from the Feature Layer details in your AGOL account.

Another option to try to deal with comma-delimited strings.

[Colin_Schut]

Essential functionality

[kmsmikrud]

What is the latest update on this? I have a dashboard all configured and now the missing functionality of "contains" in a selector is limiting the dashboard for one of the biggest project requirements in this case.

Agree with all the other posts please implement this and I'm confused as to why the delay for so long. The "under consideration" is very frustrating to see years later.

[DuncanP]

Just adding another voice to the conversation since I have encountered the same frustrations today. I am trying to add a category filter to a "species present" field, which often contains multiple species (comma separated). Currently, only sites with a single species present, that matches the selector, will be displayed.

A "contains" feature would be great!

[NourSalam]

The status of this idea was changed to under consideration in 2020. Are there any updates on whether it's going to be included in the roadmap or not?

Thanks!
Nour

[JerrySneary]

Hi @DerekLaw ,

Are there any work arounds?

I need to filter a table in my dashboard that has a S123 select multiple field. My only option currently is to split the select multiple answer into multiple fields and then set a filter for each field, which in my case is 5. This is excessive work on not very user-friendly.

Kind regards,

Jerry

[DerekLaw]

Hi @JerrySneary,

I haven't worked on ArcGIS Dashboards in 18 months as I moved teams. Sorry, but I'm not the best person to ask. I suggest you post in the ArcGIS Dashboards questions forum to get assistance.

Good luck!