Hi Katy:
I'm not sure what's causing that and sounds like you've checked the right things. The field must be enabled (box checked in the "Default Fields" section) and the Advanced Settings box for "Show on insert form when updating a single row of data" must be checked.

As you know, for default fields in a Sample Type, you reach that advanced settings box via the schema browser. Did you check both the samples schema and the exp.materials schema? Check the settings for that field of your sample type in both those places and see if the box is unchecked in either. It seems from my quick check that the samples schema will override whatever is set in exp.materials, though it's worth checking both on your version. Also check both places to be sure that there is no XML metadata overriding the checkbox with <shownInInsertView>false</shownInInsertView>.

Hope that helps,
--Molly

Hi Molly,

We've managed to do our update, yay! But it's still not fixed this issue.

I've checked:
the "Default fields" secton and description is ticket
the advanced setting and all the tick boxes are ticked
the XML metadata and all of the and the tick boxes have inserted this, which looks okay:
<column columnName="Description">
<isHidden>false</isHidden>
<shownInInsertView>true</shownInInsertView>
<shownInUpdateView>true</shownInUpdateView>
<shownInDetailsView>true</shownInDetailsView>
</column>
the exp.materials schema and all of the advanced boxes are ticked and there's no additonal XML.

I am stuck. I'm so confused as it's coming up on the update form, just not the insert. I might just have to make my own field for now and not use the system field. Any other ideas?

Best,
Katy

Hi Katy:

That's great news that the upgrade completed successfully!

On this question, I'm also puzzled. To be extra clear, is that XML in the samples schema for your Sample Type? With the correct <table> and other syntax surrounding it - but nothing else there? You shouldn't need that to be there at all, though it looks correct to me, so removing it entirely . And there is nothing in the XML for exp.materials for that type? You mentioned earlier that fields were working (showing up) on your dev instance of 24.3.4, but now they aren't? Or they aren't on this server? Is this true for all Sample Types? If you create a new one with nothing new/special, does it also hide that field on insert?

Something specific must be different about this Sample Type, or this type on this server in this container, and it's hard to know what that might be without looking at it in person. You're probably right that a user-defined field would work for you just as well. Or if a newly created Sample Type works correctly, then rebuilding your type from that and migrating the data could be another workaround.

--Molly

Hi Molly,

This is the full XML for that table in the sample schema:
<tables xmlns="http://labkey.org/data/xml">
<table tableName="RNAseq_projects" tableDbType="NOT_IN_DB">
<columns>
<column columnName="Description">
<isHidden>false</isHidden>
<shownInInsertView>true</shownInInsertView>
<shownInUpdateView>true</shownInUpdateView>
<shownInDetailsView>true</shownInDetailsView>
</column>
</columns>
</table>
</tables>

If I remove the bit i sent earlier it un-ticks the boxes on the advanced settings.
I also tried a different sample table in the same folder and it's doing the same thing.

The exp.materials table has:
<tables xmlns="http://labkey.org/data/xml">
<table tableName="RNAseq_projects" tableDbType="NOT_IN_DB">
<columns>
</columns>
</table>
</tables>

I've just checked in dev on a different table (the RNASeq ones don't exist in dev) and it's working fine. Selected description for the default fields and it's appeared in the insert form and ticked all the boxes in the advanced settings. However, it didn't add the XML:
<tables xmlns="http://labkey.org/data/xml">
<table tableName="section_to_sample_and_target" tableDbType="NOT_IN_DB">
<columns>
</columns>
</table>
</tables>

I've then tried making a new sample table in prod and it works fine.... I also tried a different sample table in a different folder and it's fine! So it's just these two sample tables in this specific sub folder.... I might need to re-make them :(

Best,
Katy

Your last sentence opens another idea - if this is happening in a subfolder, is the sample type also defined in the top level project and/or the /Shared project? If so, those settings may be different there. I can't reproduce exactly what you're reporting, but do some unusual show/hide behavior where those settings are sometimes inherited and sometimes overwritten depending on the order in which things are changed, so check those other containers to see if you have that same name sample type set to be always showing that field on insert.

If that's not it then re-creating new ones may be the only choice.

--Molly

Oh. My. Goodness. We've cracked it! They tables did exist a folder up. I wasn't using them in the subfolder, I'd already re-made them with the same names but I think I was looking at the tables in the folder above when I was trying to edit them. I've since deleted the tables in the folder above, so that I don't get confgused again, and checked that everything is sitll working. The description field is now appearing in the correct tables! I am having trouble getting rid of the alias and flag columns but they can just stay at this point.

Thank you so much for all of your help!

Best,

Katy

That's great news! Glad to have an answer!
--Molly