Deleted HEIC image remains in InterviewMultimediaView and blocks interview synchronization

Interviewer
1

Hello,

I am using Survey Solutions Headquarters 26.07 (build 40903), self-hosted, with the corresponding Android Interviewer application.

We are experiencing an issue with some interviews that cannot be synchronized to Headquarters.

During synchronization, Interviewer fails when uploading images:

POST /primary/api/interviewer/v3/interviews/{interviewId}/image

Headquarters returns HTTP 500 and the server log shows:

SixLabors.ImageSharp.UnknownImageFormatException: Image cannot be loaded

WB.UI.Shared.Web.Services.ImageProcessingService.Validate(Byte[] source)

After reviewing the Tablet Information Package, we found that InterviewMultimediaView-data.sqlite3 still contains image records with filenames ending in .heic.

In some cases, replacing the original HEIC image with a new JPG/PNG image solved the problem and the interview could be synchronized successfully.

However, in other cases, the problem persists even after the interviewer deletes or replaces the image. The old .heic record remains associated with the same interview in InterviewMultimediaView, and Interviewer continues trying to upload an image for that interview during synchronization.

In some of these interviews, both the old .heic file and the new .jpg file can be seen associated with the same InterviewId.

New interviews from the same tablet can synchronize successfully, so the problem seems to affect only some existing interviews that previously contained HEIC images.

This suggests that in some cases the multimedia reference is correctly updated after replacing the image, while in other cases the previous HEIC record remains “stuck” in the local Interviewer database.

My questions are:

  1. Is this a known issue in Survey Solutions 26.07?
  2. When an image is deleted or replaced, should the old record in InterviewMultimediaView be removed automatically?
  3. Why would replacing the image solve the issue in some interviews, but not in others?
  4. Is there a supported way to remove or clear the stale multimedia reference without deleting the interview or losing the collected data?
  5. Is there any recovery procedure that would allow these affected interviews to synchronize successfully?

We would prefer not to manually modify the SQLite databases unless this is an officially supported recovery procedure.

Thank you.

2

Dear @daysfade ,

The new version of the product resolves this issue, so the best advice we can give is to update the server to version 26.09. Starting with this version, the server will support images in the .heic and .heiv formats. Synchronization will complete successfully. However, please note that images in these formats will not appear on the Interview Review page or in the Interview Transcript PDF, but will be included in the Binary Export.
Answers to questions:

  1. Yes, this is a known behavior.
  2. We need time to investigate.
  3. This is something new that we need to look into. Could you please share details on exactly which cases replacing the image does not resolve the issue?
  4. The best way is to update to the new version.
  5. After the update, all interviews with .heic and .heiv responses should be uploaded to the server, and there should be no synchronization errors.
3

Dear Survey Solutions Support Team,

Thank you for your response and for confirming that version 26.09 resolves the synchronization issue with HEIC and HEIV images.

Before proceeding with the update, I would like to clarify two important points:

1. Server update and data preservation

Our Survey Solutions platform is currently running on our own server, Survey Solutions 26.07, with existing questionnaires, interviews, assignments, users, and collected data.

Can we upgrade directly to version 26.09 using our current server and database without losing any existing information?

Will all our data and configurations be preserved during the upgrade, or is a specific migration or backup procedure required?

2. Existing interviews with synchronization errors

We currently have interviews stored locally on interviewers’ tablets that contain HEIC images and cannot be synchronized due to this issue.

After updating the server to version 26.09, will these existing interviews synchronize successfully without requiring any changes to the interviews or the Interviewer application?

Or will the fix only apply to new interviews created after the update?

Our main concern is ensuring that we can update the platform safely without losing previously collected information, particularly interviews that are still stored on tablets and have not yet been synchronized.

Thank you for your guidance.

Best regards.