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Validating Survey123 multi-select fields against a domain in FME

  • March 2, 2026
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kylewicks
Contributor
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I’m reading Survey123 results into FME where one question allows multiple selections. The answers come through as a comma-delimited string (e.g. Need_PD,Need_TMA,Frozen).

I want to validate the responses against a known list of allowed values (CSV/XLSX), so that:

  • each selected value is validated individually

  • any invalid or new value (even if it hasn’t appeared yet) is flagged

  • I don’t need to handle every possible combination of selections

I understand that Tester “Cached Values” only shows existing data values and that Survey123/ArcGIS domains aren’t directly usable here.

What is the recommended transformer pattern to:

  • split the multi-select field so I can edit testers for looking for certain selected options and not others

Best answer by j.botterill

AttributeSplitter; set the delimiter to , a comma > List Exploder set to the _list from the last transformer

 

sample data
transformers

Result:

 

    2 replies

    j.botterill
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    • j.botterillInfluencer
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    • Best Answer
    • March 3, 2026

    AttributeSplitter; set the delimiter to , a comma > List Exploder set to the _list from the last transformer

     

    sample data
    transformers

    Result:

     

    kylewicks
    Contributor
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    • kylewicksContributor
    • Author
    • Contributor
    • March 3, 2026

    Thanks for this response, this seems to have worked!

     

    Just curious - as a newer FME user, do you typically learn these things as you go, from lessons on FME academy, videos, or by posting questions to the FME community?

    There’s so many tools that it sometimes gets overwhelming trying to figure out what could be used for what situation.

     

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