This is probably quite a basic question so apologies, but I haven't been able to find an answer on the website or forum.
It says on the getodk.org homepage that data can be collected using either the mobile app or the web app. I am currently creating some training documents for our data collectors so they know exactly what to do and specifically know how to get set up to start collecting data. I have created this (with screenshots) for the mobile app and I want to create a similar training document on how to get set up on the web app (also with screenshots). However I haven't been able to find how to do this, and as I am still in draft mode I am not exactly sure what set up/the forms will look like to users who are trying to fill in forms on the web app.
I hope that makes sense and any advice on this is hugely appreciated!
the web form is visible when clicking on the preview button so you can create your screenshots even in draft mode.
When you will publish the form you will only have to communicate the final public URL of the form.
Thanks for your response - that's very helpful in terms of the screenshots. I just wonder how data collectors would go about initially getting set up? Is it the same link for all web users? In which case, how do you differentiate between sites - because in the app, the sites will have QR codes unique to their site.
This is another great question, @faran_d. Can you tell us a little bit more about your scenario? Are you intending to use the web app and mobile app interchangeably based on data collector preference or is there a difference between when the two are used?
We typically recommend using Collect in contexts where data collectors have multiple forms to think about and are mobile. We typically recommend using web forms for contexts where data is being filled out from computers, where non-Android mobile devices need to be used, and in self-report cases.
If you are sending data collectors out to fill your forms using the web app, you have a few options:
Give everyone collecting data a Web User account. Send the link to your Central project. When data collectors log in with their Web User account, they'll see the list of forms and can pick the one they need to fill out. They will need to be online to do this and will see every form in the project. They will see the project description which you can use to give them useful information:
Give everyone collecting data a Web User account. When you're logged in as a Web User, go to fill out each web form you want filled out and copy its address (e.g. https://foo.foo/-/abc but longer). Send out the links to each data collector as appropriate and ask them to only fill out the form(s) you've sent links to. They can bookmark those and/or add desktop shortcuts to go to them directly. They will need to use their Web User account to access them. Note that they will be able to discover and go to the Central project as described above so you may want to explicitly instruct them not to.
Create Public Access Links for the forms you want filled. Share the appropriate one(s) with each data collector. You can give each data collector a unique link for each form to track how they're used. They will not need to use a username and password to access the forms and will not have access to the Central interface.
All of these require Internet connectivity. Workflows 2 and 3 can be made offline by adding /x/ after /-/ to the web links you get. If, for example, your web link is https://foo.foo/-/abc, you can make it into https://foo.foo/-/x/abc to be able to use it offline. The form will need to be open in a browser when connectivity comes back for the submission to be sent. This is certainly not a very intuitive or elegant process and it's something we hope to refine at some point.
Hello, thanks for this comprehensive answer!
I have a few follow up questions on this. Is there any way to limit the forms a web user can see? we have site-specific forms as this project has a lot of sites/countries but we have iphone users who can't use Collect. We have currently sent public access links but they need to copy and paste the link continuously to enter data for multiple forms as it takes to a "Thank you" page after submitting the form. I have looked at web users for data collectors but then they can access all of the data forms (whereas App users can be restricted to specific ones) which seems like a flaw in this... Do you have any suggestions on how to make this work? Or better yet, any word on if an iPhone app will be developed?! We work with a lot of partners across Africa, Asia and Europe and there are a lot more iPhones in use than we expected amongst data collectors and project coordinators.
Thanks!
Not currently. We do have the intention to do this at some point but don't yet have a timeline.
Public Access Links are primarily designed for self-report forms that would be filled once. However, the configuration that makes these links redirect to a "thank you" page is in the URL. You can remove the single part of the URL to immediately fill out another.
For example, if the Public Access Link shown in Central is https://foo.getodk.cloud/-/single/abc?st=abc, you can distribute https://foo.getodk.cloud/-/abc?st=abc and users will immediately go to a new blank form.
You could put the links on a web page or in something like a Google Doc that you share. Again, this requirement is something we're thinking about. We're currently focused primarily on Entities to better support workflows with multiple encounters and then will likely focus some time on the general theme of form access.
How do I create several credentials for data collectors? We want to create a form in ODK build for data collection in the field, so each data collector needs a username and a password. we will have to install odk collect on the tablets and instruct data collectors how they will access and complete the form.
