Each Central release is an opportunity to get community feedback on ongoing work, so check out the introduction and follow the instructions to try it out on our Sandbox or your own machine!
If you are already using Central, follow the upgrade instructions. Please note the new instructions on pruning that should be completed with each upgrade. If you are upgrading from a version before v0.9, please note the additional step with the firewall.
We are excited to announce the release of Central version 1.0!
We recommend that all new data collection projects use Central, because it is in active development by the core ODK team. ODK Central replaces ODK Aggregate, which is no longer actively developed.
This release adds the ability to fill out a Form in a browser (powered by Enketo). You can do so in multiple ways: we have introduced a new Project Role named Data Collector, as well as Public Access Links.
This release also adds localization support: the Central website is now available in Czech, German, Spanish, and French. We are deeply appreciative of all the translators who contributed to this huge translation effort. If your language is missing, contribute it.
Filling a Form in a Browser
We have added a new Project Role named Data Collector. Now all Web Users who are Administrators, Project Managers, or Data Collectors can directly fill Forms in the web browser from the Central administration website. This functionality is provided by Enketo (great to collaborate with you, @martijnr!). Note that Enketo does not always behave quite the same as Collect, or support the same features. For more information, please see this help article.
Central also now allows the distribution of surveys to a broad or open respondent group using Public Access Links. These Links take recipients directly to the Form in their web browser. For more information, click here.
Other Highlights
Thanks in part to feedback from our users and contributions from community developers, we have made the following improvements:
- Updated Knex.js to fix a connection issue with streaming. (
central-backend
#284) - Account for trailing
;
in OData exports ofgeotrace
andgeoshape
fields. (central-backend
#282, reported by @Florian_May) - Updated links and description for ruODK now that it has been transferred to ROpenSci. (
central
#148, thanks to @Florian_May)
As always, we have updated our User Documentation and API Documentation for the latest changes. More notes about changes to the API for v1.0 can be found in the Changelog, which lists additions, breaking changes, and other things of note for each major release.
Known Issue with Briefcase
If you rely on Briefcase to transfer Forms to and from Central, and in particular if you transfer Form Media Attachments using Briefcase, you’ll want to wait until a future (to be announced) version of Briefcase before upgrading to v1.0.
What’s Next
To learn more about the roadmap for Central, read What’s coming in Central over the next few years.