This release introduces Entity filtering, allowing you to control which Entities are downloaded by users. It also marks an important milestone for Web Forms, which is now the default web form experience for new forms.
Use Entity filtering to control which Entities users can download
You can now filter Entities for App Users and Public Access Links.
Project managers can define custom user properties (such as region, district, or team), set values for individual App Users or Public Access Links, and create filter rules that determine which Entities are downloaded by each user. Learn more.
Why filter Entities?
Protect privacy
With Entity filtering, users only download the Entities that are relevant to them. For example, a health worker in one district can be limited to records from that district.
Improve performance
Large Entity Lists can take time to download and process. Filtering reduces the amount of data downloaded to devices and browsers, helping forms load faster and synchronization complete more quickly.
Simple assignment
By filtering Entities based on properties such as district, region, team, or case worker, users automatically download only the records relevant to their work. If you also need to control which records users can act on, combine Entity filtering with in-form choice_filters.
Web Forms is now the default web form experience
Over the last several releases, we've been expanding Web Forms to support more ODK workflows and bringing the experience closer to Collect. With Web Forms now the default, new forms created in Central will open in Web Forms unless another web form engine is explicitly configured. Learn more.
For forms currently using Enketo, nothing changes immediately. Existing workflows will continue to work as expected.
... and more!
Simpler form draft page We've simplified the draft page and let you drag new form documents directly without opening a modal.
Form version notes When you publish a form draft, you can now add notes to keep track of the changes introduced by each update.
Stricter Content Security Policy We're protecting against more malicious injection into Central pages. Some browser plugins may no longer work. If you see unexpected loading failures, let us know.
Faster upgrades Central no longer builds the full frontend on every upgrade.
How to get these improvements?
If you are using Central on ODK Cloud, we'll be rolling out these updates in the coming days. If you are self-hosting Central, follow the upgrade instructions.
Thank you to everyone in the ODK community who provided feedback, tested new functionality, reported issues, and helped shape these improvements. We look forward to hearing how you're using Entity filtering and Web Forms in your projects!