Launching Apps from a Survey¶
This page describes how to launch an external application from a form to capture data. Refer to creating an external app for information on how to create these apps.
To Answer a single Question¶
Other Android applications can be launched from within FieldTask in order to answer an image, text, integer or decimal question. The information required to start the other Android app is placed in the appearance column and consists of:
ex:the_android_intent(parameters)
For example:
ex:org.xxxx.myapp(param1='a', param2='b')
You should be able to find the intent required and also any parameters in the documentation for the external app. This app will need to be installed on the android device.
To Answer Multiple Questions¶
Multiple questions can be answered by a more complex external application. The set up for this is a little different than for answering a single question.
Firstly you have to set the appearance of the group to field-list. Then in a new column body::intent you specify the android intent and parameters to launch the external application. This time however you do not need to include "ex:" at the beginning of the intent!
| type | name | label | appearance | body::intent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| begin group | agroup | multiple questions | field-list | org.xxxx.myapp(param1='a', param2='b') |
| text | atext | some text question | ||
| decimal | adecimal | Some decimal question | ||
| end group |
The external application should return a bundle of contains keys. If these match the type and the name of the questions in the group, then the values of the keys will be written to the questions.
Specifying a URI¶
The parameter name uri_data can be used by many common external android applications such as those that send emails or SMS messages. The intent can be one of the Android Standard Activity Actions. For example:
ex:android.intent.action.DIAL(uri_data='tel:1111111111')
ex:android.intent.action.SENDTO(uri_data='smsto:1111111111', sms_body=${message to send})
ex:android.intent.action.SENDTO(uri_data='mailto:xxxx@yyyyy.zzz?subject=${email subject}&body=${email body})
Automatically launching¶
External applications can be automatically launched as soon as the user gets to the question. To do this specify the parameter:
auto=yes
This will launch the application automatically if navigating in the foward direction (ie not swiping back) and if a value has not already been returned by the external app.