Question Types

text

Use for questions that require a text response. It can also be used with the numbers appearance to get integer responses that are longer than the 9 character limit of the integer type.

Type
text

Parameters:

  • rows: Set the number of rows of text shown in the form

Appearances:

  • numbers: Shows the numeric keyboard
  • thousands-sep: Inserts a separator between thousands when "numbers" is also used
  • url: Allows the user to open a URL. Specify the url in the default column
  • hidden: Hide the widget in fieldTask

Availability:

  • FieldTask: yes
  • Webforms: yes

Example

Survey Worksheet
type name label parameters
text comment Any comments? rows=5
_images/widget-text.jpg

Text widget in fieldTask with 5 rows

_images/widget-text-webform.jpg

Text widget in webforms with 5 rows

Note

There is a limit of 4,000 characters on the amount of text that can be entered into a text question in webforms. However there is no corresponding limit in fieldTask.

note

Type
note

A read only note to the user.

Notes can be used to provide guidance to the user. This could some simple text that is specified in the survey template. For example:

The following questions are about health

However they can also be dynamically constructed to provide context sensitive help. To do this use the ${question_name} syntax within the label of the note. The question referred to can be a calculate that creates the text by combining answers from multiple questions.

Survey Worksheet
type name label calculation
text name What is your name?  
calculate calculate_guidance   concat('Tell ', ${name}, ' that they are doing well')
note guidance ${calculate_guidance}  

integer

Number questions that don't allow a decimal point and are not longer than 9 digits.

Type
integer

Appearances:

  • thousands-sep: Inserts a separator between thousands
  • hidden: Hide the widget in fieldTask

Availability:

  • FieldTask: yes
  • Webforms: yes

Example

Survey Worksheet
type name label
integer age What is your age?

decimal

Number question with a decimal point. Decimal questions are limited to 14 digits plus the decimal point. You can use a text question with the numbers appearance if you need more.

Type
decimal

Appearances:

  • thousands-sep: (Optional) Inserts a separator between thousands

Availability:

  • FieldTask: yes
  • Webforms: yes

Example

Survey Worksheet
type name label
decimal cost How much did it cost?

bearing

A bearing widget captures the compass reading and stores it as a decimal type.

Type
decimal

Required Appearance:

  • bearing

Availability:

  • FieldTask: yes
  • Webforms: no

Example

Survey Worksheet
type name label appearance
decimal orientation Record the orientation bearing
_images/widget-bearing.jpg

Bearing

barcode

Type
barcode

Appearances:

  • front: (Optional) Use the front facing camera

Reads a barcode using the camera.

The following barcode formats are supported:

  • UPC-A
  • UPC-E
  • EAN-8
  • EAN-13
  • Code 39
  • Code 93
  • Code 128
  • Codabar
  • ITF
  • RSS-14
  • RSS-Expanded
  • QR Code
  • Data Matrix
  • Aztec (beta)
  • PDF 417 (beta)
  • MaxiCode

The flash can be used as a light source when scanning barcodes in a poorly lit environment.

survey
type name label
barcode product Scan the products barcode
Recording a bar code using the rear facing camera

barcode

nfc

Type
barcode

Required Appearances: nfc

Availability:

  • FieldTask: yes
  • Webforms: yes

Reads the id on an NFC chip

survey
type name label appearance
barcode product Scan the products NFC chip nfc
Recording an nfc id

nfc

date, time and datetime

default date type

Type
date
Availability:
FieldTask: yes Webforms: yes

Example

Survey Worksheet
type name label
date birthdate When were you born?
_images/widget-date.jpg

Default date type

date widget with spinner input

A more compact date widget that makes it easy to select dates that are far from the current (or default) date.

Type
date
Appearance:
no-calendar
Survey Worksheet
type name label appearance
date birthdate When were you born? no-calendar
_images/widget-date-spinner.jpg

Default Date type

month and year only

Only records the month and the year.

Type
date
Appearance:
month-year
Survey Worksheet
type name label appearance
date birth_month What month were you born? month-year

year only

Only records the year.

Type
date
Appearance:
year
Survey Worksheet
type name label appearance
date birth_year What year were you born? year

date widgets with non-Gregorian calendars

Note

The non-Gregorian calendar is used only on input. The dates are then converted and stored as standard Gregorian dates

Availability:

  • FieldTask: yes
  • Webforms: no

Bikram Sambat calendar

Type
date
Appearance:
bikram-sambat
_images/widget-date-bikram.jpg

Coptic calendar

Type
date
Appearance:
coptic
_images/widget-date-coptic.jpg

Ethiopian calendar

Type
date
Appearance:
ethiopian
_images/widget-date-ethiopian.jpg

Islamic calendar

Type
date
Appearance:
islamic
_images/widget-date-islamic.jpg

Myanmar calendar

Type
date
Appearance:
myanmar
_images/widget-date-myanmar.jpg

Persian calendar

Type
date
Appearance:
persian
_images/widget-date-persian.jpg

time

Records the time of day.

Note

The time is stored along with the time zone. Hence a point in time is recorded. If you record a time of 10:00 am in London then the value is the same as 8pm in Sydney. If someone in Sydney generates a report using their local timezone then they will see the result as 8pm.

If you want to record a local time then you can use an integer type or decimal type or a select_one type that has a list of valid times. A question like "What time did the parcel arrive?" could be recorded with or without timezone depending on how you want to analyse the data.

Type
time
Survey Worksheet
type name label
time arrived What time did the parcel arrive?

datetime

Records the date and time

Type
dateTime
Appearance:
no-calendar: Shows a spinner rather than the full calendar
Survey Worksheet
type name label
dateTime started When did you start the project?

calculate

Specify the calculation in the calculation column. This type is not shown to the user so it does not have a label.

select

Select questions questions have a type (for select one, select multiple etc) and then in the type column, separated by a space, they have a name that identifies where the choices come from. Choices can be sourced from:

  • A choice list in the survey
  • A CSV file or another survey
  • Data in a subform (begin repeat) in the same survey

single select

Type
select_one

Appearance:

  • minimal: Shows a modal dropdown that expands when selected by the user. Useful when showing multiple questions on one page.
  • autoadvance: Immediately go to the next page after a choice is selected. Only use this appearance if it is immediately obvious to the user that the correct selection was made
  • autocomplete: Adds a text box above the choices. If you type into this text box the choices are filtered. Use with large lists.
  • likert: Show the choices in a likert scale
  • compact: shows the choices in a compact grid. This is particularly useful when you have only images for the choices rather than text labels.
  • compact-{x}: As per compact however replace {x} with the number of columns that you want.
  • quickcompact: Combines compact and auto advance
  • quickcompact-{x}: Combines compact with columns and auto advance

Parameters:

  • randomize=true (Will randomly sort the choices each time the question is shown)
  • seed={an integer} (Use this with random so that the same initially random order will be shown each time the question is shown in a given form)
Survey Worksheet
type name label
select_one countries country Select a country
Choices Worksheet
list_name name label
countries mali Mali
countries png Papua New Guinea
countries australia Australia
countries vanuatu Vanuatu

multi select

Allows the user to select multiple answers from a choice list.

Type
select_multiple

Appearance:

  • minimal: Shows a modal dropdown that expands when selected by the user. Useful when showing multiple questions on one page.
  • autocomplete: Adds a text box above the choices. If you type into this text box the choices are filtered. Use with large lists.
  • compact: shows the choices in a compact grid. This is particularly useful when you have only images for the choices rather than text labels.
  • compact-{x}: As per compact however replace {x} with the number of columns that you want.

Parameters:

  • randomize=true (Will randomly sort the choices each time the question is shown)
  • seed={an integer} (Use this with random so that the same initially random order will be shown each time the question is shown in a given form)
Survey Worksheet
type name label
select_multiple countries country Select some countries
Choices Worksheet
list_name name label
countries mali Mali
countries png Papua New Guinea
countries australia Australia
countries vanuatu Vanuatu

rank

This widget allows you to rank choices in order.

Type
rank

Parameters:

  • randomize=true (Will randomly sort the choices each time the question is shown)
  • seed={an integer} (Use this with random so that the same initially random order will be shown each time the question is shown in a given form)
Survey Worksheet
type name label
rank importance importance Rank the issues in order of importance
Choices Worksheet
list_name name label
importance food Food
importance shelter Shelter
importance water Water
importance security Security
The rank widget opened showing the choices that can be re-ordered

rank widget before re-ordering

The rank widget opened showing the choices after they have been re-ordered

rank widget after re-ordering

Viewing Recorded Rankings

When results are exported in the default spreadsheet format they will be shown in multiple columns. One for each choice. The column headings will be take from the question name with the addition of "1", "2", "3" etc. The first column will contain the choice that was ranked first and so on.

The chosen ranking shown in a report

Spreadsheet report of rankings

In other view of the collected data, such as in the console, the rankings will be shown in compressed format where they are all placed in a single column, in rank order, with a space between each value.

Getting choices from a repeat

Requires Smap Server version 21.04

If you have collected data using a repeat then you can generate a follow up select question using values from this repeat. Types supported:

  • select_one
  • select_multiple

After specifying the type add the question name that you want to use to create the select list. This is placed where you would normally put the list name. If you want to filter the choices then put the filter criteria into the choice_filter column.

Survey Worksheet
type name label choice_filter
begin repeat members Member    
text name Person's name  
integer age Person's age  
end repeat members      
       
select_one ${name} oldest Select the oldest person  
select_one ${name} oldest_child Select the oldest child ${age} < 18

Example form that includes selection from a repeat

image

Taking a Picture

Type
image

Captures an image either using the camera or by selecting from the device gallery.

Survey Worksheet
type name label
image picture_of_tree Take a picture of the tree

image with annotation

Draw on an image after it has been captured. An additional button labelled "Markup Image" is shown that is enabled after the image is captured.

Type
image
Appearance:
annotate
Survey Worksheet
type name label
image damage Take a photo and circle the damage
An image after the user has annotated it by circling an item of interest

Annotate Type

image as a drawing

Type
image
Appearance:
draw

This is similar to annotate except the user draws on a blank canvas.

Survey Worksheet
type name label appearance
image draw_farm_layout Draw a plan of the farm  

image as a signature

Type
image
Appearance:
signature

Allows the user to draw a signature of their name.

table
type name label appearance
image hh_signature Ask houeholder to sign the screen signature

Other Image appearances and parameters

Require a new image

The default behavour is to include a button that allows the user to select an existing image rather than taking a new one. However by adding the appearance "new" the user is requried to capture a new image.

Self portrait (selfie) image

The back camera on the phone is used by default (although the user can change this). However by setting the appearance "new-front" the front camera is used by default to capture a selfie.

Note

selfie can also be used as the appearance.

Reducing the size of images

The size can be reduced by specifying the maximum length of the longest side of the image using max-pixels. For example if the default picture size is 1,000 by 500 and you specify the max-pixels to be 200, then the image will be resized to 200 by 100 pixels.

In the parameters column add max-pixels= followed by the maximum length of the long edge in pixels.

Note

The proportions of the image are maintained and if the length of the longest side was less than max-pixels the image will not be changed.

Acknowledge / Trigger

Type
trigger or acknowledge

You can use a type of either trigger or acknowlwdge, they work the same way. A single checkbox is shwown which the user can "acknowledge" by checking it. If they do this then the answer stored for the question is "OK".

You can use the above answer in relevance for following questions. For example:

${ack} = 'OK'

Commonly select_one questions with yes/no choices are used instead of Acknowledge

Survey Sheet
type name label relevance
acknowledge ack Select to confirm participation  
text name What is your name? ${ack} = 'OK'
The trigger widget shown in fieldTask after the checkbox has been selected

Acknowledge widget in fieldTask

In WebForms a radio button is used instead of a checkbox.

The trigger widget shown in WebForms after the checkbox has been selected

Acknowledge widget in WebForms

Printer widget

Type
text
Required appearance
printer:org.opendatakit.sensors.ZebraPrinter

Connects to an external label printer, and prints labels that can contain a barcode, a QR code, or text.

Survey Sheet
type name label appearance calculation
text printer_widget Printer widget printer:org.opendatakit.sensors.ZebraPrinter concat('123456789','<br>’,'QR CODE','<br>','Text')

range

These widgets allow the user to select a numeric value within a range of numbers shown on a line.

Type
range

Parameters

start: The starting number end: The last number step: The increment between numbers

Range widget with integers

If all three parameter values are integers then input will also be stored as an integer.

Survey Worksheet
type name label parameters  
range eggs number_of_eggs How many eggs are there? start=0;end=48;step=12
A range widget shown in fieldTask with a start point of 0, end of 48 and step of 12. 36 has been selected as the answer

Integer Range widget in fieldTask

A range widget shown in Webforms with a start point of 0, end of 48 and step of 12

Integer Range widget in WebForms

Range widget with decimals

If one or more of the 3 parameters (start, end, step) are decimal then the answer will also be recorded as a decimal value.

Vertical range widget

Appearance
vertical
A vertical range widget shown in fieldTask with a start point of 1, end of 10 and step of 1

Vertical Range widget in fieldTask

A vertical range widget shown in Webforms with a start point of 1, end of 10 and step of 1

Vertical Range widget in WebForms

Range widget with picker

Appearance
picker

Availability:

  • FieldTask: yes
  • Webforms: no

When picker is added as an appearance the answer can be selected from a spinner rather than by clicking at a point on a line.

A picker range widget with a start point of 1, end of 10 and step of 1

Vertical Range widget in WebForms

Range widget with rating

Appearance
rating

When rating is specified as the appearance then the range is shown as stars which the user can select. The number of stars is equal to the value of the end parameter. The start and step parameters are ignored. Hence the value set is equal to the number of the start selected counting from the left.

Survey Worksheet
type name label appearance parameters
range rating Rate your experience rating end=5
A rating range widget with a start showing 5 stars of which the 4th has been selected

Rating Range widget in fieldTask

Chart

Type
chart

Shows a chart in the survey. Chart settings are specified in the question parameters. More details are available in Charts

Availability:

  • FieldTask: yes
  • Webforms: no

Child Form / Parent Form

Type
child_form, parent_form

Launches another survey from within the current survey. The difference between these is in how the data from the two surveys are linked in the results database. If you don't care about linking the data between the two surveys then either type will do. Detailed information on using these question types is available in Launch a Survey from inside a Survey.

Availability:

  • FieldTask: yes
  • Webforms: no

Locations

Location widgets capture one or more points as latitude, longitude, altitude in meters, and accuracy radius in meters. These data items are space separated. For example the following reading represents a lattitude of -18.27, a longitude of 27.32, an altitude of 25 meters and an accuracy of 5.6 meters: -18.27 27.32 25 5.6

Multiple points that form lines or shapes are separated by semicolons.

Availability:

  • FieldTask: yes
  • Webforms: yes

Multiple Locations in one Form

Prior to Smap server version 20.10 you could only put one location widget in each form of a survey. The reasoning behind this was that in GIS shape files the same restriction applies where each shape file consists of a single location and all the attributes associated with that location. Also the name of each location question was automatically set to "the_geom". I'm afraid to say this was just done to make the coding easier!

In version 20.10 this restriction has been lifted:

  • You can add multiple location questions in any form as well as the location preload in the top level form.
  • Location questions keep the name that you give them.
  • When you export a survey as a shape file you can select the location to use. All other questions are assumed to be attributes of that location.
  • When viewing a map of a survey on the analysis page you can select the question to use as the location.
  • When creating a task from existing data the location of the task is determined automatically. Firstly it tries to get the first geopoint question in the source survey. If that does not exist it tries to use the location preload that might have been collected automatically. If that is not set then it will use the first geotrace or geoshape question that it finds.
  • The map in the console currently uses the first location it finds in the survey. This will be fixed in a later release.

Warning

You may have an existing survey that you created using a spreadsheet and perhaps you have a geopoint question in that survey which you called "pump_location". Once your server is updated to 20.10 and you use the "replace" button to update the existing survey then a new column will be created in the database called "pump_location" to hold that location data. However any previously collected data will be stored in a column called "the_geom" and will no longer be accessible. You will see a warning in red if this happens when you do the replace.

In this circumstance, if you still need to access the old location data, then edit your survey in excel and change the name of the geopoint to "the_geom" Then replace the survey on you can redo the replace action.

geopoint

records a single point

Type
geopoint

Appearance:

  • maps
  • placement-map
  • history-map

The appearance maps will show a background map to give context to when the user records their location.

The appearance placement-map will allow the user to click on the map to record a location which does not need to be where the user is standing.

The appearance history-map can be used on geopoint questions inside a repeat. Previous geopoint values added for that question will then be shown in the background for context. Requires FieldTask 6.703 or above.

survey
type name label
geopoint the_geom Record Location
Results presented after a geopoint button has been pressed showing location and accuracy

Results after requesting a geopoint

geotrace

Records a line

Type
geotrace
Appearance
history-map

The appearance history-map can be used on geotrace questions inside a repeat. Previous geotrace values added for that question will then be shown in the background for context. Requires FieldTask 6.703 or above.

geoshape

Records a shape.

Type
geoshape
Appearance
history-map

The appearance history-map can be used on geoshape questions inside a repeat. Previous geoshape values added for that question will then be shown in the background for context. Requires FieldTask 6.703 or above.

geocompound

Similar to geotrace this type records a line however attributes can also be added to points along the line. To set a marker on a line click on the point and a popup will be shown.

Type
geocompound
Appearance
marker:{type}:{name}:{label}

Availability:

  • FieldTask: no
  • Webforms: yes
  • XLSForm: yes
  • Online Editor: yes
Geocompound widget being completed in a webform with several marked up points

Geocompound Widget

Requires version 22.02 of the server.

Use of the marker appearance required version 22.07 of the server. Multiple marker types can be specified.

  • type: must be either pit or fault. When a Compound PDF Image is drawn the line end points use the locations of pits.
  • name: The name that will be shown in the drop down list allowing a marker to be associated with a point (no spaces)
  • label: The stem of the marker label, an index will be added for each occurence of a marker type, for example JC1, JC2 etc. (no spaces).
survey
type name label appearance
geocompound pipeline_faults location of faults marker:pit:Pump:pump marker:fault:Defect:defect

The street addresses of markers can be automatically recorded in other questions that have the same name as a label. For for example if a label is specified as JC then the address of the first marker of that type will be stored in a question called JC1 and so on. Note only questions in the top level of a form will be updated with a marker address.

Matrix

The begin matrix type is a convenient way to show questions in a matrix structure using webforms.

_images/widget-matrix.jpg

Matrix Widget

To create the matrix, group the questions that will appear horizontally, however instead of using begin group/end group use begin matrix/end matrix. Because these questions are appearing horizontally there will be a limit to how many you can fit on the screen comfortably.

Then specify the rows of the matrix in a choice list in the choices worksheet. Put the name of the choice list used by the matrix in the "list name" column of the survey worsheet. As these choices create the rows of the matrix you can add as many as you like and the matrix will simply extend down the page.

Finally in the settings sheet, under "style" add "theme-grid".

When you load the survey onto the server additional questions will be created in groups. One group for each of the choices and a group for the header. Hence the matrix type is not a real type as it is converted into multiple other questions on upload.

Type
begin matrix, end matrix

Example

Survey Sheet:
type name label list name
begin matrix nutrition items food_groups
select_one yn available Available  
integer quantity Quantity  
text comment Comment  
end matrix      
Choices Sheet:
list_name name label
food_groups vegetables Vegetables
food_groups protein Protein
food_groups fruit Fruit
food_groups dairy Dairy
food_groups sugar Fats and sugar
     
yn yes yes
yn no no

Example Form

Availability:

  • FieldTask: no
  • Webforms: yes
  • XLSForm: yes
  • Online Editor: no

Literacy Test

Type
select_multiple

Appearance:

  • literacy

body::kb:flash

  • Set to the interval between the Start button being pressed and the screen flashing to indicate that reading progress (word reached) should be recorded.

The words to be read are listed in the choices worksheet.

XLSForm

survey
type name label body::kb:flash
select_multiple word_list literacy_question Assess literacy proficiency 30

Availability:

  • FieldTask: no
  • Webforms: yes
  • XLSForm: yes
  • Online Editor: no
The literacy widget after the flash timer has gone off which results in a yellow background. Two words are marked as causing problems and are crossed out

Literacy widget after the flash and before the user marks progress made at point flash occured

  1. When the widget is first shown it appears with a list of the words to be read and a Start button. It is assumed that the interviewee has a list of the words to be read as well and the enumerator will be recording their reading performance in webForms.
  2. After the enumerator presses the Start button, the timer is started. This will cause the screen to flash after the specified number of seconds or 60 seconds if no number is specified in body::kb:flash. During this period the enumerator can select words that the reader finds difficult.
  3. After the screen flashes the enumerator will be able to select the word that the reader had reached. They can then continue to select words that the reader is having trouble with.
  4. After starting a Finish button is shown. When the enumerator presses Finish the timer stops. They can then record the final word read.

Viewing Literacy Results

When you view the output in the console it appears in its raw format. That is a number of values spearated by spaces including:

  • The index of the word being read when the screen flashed
  • The time in seconds elapsed before the Finish button is pressed
  • The index of the word being read when the Finish button was pressed
  • The text "null null null null null null null"
  • A space separated list of the words that were marked as being wrong or difficult for the reader.

Support for literacy widgets has been added to the default Excel export from the analysis page. This formats the output to make it easier to analyse. Four additional columns are automatically added to the export for each literacy widget. These record:

  • The total time elapsed between pressing Start and Finish
  • The index of the word being read when the screen flashed
  • The index of the word being read when the finish button was pressed
  • The count of words that were marked as being difficult or in error

The recording of which words the reader had trouble with then behaves like any other select question. If you specify "Compress select multiples" for the export then they will be shown as a comma separated list of choice values. Otherwise a column in the export will be added for each word choice and the value will be set to "1" if the word was a problem or "0" if it was not. This allows you to easily add up the number of times each word was marked as a problem.

Audio

Default audio widget

Type
audio

Records audio using the device's microphone or a connected external microphone. This default audio widget uses an wxternal audio recording application. Most androids come pre-installed with one however you can also install an application from the play store.

The FieldTask screen showing the button to select in order to start recording

Question using the default audio widget

XLSForm

survey
type name label
audio summation Record the issue summation

Using the built-in audio recorder

Type
audio

Parameters:

Added in FieldTask version 6.300

The built-in audio recorder makes it possible to record audio while filling out other questions and will continue recording even if the user switches to another app or if the phone screen is locked. To use the built-in audio recorder specify the audio quality for the audio question.

The FieldTask screen showing the built in audio recorder and some other questions that are completed while the recording is running

Question using the built in audio recorder

When built-in audio recording is enabled and recording is initiated, a recording control bar appears at the top of the screen. If the pause button is tapped, recording is temporarily suspended and the button icon changes to a microphone. When the microphone is tapped, recording is resumed. After the stop button is tapped, the recording is ended and can no longer be modified.

Tip

Short audio files can be quite small compared to video and high resolution images however a long recording can become large. If this is likely to be an issue then you can consider changing your audio quality settings.

Android devices can make many sounds during use and these will be included in recordings. We recommend turning off sounds from button presses, camera shutters and notifications before recording.

Other questions can be included on the same screen as a built-in recording question. This makes it possible to answer other questions while recording. To do this, put the questions in a group that has an appearance of field-list.

During recording, the user is prevented from leaving the current question screen. However, you can use other applications or lock the device screen.

To replace the audio captured, first delete the current file and then record again.

In some rare cases such as the device running out of space, the recording may complete successfully but not be attached to the form. If this happens, a dialog will be displayed explaining that the file is available but needs to be accessed manually. You can find these files in the recordings folder of the FieldTask directory. This folder is never cleared so you should delete these files once you have retrieved them.

Audio quality

The quality of audio recordings can be customized using the quality parameter. If a quality is specified, then the built-in recorder is used unless the quality is set to external. If no quality is specified then the internal audio recorder is used by default.

Value Extension
normal .m4a
low .m4a
voice-only .amr

Tip

We recommend always using low or normal unless you have very tight bandwith concerns. These two quality settings produce audio that can be transcribed using Smap's powerful transcription capability.

XLSForm

In the parameters column, enter quality= followed by the desired quality. The online editor also supports setting the quality for audio questions.

survey
type name label parameters
audio interview Start the recording before commencing the interview quality=low

Getting audio from a custom external app

Type
audio

Appearance:

  • ex: followed by the identifier of the application that you want to launch

Added in FieldTask version 6.300

Note

This external app can be different from the external application that is launched by default to record audio. You can specify exactly the application that you want rather than any application that responds to a request to record some audio.

XLSForm

survey
type name label appearance
audio some_audio Specific External Audio ex:com.example.getaudio

Background Audio

If you want to automatically record audio while the survey is being completed then you need Meta Items.

Video widgets

Tip

Videos can be large. Be very careful before adding video questions and test that you have enough bandwidth and disk space on the Android devices. You can specify in the settings that only low resolution videos should be taken. This can also be done in the Mobile App Options for the organisation so that it applies to all devices automatically.

Default video widget

Type
video

Records video, using the device camera.

XLSForm

survey
type name label
video vehicle_traffic Please record a video of the traffic

Front facing camera video

Type
video
Appearance
new-front

Records video, using the front-facing camera. The Choose Video button is not displayed.

XLSForm

survey
type name label appearance
video front-video Video yourself reading the question new-front

External app video widget

Type
video

Appearance:

  • ex: followed by the identifier of the application that you want to launch

Added in FieldTask version 6.300

XLSForm

survey
type name label appearance
video some_video Specific External Video ex:com.example.getvideo

Files

Warning

Files can contain malware so make sure you use an antivirus scanner before opening any file uploaded to the server.

Default file upload

Type
file

XLSForm

survey
type name label
file supporting_doc Please select the supporting documentation

External app file widget

Type
file

Appearance:

  • ex: followed by the identifier of the application that you want to launch

Added in FieldTask version 6.300

Calls an external application to get a file for upload. You can create your own custom apps to get verified binary files to include in a survey response. ` .. seealso:: Launching Apps from a Survey

XLSForm

survey
type name label appearance
file supporting_doc Select the test results to include ex:com.example.gettestresults

Server Side Calculations

Type
server_calculate

These question types can be defined in a survey but they are not used to complete a survey. Instead they can calculate additional derived information when the survey results are analysed or exported from the server.

Compound PDF Map

Type
pdf_field

Appearance:

  • pdflinemap, followed by the names of the geopoint questions to include in the compound image.

Added in Smap Server version 21.11

This question type has a sepecific purpose which is to represent cable segments and the location of faults along that segment. When a PDF is created for a survey that contains it, the geopoint values for the specifed questions are combined onto a single map. The appearance contains the names of the geopoints. These are in order:

  • The location of the start of the cable segment
  • The location of the end of the cable segment
  • The location of a fault
  • The location of another fault etc

Note

This question type is not required to display a map generated from a geocompound question.

XLSForm

survey
type name label appearance
pdf_field fault_location Location of faults pdflinemap_p1_p2_f

In the above example the geopoint question p1 will identify the start of the cable or pipe, p2 the end and f the location of the fault(s).

A compound map generated in a pdf showing a line with a fault on it

A compound map showing a cable/pipe and faults

Each question name is separated by an underscore "_". If the fault question is in a repeat then multiple faults will be included for each sub form record.

Compound PDF Image

Type
pdf_field

Appearance:

  • pdflineimage, followed by the name of a geocompound question or the names of the geopoint questions to include in the compound image.
  • pdftl, followed by questions that set traffic light colors
  • pdflinelocation followed by the marker type and index that you want the location on

Added in Smap Server version 21.11

Just like the compound map this question represents cable segments and the location of faults along that segment. The representation is just a little more abstract than the map. However traffic light indicators can also be added to the output.

XLSForm

survey
type name label appearance
pdf_field marker_image Image of markers pdflineimage_c1
pdf_field marker_image Image of markers pdflineimage_p1_p2_f
pdf_field pit_location Location of pit 2 pdflinelocation_c1_pit_2

In the first example above the locations of the cable endpoints and the faults will be in a geocompound question called "c1". In the second example the geopoint question p1 will identify the start of the cable or pipe, p2 the end and f the location of the fault(s). There will be multiple faults if "f" is in a repeat. In the third example the GPS coordinates of the second pit in the geocompound question c1 will be displayed.

A compound image generated in a pdf showing a line with a fault on it

A compound image showing a cable/pipe and faults

Traffic Lights

Multiple appearances starting with pdftl can be used to add traffic lights to the image.

A compound image that includes traffic light indicators

A compound image annotated with traffic light indicators

Colors are set by the answers to questions. Usually calculate question could be used to generate the color. For example a question may have one of the following values:

  • red
  • orange
  • yellow
  • green
  • white
  • black
  • #af04b1

Custom rgb values need to be preceeded by a hash (#). Examples:

pdftl_q1_q2   creates a traffic light with two colors
pdftl_high_medium_low    creates a traffic light with three colors

Optionally annotations can be added to the traffic lights. These annotations are an X, that is a cross through the light and a label that appears under the light. These annotations are added by adding a colon after the question identifying the light's color. Then either the letter x or the letter l followed by the name of the question that determines whether or not the light is crossed out and/ or its label:

pdftl_q1:xq3:lq4_q2
pdftl_q1:xq3_q2:lq4
pdftl_q1:xq3:lq4_q2:lq4:xq5

To cross out a traffic light the value of the referenced question will need to be "yes" or "true" or "1".