Learn how to build Data Collector apps, fully customisable forms used by field users to capture and transmit information to AppCan Cloud in real-time.

Create Data Collector App

To create a new Data Collector App, select ‘Apps’ on the top menu.

Click on the ‘Create New App’ button

A pop-up will appear

Select ‘Data Collector’

Configuring a Data Collector App

Data Collector apps are fully customisable forms used by field users to capture and transmit information to AppCan Cloud in real-time.

Upon selecting the ‘Data Collector’ option from the pop-up window (as shown above), the following screen appears:

App Name

Enter the name of the app in the ‘App Name’ field.

Sections

A ‘Section’ enables a user to group multiple ‘Field Names’ under an appropriately labelled Section. Each app must contain at least one Section, however, an app can support multiple (and an unlimited number of) Sections..

To add a new Section, tap/click on the ‘Add Section’ button located to the right of the ‘App Name’ field

Fields

With a Section defined, a user can now add, label and configure (if applicable) one or more ‘Field Types’ within a Section.

To add a Field Type, tap/click on the ‘Add Field’ button to the right of the Section Name field.

Once a field has been added, a user has 12 different Field Types available with no limit on the number of Field Types that can be included in a Section. The Field Type options are as follows.

Field Names

1. Uniqueness: Field names must be unique within the app. You cannot use the same field name more than once. This uniqueness is essential for reporting purposes in Form Builder.
2. Meaningful Names: It’s advisable to choose meaningful field names that make sense to the app users. Clear and descriptive names enhance usability and understanding.
3. Renaming Fields:
   • If you want to rename a field, ensure that the new name hasn’t already been used in the app.
   • To reuse an original field name after hiding it, follow these steps:
     • Rename the original field (e.g., from “Expenses Type” to “Expenses Type Old”).
     • Hide the field.
     • Save or publish the app.
     • Now you can add a new field with the desired name (e.g., “Expenses Type” with a different field type).

‘Select’ Field Type

1. Adding the ‘Select’ Field:
   • Once you’ve added the “Select” field, look for the “red horizontal lines” icon under the column header labeled “Options.”
   • Enter the text for each option you want to include in the dropdown.
   • Click the “Add” button to add each option.
2. Deleting Options:
   • To remove an existing option, click the “x” icon next to the applicable option.
   • The dropdown menu will display the fully customizable options that field users can select from once they’re defined.
3. Multiple Select Field:
   • Unlike the “Select” field, the “Multiple Select” field allows users to choose one or more options from the dropdown.
4. Options Indicator:
   • When you create a “Select” field, you’ll see an indicator for the options:
     • Gray indicates no options have been entered.
     • Red indicates at least one option has been added.

‘Multiple Select’ Field Type

1. Adding Options:
   • After adding the “Multiple Select” field, click the “red horizontal lines” icon under the “Options” column header.
   • Enter the text for each option you want to include in the dropdown.
   • Click the “Add” button to add each option.
2. Deleting Options:
   • To remove an existing option, click the “x” icon next to the applicable option.
   • Even if an option has been used in a prior app entry submission, you can still delete it from the dropdown.
3. Options Indicator:
   • When you create a “Multiple Select” field, the options indicator shows:
     • Gray: No options have been entered.
     • Red: At least one option has been added.

Select & Multiple Select Bulk Upload

When using a Select & Multiple Select Field Type, you can upload options from an Excel Spreadsheet or CSV file, to prevent manual input.

Uploading Options

After adding the Select / Multiple Select field, select the 3 grey bar icon under the ‘Options’ column.

The ‘Create Select Option’ popup will show, as below:

Select ‘Upload’ – you will be prompted to choose the Excel or CSV file from your local machine, after which the options will be uploaded.  Continue to build your app and ‘Save’ or ‘Publish’ as required.

Upload Rules

1. Your options must be in column A starting at row A1 in your spreadsheet, with no blank rows in column and no other columns in the file
2. No duplicates are allowed in the options list (the system will advise you if duplicates exist)
3. Ensure cells in the spreadsheet are formatted as Text

It is important that cells within the Excel spreadsheet are formatted as Text fields.  If the field contains Text, Excel will automatically set the format as text.  If you have a number field, for instance, as an option, this will need to be formatted as text.  You can do this by:

• Selecting the required cell(s), choose ‘Format’ from the menu, select ‘Cells’ and then choose ‘Text’ from the available options
• Selecting the required cell(s), in the ‘Home’ Ribbon Bar change the ‘Number Format’ dropdown option to ‘Text’
• Use a leading apostrophe to indicate to Excel to ignore formatting

Please Note: When using the ‘Upload’ functionality, any options already in the Select or Multiple Select field will be overwritten

Deleting Options

1. Click the “Delete All” button.
2. A warning message will appear.
3. Select “OK” to remove all options.

Mandatory Fields

1. Field Configuration:
   • For each Field Name added to a Section within the app, you can define it as mandatory.
   • Check the checkbox that corresponds to the applicable Field Name under the “Mandatory” column header.
2. Visual Indication:
   • Fields marked as mandatory in AppCan Cloud will be displayed with a red asterisk (*) when viewed in AppCan Mobile.

Smart Copy

Smart Copy is a useful feature that allows AppCan Mobile users to create new records by copying selected values from a submitted record:

1. Example Scenario: Vehicle Inspection App
   • Imagine an app where users enter details like “Driver Name,” “Vehicle Make,” “Vehicle Model,” and “Vehicle Registration No.”
   • When creating multiple records, users often need to re-enter the same information.
   • Smart Copy streamlines this process by allowing users to copy previously entered values to new records.
2. Enabling Smart Copy:
   • To enable Smart Copy in a Data Collector App:
     • Check the “Smart Copy” column for each field that users can copy to a new record.
     • You can add Smart Copy fields to existing apps or new ones.
     • Remember to publish your app after making changes to Smart Copy fields.
3. User Experience:
   • If no Smart Copy fields are checked, AppCan Mobile users won’t have the option to Smart Copy a record.

Summary Pins

Once a field user submits an app entry to AppCan Cloud, summary information is displayed against the submitted entry in AppCan Mobile

In order to define which Field Name(s) appear in a given app entry’s summary (in AppCan Mobile), tap/click, hold and drag an ‘App Header Position Pin’ (starting with the pin labelled ‘1’) and place it under the column header ‘App Header Position’, against the applicable field name.

Every App must contain at least one App Header Position Pin i.e. the pin labelled ‘1’ must be associated with a Field Name.

If a 2nd and 3rd row of information is required in the app entry’s summary, repeat the process for pins ‘2’ and ‘3’

The Pin labelled ‘1’ indicates the field name that will appear in the 1st row of the app entry’s summary. Pins ‘2’ and ‘3’ correspond to the field names that will appear in the 2nd and 3rd rows of the app entry’s summary (if used).

A maximum of three App Header Position Pins can be assigned to a given App.

Cloning Select and Multiple Select Fields

You can clone the ‘Select’ and ‘Multiple Select’ fields, including all options entered.

Just click the ‘Clone’ button in the ‘Options’ popup.

The cloned field will appear at the bottom of the Section, using the same Field Name but with ‘_1’ – if another field is cloned from the original field, the field name will show with ‘_2’ etc.

Hiding & Deleting Fields

Hiding Fields

For apps that have already been published, a user has the ability to hide one or more field names that are no longer required in the app.

To hide an existing Field Name in a published app, check the box under the column header ‘Delete/Hide’ that’s associated with the applicable Field Name that should be hidden

The Field Name will be highlighted in light grey to indicate that the field will be hidden when the revision for the app is published (see section ‘Publishing an App’ for more details on this process).  Once an app has been published, a user can not delete Field Names.

Deleting Fields

For apps that have not yet been published or for apps that contain revisions that have not yet been published, a user has the ability to delete Field Names

In the situation where an app has been published and subsequent revisions have then been made (but have not yet been published), a user can only delete the Field Names that were added as part of the unpublished revision. For fields that were included when the app was previously published, a user can only hide those Field Names.

To delete an existing Field Name, click on the ‘x’ under the column header ‘Delete/Hide’ that’s associated with the applicable Field Name that should be deleted.

The Field Name will disappear from the Section to indicate that the field will be removed when the app is published (see section ‘Publishing an App’ for more details on this process).

Once an app has been published, a user can not delete Field Names.

Reorder Fields & Sections

Reordering a Field Name

By default, when a Field Name is added to a Section, it appears at the bottom of the list of Field Names in that Section.

To change the order of a Field Name, tap/click, hold and drag the ‘grey horizontal lines’ icon (located under the column header ‘Order’) that’s associated with the applicable Field Name.

Move the icon either up or down to insert it in a new location within the list of Field Names.

Reordering a Section

By default, when a new Section is added to an app, it appears at the bottom of the list of existing Sections associated with that app.

To change the order of a Section, tap/click, hold and drag the ‘grey horizontal lines’ icon (located to the right of the Section Name field)

Move the icon either up or down to insert the Section in a new location.

Cloning Sections

You can clone an existing section, which is particularly useful where repeated sections are required in the app.

To clone a section, select the grey 3 dot icon after the Section name.

A popup with the Data Collector options will be shown.

Select the ‘Clone Section’ option and then click on the ‘Confirm’ button.

The cloned section will be created below the existing section, with ‘Copy’ after the Section Name to indicate the section was cloned.

Adjust the Section name as required, and change the Field Names in the cloned section to ensure you don’t have any duplicate name.

App Preview

During the process of creating/editing an app, a real-time, fully scrollable preview of how the app will look in AppCan Mobile is displayed.

The ‘App Preview Pane’ is located on the right hand side of the ‘Edit App’ screen

Saving App

During the course of creating a new app or in the event that changes need to be made to an existing, published app (e.g. reordering a Field Name, adding a new Field Name etc), the option to save the current state of the app (without publishing it) is available.

This enables a user to create a new app/edit an existing app over a period of time as well as send an app through any internal approval process that may be in place within a given organisation, prior to publishing it to field users.

To save an app without publishing it or to save any revisions to an existing app without publishing the revisions, click on the ‘Save’ button at the bottom of the ‘Edit App’ screen

Once the app has been successfully saved, the user is returned to the ‘Manage Apps’ screen.

If the app in question is new (i.e. it has never been published), a light green banner will appear towards the top of the Manage Apps screen stating “The App was created successfully”

If the app in question has already been published (prior to any revisions that have just been made), a light green banner will appear towards the top of the Manage Apps screen stating “The App was updated successfully” …

In addition, for both new apps that have not yet been published as well as existing, published apps that contain revisions, a red banner will appear towards the top of the Edit App screen stating “This App has changes made that will not be visible on mobile devices until it is published”

Publishing an App

Once an app is ready to be published (be it a new app or an existing app with revisions), tap/click on the ‘Publish App’ button at the bottom of the ‘Edit App’ screen.

Once the process of publishing an app has been completed, the user is returned to the ‘Manage Apps’ screen and the ‘Published Date (Latest Version)’ column header is updated to reflect the date/time that the latest version of the app was published.

Save As

You can copy an existing Data Collector app into a new app, using the ‘Save As’ feature.  This clones the existing app and makes an exact copy, including all field names, field types, mandatory selections, Select and Multi-Select options etc.

Cloning a Data Collector app is useful for several scenarios, for instance:

• Clone a Template App with standard company information used in each app.
• Tidy up a field test app, ready for live deployment.
• To deploy a similar app as an an existing app.

To create a clone of an app:

• Select the app you wish to clone and edit the app.
• Select the ‘Save As’ button

The ‘Save As’ popup box will be shown, where you can enter the name of the new app.

Enter the name of the new app, and select ‘Save’. Your ‘cloned’ app will appear in the app list, where you can make any necessary changes before publishing.

Cancel Changes to an App

Should a user want to either cancel the process of creating a new app or discard any changes made to an existing app (prior to tapping/clicking the ‘Save App’ button), tap/click on the ‘Close’ button at the bottom of the ‘Edit App’ screen …

Data Collector – Collapsible Sections

Using collapsible sections in Data Collector app allows you to show the complete section on the mobile app in a collapsed state.  The user then is able to expand the section in the app and complete the fields as required.

Using collapsible sections is particularly useful where you have repeated sections in the app, the user can then expand the Section if required.

To set the section as collapsible, select the 3 dot icon after the Section name

The Section options popup will be shown.  Select the ‘Collapse on mobile’ option and the choose ‘Confirm’.

On AppCan XP, the screenshot below shows the collapsed sections, if set in the Data Collector builder.

To expand a Section, select the red chevron >.  To collapse a section, select the downward red chevron and the Section will collapse.

Collapsible Section Logic

• If a Section is marked as Collapsible, then any Mandatory fields are ignored (on Submit) if no fields in the section are completed. And/or the section has not been expanded.
• If a Section is marked as Collapsible, any Mandatory fields within the section are required (on Submit) if 1 or more fields in the section are completed.
• If a Section is marked as Collapsible, and any field in that Section is completed, the user is unable to collapse section (and icon hidden). If a user subsequently removes all data from fields in that Section, then icon shown and user can collapse the section again.
• If a user opens an existing record, and a collapsible Section contains completed fields, the Section is automatically shown as expanded, and expand/collapse Section icon is hidden.