creating forms offline for mac

[sklar]

Hi group,

I tried to download the sync jar but when I open it on my mac which is running on a lion osx, it opens a window that shows the kobo post processor options instead of a normal kobo form building window. how do i download a simple version of the form builder for macs? i have it on my pc.

Rachel

[Paul Hamlin]

Could I get a little more details on how to load the APK file onto an android device?  I copied it to the downloads folder, but it does not show up from the phone.

Paul Hamlin
Senior Manager, Customer Research
Mailing Address
1101 14th Street NW, 11th Floor
Washington, DC 20005
M: 920-495-2363
F: 202-682-1535
www.FINCA.org

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[Patrick Vinck]

Hi Paul,

 

Your completed forms should be copied to a folder in sdcard/odk/forms – that folder is created automatically when you install KoBoCollect on your Android phone.

 

Hope this works for you.

 

Patrick

[ゴー・ニコライ]

Have you set Android to install from non-market/Play sources? Go to Settings > Applications and check Unknown sources.

After downloading the apk, use your file manager in android and navigate to the folder where you saved it.  You should now be able to run the apk and begin the install process.

/r

Nik

[Neil Hendrick]

Were you able to get the executable KoBoForm working for Mac?
You should be downloading from here:
 http://code.google.com/p/kobo/downloads/detail?name=Kobo-linux-2012-08-10.jar

The JAR file is the same for Mac and Linux, if you have Java working on your machine, you should be able to use this file.

~Neil

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[Neil Hendrick]

Paul,

KoBo Collect is a Market application, so "Unknown Sources" should not be a problem. It's worth checking anyway.

You seem to be installing the APK from a downloaded file. This is the hacky way to install. It's easier to visit the Android Market and install from there. You can do this on your phone if you have internet access.

If you want to install the APK from a downloaded file, the best way to do it is to use the Android Debug Bridge to install.

Another method is to connect your phone to your computer by USB, mount the SDcard, drag and drop the APK file from your computer to the root of the SDcard. Then disconnect your phone. Using the File Explorer on your phone, you should be able to open the APK file and install KoBo Collect.

Please let us know how it goes.

~Neil

[Paul Hamlin]

Hello all,

I could not find setting in my android to allow downloads from unknown sources and scanning the QR code returned an error that it was not found (I selected both options to continue from Playstore and browser.)

ODK collect works for the forms I have been building, so I am going to stick with that.

I (and others in my organization) also have the same challenges with KoBo Form Builder (running latest Firefox with all plugins updated.)  Loading from a file and saving to a file take up to 5 minutes and often do not complete.  Multiple selects also seem to cause difficulties or lead to errors.  We were very excited to find both ODK and KoBo, the form build interfaces seemed very logical and easy to use, I hope we can work through our challenges.  

My biggest challenge is that for a non XML speaker the coding guidance is not very clear for me.  I have had the most success coding in XLS and then using FormHub to convert to XML, but I'm still challenged to code what I feel is a fairly simple form with some skips and validation.  Specifically:

How to code in XLS for date validations (so one can limit birth dates so respondents must be over 18 or less than 99 years, or the default value is for an 18 year old person.)

Can you run the GPS geopoint in the background, or must the surveyor select it?

How can you add XML node numbers to the Excel file (when converting in FormHub to XML) so that each of the questions has a number associated with it.  

What is the difference between a Form ID and a Form Title and File Name, are they all required, or can some be different?

Paul Hamlin
Senior Manager, Customer Research
Mailing Address
1101 14th Street NW, 11th Floor
Washington, DC 20005
M: 920-495-2363
F: 202-682-1535
www.FINCA.org

[ゴー・ニコライ]

Are you trying to use ODK Collect and KoBo Collect at the same time on the same device?

"Simple" is subjective. ;). Here's a formula to calculate age based on the respondent's birthday, which you can use to filter your desired age group:

int((today() - ${BIRTH_DATE}) div 365.24)

Geopoints cannot be collected from the background.

Anway, if you prefer XLSform over Builder then perhaps you'll get better support asking specific questions at the ODK mailing list [1] or the formhub mailing list [2].

[1] https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!forum/opendatakit

[2] https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!forum/formhub-users

[Neil Hendrick]

Paul raised a few questions I can answer:

 

I could not find setting in my android to allow downloads from unknown sources and scanning the QR code returned an error that it was not found (I selected both options to continue from Playstore and browser.)

 

1. On your Android phone, go to the home screen. 
2. Push the "menu" button
3. From the pop up menu, select "Settings"
4. From the settings menu select "Applications"
5. Check the box for "Unknown Sources"
6. While you are there, in the same menu, select "Development"
   
7. Check the box for "USB debugging" (this will allow you to use the Android Debug Bridge)

How to code in XLS for date validations (so one can limit birth dates so respondents must be over 18 or less than 99 years, or the default value is for an 18 year old person.)

If you want to do this in KoBoForm, it's easy.

In your form, add an Integer question, make sure the type is "Number"

Click "Show Advance Properties. In the Advanced Properties, select the Validation Logic tab.

 

Click on <Click here to add new condition>   

There are menus for selecting the comparator, like Greater Than, Less Than, Equal To, etc. You will add one condition for >or=18 and one condition for <or=99.

You can add a message that will pop up if the user enters a value that is not >=18 and <=99. I have added "Respondant must be between 18 and 99 years of age."

If you want to add a default value of 18, you can do that, too, in the same section, the Advanced Properties above the Validation section.

Now, if you are hand coding this, you will edit the XML. KoBoForm is doing this in the background, but it's interesting to see how it turns out in the XML:

      <bind id="age" nodeset="/formName/age" type="xsd:int" required="true()" constraint=". &gt;= 18 and . &lt;= 99" jr:constraintMsg="Respondant must be between 18 and 99 years of age."/>

All validation of answers in handled by the part that reads constraint=". &gt;= 18 and . &lt;= 99". The constraint="" section can handle all kinds of validation. KoBoForm will write fairly complex statements without you having to code, but if you want to use Regular Expressions, they can be evaluated here. 

The Validation message that pops up if the user enters a bad value (like 999 years old) is set by putting some text in jr:constraintMsg=" "

.

Can you run the GPS geopoint in the background, or must the surveyor select it?

Surveyor must select it. It cannot be run in the background. 

 

What is the difference between a Form ID and a Form Title and File Name, are they all required, or can some be different?

These determine the name of the survey that is presented to the User when they open KoBoCollect and select a form from the list of forms. They should all be the same.