Making some Improvements

We’re almost finished this introduction and though we’ve barely scratched the surface in regards to the range of features that WorkMobile offers, it should at least give a broad feel for how the platform works.

Before we finish however, let’s take a bit of time to make some improvements to our original solution.

 

Using Formulas to Default the Calendar Date

You may have noticed that when you opened up your form on the WorkMobile App, the date of the calendar defaulted to some date in the past. To make our solution more usable, wouldn’t it be great if we could default the date to today's date. Well, using expressions we can do just that so let’s find out how.

A Note on Expressions

If you’ve ever used Excel, then you’ve probably used some form of expression of formula to carry out a calculation. WorkMobile uses a similar approach and allows you to write expressions which are placed into the controls on your form.

These expressions can be used for a variety of reasons such as carrying out validation and calculations. 

If you’re interested in seeing the full range of functions available, you can click this link to find out more. 

If you want to default the date of the calendar control to today's date then follow these simple steps.

• Select the form you require from the list of form entries and select Edit Form.
• From within the form designer, scroll down until you see the Calendar control.
• From within the Calendar properties, you should see a box labelled Values. From here, type the following into the formula box:
  
  =today()

 

• Once you have done this, save your changes.

Now what if we didn’t want to default the date to today but 7 days from now? Well its simple.

From with the Values section, type =today()+7 from within the formula box.

If you want the date to default to a different date then you can simply change the number from the end of the above expression.

 

Making Your Form Location Aware

Once you move from the world of paper to using an App to capture data, you’ll want to begin using some of the additional technology that smart phones and devices have available to them.

One thing that you may want to do, is to automatically record the location that your mobile user saved their mobile form. We can do this very simply by making your form Location Aware.

• Log into your WorkMobile account and select the form you require, you should now be navigated to the form dashboard. 

• From here, select Form is not location aware which will allow you to toggle between location aware and not. 

• Once you have done this, hit Save.

Now we have enabled Location Aware, let's see what it looks like on the device. You must make sure that you have a field on the form that includes location capture.

• Log into your WorkMobile device and select the form you require, proceed to fill out the form until you see the Location Capture field. 

• By selecting this control, the Mobile User will be able to capture location data in real time and view the accuracy. 

• Once you have completed your form, Save the form and select Send/Receive.

How your Location will appear on the portal

• Log into your portal account and select the form you have just submitted. 

• Once you are on the Form Dashboard, select Completed Records and scroll through the data entries and select Location. 

• As you can see, the location has integrated into google maps.

Using the camera to capture photographs

Many businesses with a mobile workforce have processes that require photographs to be captured. We can easily extend our WorkMobile form to allow our engineer to capture a photograph of their completed work.

In order to capture photographs on your device, you must first enable this through the form designer.

• Log into your WorkMobile account and select the form you require 
• Once you are on the form designer, select the Photo control from within the media capture menu, making sure you adjust its behavior and appearance through the properties panel. 
• To add photographs from your camera roll, select Allow from gallery. 
• Once you are happy with your changes, hit Save

Using the Photograph tool on the Device

• Log into the WorkMobile App using the mobile user login you have created 
• You should now be navigated to the WorkMobile home page, from here select Forms and from within the list of form entries select the form you require. 
• Once you see the Photo control, you will have the option to either take a photo or select one from your gallery. Select the option you require and once you have filled in the rest of the form, hit Save followed by Send/Receive.