ArcGIS QuickCapture Blog - Page 4

User Inputs

QuickCapture project users tap big buttons to capture types of features. The location of the feature is taken from the location of the device, and the attribute values are either fixed, or calculated on the fly using device variables. On top of this, buttons can be configured to allow user enter additional values through the use of user inputs. 

User inputs allow users to enter (or select) a value that is subsequently written to a specific field of a captured feature, and they come in two types:

• Button user inputs – Where the value is entered after a project button is pressed. For example a user entering a count that gets written to the count field of the captured feature.

• Project user inputs – Where the value is entered before a project buttons is pressed. For example a user could enter their cost centre, which then gets written to the costCent field of any records that are subsequently captured. 

Both input types support free text (single or multiline) or choice lists to help streamline entry. They ultimately make your your projects more flexible, and help reduce the number of buttons that you need to inlude. However, there are some key differences that you should be aware of before we continue:

• Project user inputs are set up at the project level. Meaning that they can be assigned to any button (from any layer) in the project - as long as the field being updated is text. Button user inputs on the other hand are linked to the specific layer/button/field they were created from.
• Although project user inputs support choice lists, these lists are created managed at the project level. At the current release (1.10), choice lists can't be created from any coded value domains in the target layer. Conversly, button user inputs do support both coded value and range domains.
• Project user inputs support URL parameters, where button user inputs do not. Due to this last point, the rest of the blog will focus on project user inputs only.

To learn more about creating user inputs, see the following blog: https://community.esri.com/t5/arcgis-quickcapture-blog/understanding-user-inputs-in-arcgis-quickcapt...

Project user input URL paramters

From 1.10 of the mobile application, we included support for up to 3 user inputs (up from a previous of 1). This meant that the user could, for example, enter their cost center, the project number and company) and have these values written to specific fields of each and every feature they subsequently captured. Further more, the workflow could be streamlined (and made more robust) if these inputed values could prepulated. 

This is possible with the use of a URL paramter. Essentially you can construct a URL that when launched would do the following:

• Launch the QuickCapture mobile app, or if not yet installed on the device, take the user to the appropriate app store so it can be downloaded
• Download and open a specific project
• Automatically populate the project user input(s) with fixed values

For example, the following URL will download a project and pre-populate the cost center project user input with the value ES001: 

arcgis-quickcapture://?itemId=ee28345410cc4647a74ef66f54f237e&userInput:001=ES001

If the cost center later changed, then the URL would need to be updated with a new cost center and redistributed. Alternatively, the user could manually update the value in the app. 

Understanding the URL Scheme

Next up we’ll break down the URL to help you better understand it. So, here we go........

To launch the QuickCapture mobile app, we use the custom URL for QuickCapture:

arcgis-quickcapture://

As long as the app is installed on the device, this link will launch it.

To launch the QuickCapture mobile app, and download/open a specific project, we use this:

arcgis-quickcapture://?itemId=<id>

• ? is put in front of any parameters included in the URL.
• itemID is the itemID parameter name
• = is the operator
• <item id> Should be replaced with the item id of the project that you want to download/open. In the example above it was: ee28345410cc4647a74ef66f54f237e

This item id can be easily obtained from the URL of the project when opened in the Quickcapture Web Designer. 

To open the project and pre populate one project userInput, we use this:

arcgis-quickcapture://?itemId=<item id>&userInput:<input id>=<value>

Lets focus on the the last part of the URL and break it down:

&userInput:<input id>=<value>

• & denotes an additional paramter in the URL
• userInput is the userInput parameter name
• : is a seperator between the parameter name and the <input id> 
• <input id> is the id of the user input. This is used to map the entered value to the correct user input in the project. These are a string based number, for example 001, 002 or 003.
• = is the operator
• <value> is the value to enter into the project user input

In order to get the <input id>, you need to open the project in the QuickCapture Web Designer and then go into the JSON editor. Then scroll down to the userInput{} array and look for the project userInput you are interested in. 

Note that both button and project user inputs are in the same array, so check the mode property is project when copying the id.

Once you understand the URL structure for a single projet user input, it should be simple enough to expand the url to populate all three (if your project supports this many). Take a look at the following example:

arcgis-quickcapture://?itemId=77eb6d7d68c64f928bcd9135b2516e4c&userInput:001=1001&userInput:002=quickcapture@esri.com&userInput:003=Running

This passes 1001 to project user input 001; quickcapture@esri.com to project user input 002; and Running to project input 003.

Note: Although user input ids may match display order (e.g. 001, 002, 003), this is not guaranteed. Other combinations are possible, e.g: 003, 001, 002.

When constructing these URLS, make sure the values being passed to the project user inputs are valid. For example, if the project user input is a choice list, then make sure you are passing a value that is in the list. Or if the project user input has an input mask applied (restricting the values can be entered), the passed in value needs to comply If this is not the case, the URL will launch the project and open on the project user input page - but no value will be entered. It will then be up to the user to maually enter a valid input.

Finally, a note on URL distribution. You can open the link by pasting it into a web browser, share the link via an email, or even use them to create a QR Code that can be scanned. You can try the latter by scanning the following with your device camera (this will download a test project to try out):

If you want to find out more about the QuickCapture custom URL scheme or the alternative of app links (https://quickcapture.arcgis.app) please see the documentation.

By default, the QuickCapture modules in Make (Formally Integromat) will connect to ArcGIS Online, but you can also make Integromat work against your own instance of ArcGIS Enterprise.

The August 2021 update to ArcGIS QuickCapture brings great enhancements and new features. In this 1.10 release we added new options to help you collect richer information, without compromising the rapid data capture user experience.

The next update to ArcGIS QuickCapture is scheduled for release in early August 2021.  This article describes its highlights and how you can access the Beta builds to try everything out before the official release.

This article describes how you can configure voice control in your iOS device to work with ArcGIS QuickCapture.

Capture daily patrol records and identify hazards to mitigate, using QuickCapture and Survey123.

Learn what is new in our May 2021 update of ArcGIS QuickCapture.

With each ArcGIS Survey123 release, we assess the platforms we support and adjust these based on customer requirements and technology improvements. The purpose of this article is to provide as much advance notice as possible regarding these changes.

What is a link button?

A Link button allows you to open other mobile apps or web applications from ArcGIS QuickCapture app by specifying the target URL for the button. You can configure a link button to

• Open a website
• Open a PDF file that hosted online
• Open a dashboard from your device’s browser
• Launch Survey123 field app
• Launch other native apps on your device

In short, with the link button, you can use your QuickCapture project as a launchpad to open other apps.

Configure the URL for link button

First and foremost, you’ll need to add a link button to your QuickCapture project. To do this, simply drag the link button and drop it to the project preview in Designer. You will also note there’s a link icon on the top left that indicates this is a link button.

Configure link button to open a website/web app

The most basic idea is that you can use link button to launch any URL from QuickCapture, e.g., a website that provides support information for the end-users. 

Moreover, you can include dynamic content into the target URL and pass captured information from QuickCapture to the URL. For example, with the URL parameters, you can define the scale level and center the web map with the captured location, or you can enhance the dashboard app by adding URL parameters and the trigger actions.

In this case, you need to manually construct the link button URL and predefine values for the URL parameters. QuickCapture supports using fixed values, device variables, or a project user input variable to add to the constructed URL. In the steps below, I will configure the link button to open a dashboard app, but also add a URL parameter to have the dashboard always center the map based on user’s captured location when the link button is pressed from QuickCapture.

1. Create a dashboard app and configure a URL parameter (a geometry parameter named ‘point’) for it. Also, configure actions for the parameter, e.g. flash and zoom when the value of the parameter changes.
2. In QuickCapture Designer, select the link button and configure it to launch a URL.
3. Continue constructing the dashboard URL by adding the geometry parameter and assigning QuickCapture variables, i.e. ${longitude} and ${latitude} to this parameter. You can see that the QuickCapture variable is represented with a dollar sign and braces, this means the actual value of it will be automatically filled in by the QuickCapture app when this button is pressed.

Save the project and download it to your device. Press the Dashboard button in the project. Note that the dashboard app is centered at the current location and has a flashing effect that was previously configured in the dashboard app.

Configure link button to launch native apps

Link button can also be used to launch native apps on your device. You can launch communication apps for the end-users to send an email, a text message, or make a phone call to their supervisors. In this manner, the link button enables users to send instant feedback while they are still working in the field. Here are some examples of how you can construct the link (encoding the URL parameters is recommended) to open the messaging apps on your device.

• Email—mailto:quickcapture@esri.com?subject=Fix%20the%20pipe&body=We%20really%20need%20to%20fix%20the%20pipe
• SMS—sms:0291920995 (On Android, a message body can also be included: sms:0291920995?body=We%20really%20need%20to%20fix%20the%20pipe)
• Phone—tel:0291920995

Of course, you can also use the link buttons to launch Field Maps or Collector by providing the app link in the URL editor.

Link to Survey123 from QuickCapture

You can use link buttons to launch Survey123 field app from QuickCapture. In QuickCapture designer, we made the configuration/integration experience as easy as possible. If you want to link to a survey from QuickCapture, you don’t have to manually construct the Survey123 link or custom URL, QuickCapture Designer will do it for you. In Designer, you can not only configure a link button to launch Survey123 field app directly and link to an existing survey, but also add survey questions and pass dynamic content to this selected survey. Again, you can match a fixed value, a device variable, or a project user input variable to the survey question, and the actual value for these variables will be captured and replaced by QuickCapture app through the link button. Optionally, you can pass captured location in QuickCapture as the input for the geopoint question in the survey, and configure the experience to return to QuickCapture after a survey is successfully submitted.

Let’s use the Pipeline Patrol project to demonstrate how to use QuickCapture and Survey123 together to record daily pipeline patrols and document identified hazards. In the project, patrols that encounter no issues are usually recorded with the tap of the Patrol Complete button; If any hazards are identified, they can be captured with additional buttons; For hazards that require detailed reporting, you can launch Survey123  from QuickCapture to collect more information through the smart form in Survey123:

1. First, add the link button Valve Leak and set it to launch the Survey123 field app.
2. Select a survey you want to link to.
3. Select and add questions from the survey and pass predefined values to these questions. When configuring this, Designer is automatically constructing the Survey123 custom URL based on your selection made on the UI.
4. Toggle on the options to pass location to Survey123 and return to QuickCapture after the survey submission.

Save the project and download it to your device. From the video below, you can see the Survey123 field app is automatically opened when pressing the Valve Leak button from the project. You may also notice that the questions we configured from the Designer are already populated with the captured values now in Survey123. Once the survey is submitted, it will jump back to the QuickCapture app to continue data capture. This capability streamlines the field data collection workflow and optimizes different data capture scenarios. For rapid data collection, simply keep tapping the buttons in the QuickCapture project; For detailed data entry, use the link buttons to open Survey123 to add more information.

Let us know if you have any feedback or questions on this.

ArcGIS QuickCapture 1.8 is now available. It includes, great stability enhancements in the mobile app plus a handful of new features in designer.