Creating a form

In this guide you will learn how to add a data collection form to a project.

Forms can range between 1 and hundreds of questions in length. They are built by dragging and dropping the appropriate form ‘blocks’ into the form builder and then specifying how you would like them to work.

Once you have created a Project, you can access and create a form via the Project dashboard in several ways:

1. If you haven’t created a Form yet the Project Checklist will have a direct link to “Create a form”
2. You can use the Configuration menu in the side panel > Forms
3. You can choose “Forms” from the Build App section

• Choose “Create a form” from the Project Checklist
• Press the Create Form button and give your form a name and a title and then select Create

You’ll now be taken to the Form Builder page

A form is built by dragging the required blocks (questions) into the form builder and then configuring each block accordingly.

In this example, we’ll work through creating a simple form for collecting location-based on frogs. We’ll create a form to collect the following details:

• Location
• Date
• Photo

Let’s make a start!

First you’ll add a location question to your form.

• Find and drag the Location/Geometry block into your form.

• Fill in the ‘Question’ text box and optionally, description.

• Fill out the options as shown below making sure you also set this as a Mandatory field.

• Select Save when finished

What these settings mean

Each field/question type that you add to your form will need certain information to be input by you. For the location question these are some of the things you can specify (any obligatory information is marked with an asterisk).

General section

1. Question. This is the main text that appears next to your question in the app. For example, for a Location ‘block’ your question might be “Location” or “Please enter the location of your record”.
2. Description. If your question needs a bit more clarification then use the “Description’ field to add some context.

Location/Geometry section

1. Geometry Types. You have the ability in Coreo to record single point locations (the default), Polygons (e.g. areas) and lines (handy for mapping a ditch, pipeline or route).
2. Allow Multiple Inputs. Coreo allows you to add more than one geometry type to a record if you need to. For example, you could add several point locations and a polygon for one record.
3. Base map. This setting allows you to set your preferred, default base map. You can switch between other base maps in the app if you like.

Properties

1. Mandatory. Choose whether it is mandatory for the recorder to add a location before being able to progress or submit the record.
2. Hidden. You can hide non-mandatory questions if you need to. Most of the time you won’t need to do this.

Now you’ll add a Date block to your form

• Drag the Date picker block into the form builder

1. Question field. As in the dialogue box below, type ‘Enter the date of observation’.
2. Answer Label. This is the label that appears next to entered values when viewed in, for example, the map or records interface. E.g. if your ‘Answer Label’ is “Date” then a person viewing your record would see something like “Date: 15/02/2021″.
3. Leave the Description field blank.
4. Export Label – when you export data from Coreo the Export Label field determines what column heading your question data is stored under? Coreo will auto-generate unique export labels for you but you can specify your own to make your data easier to interpret.
5. Select Autocomplete – this enables your device to set the date automatically using the system clock.
6. Select the Mandatory check box. This means that this field has to be completed before you can submit the form.
7. Now Save your form.

Lastly, we’ll add in a media question type so that you can upload an image with your record.

• Add in a new Photo upload question

• Provide an appropriate question title and label (e.g. image or photo)
• Do not make this a Mandatory field.

• Make sure you Save your form

Adding a Section

• Before you finish, you’ll add a section to your form. You might want to do this for a number of reasons such as breaking up a form into logical or bite-sized sections. When you have a geometry question on a page you’ll want to see the map full-page so separating with a section is ideal.
• Move your mouse between the Location and Date blocks on your form.
• You should now see the “+ Add section divider” appear, as below

• Click to add a section divider
• Now Save your form

Your completed form should now look like this:

Now that you’ve created your form, it will automatically appear in the Coreo App when clicking the + (add record) button on the project’s home page (the blue icon in the image below).

If you have more than one form in your project, on clicking the + (add record) button you will be presented with a list of forms to choose between, as shown in the image below.