Application Preview (aka App Preview) allows application builders to see what their app will look like before downloading it to a phone. While you are app building, mobile device that can be configured to display as a phone or a tablet will appear on the right hand side of the screen. This device will display the most recent version of your application, allowing you quickly test any changes you have made.
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General Notes
** Live Data ** Please note that when using this feature, you are submitting live data to your project space. When submitting data as a web user, it will appear as if submitted by an unknown user and will only appear in exports or reports if specified (via filters). When using the Login As feature, data will be submitted on behalf of the mobile worker you are logged in as and will appear in exports and reports as such. More details provided below.
App preview runs using the same code as CommCare Mobile and Web Apps. It is expected to perform the same functionality, with some differences in how that data is laid out on the screen.
Similar to using the mobile application, ensure you press the 'Sync' button often to receive the latest data from your project space. This is particularly important when you use the 'Login As' feature described on this page.
There are also some limitations with this feature that will be discussed below. In general, the same limitations that apply to Web Apps will apply to application preview.
App Preview will display the latest preview of your application. This essentially means the last time you selected the 'Save' button for your application.
If regularly using App Preview, you will most likely not create a new build for your application after each change. While the goal of using App Preview is to make it easier to test changes made to your application, we still recommend deploying a new version of your application every so often.
It can be very easy to find yourself in a situation where you make several changes to an application and something breaks. By deploying regularly, you can ensure a safe point to revert back to in case you are unable to fix an application after making changes.
We do not recommend using this tool for live data submission. This tool should be used for testing purposes only.
Setup
The App Preview feature is used in the 'Applications' section of CommCare. By default, it is hidden from view. To display the mobile device so you can test your application, you first need to select the teal bar that appears on the left hand side of the screen. Doing so will make a device appear on the screen:
By default, the application preview will be displayed as if it were a phone. For various reasons though, you might want to display the device as if it were a tablet. Pressing the image of a device on the app preview will toggle between a device or a table.
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Using App Preview
App Preview will always use the latest preview version of your application. This means that it will use a version of your application based on the last time you pressed the 'Save' button. You can check this by pressing the Start button and then proceeding to the form, just as you would on a mobile device! But, how do we use this tool to check the changes we make to our application? Let's take a look at a Registration form that contains 3 questions:
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If using App Preview as a Web User:
All web users are considered "Unknown users" and form submissions will be tagged as such in reports. To view these submissions, choose "Unknown User" in the User filter of the report.
If your app uses case management, all web users are considered the same "Unknown User" and will be able to view cases registered by other web users in Preview Form
If your app uses lookup tables or case sharing you may get an error when previewing your form because "Unknown User" does not belong to any case sharing or lookup table groups.
Some question/case properties will not be able to be exported if that question is not part of any application deploys.
User-controlled repeat groups (i.e. Repeat groups where the user defines how many repeats to input) do not currently work. Repeat groups where the repeat count is pre-defined should work.
Graphs cannot yet be displayed in App Preview
Videos will not be displayed in App Preview
App Preview doesn't validate all questions/validation conditions
If using the 'Login As' feature, please see the limitations described below.
Settings
The setting menu, highlighted in red in the image below, will allow you to alter two settings:
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Similar to Web Apps, we have also added the 'Login As' functionality to App Preview to make it easier for web users to test and use their applications. This feature will allow you to login as a mobile worker on your project space within the App Preview, and submit data as if you were that user. For more information on the Login as feature, please refer to this help page Login As Feature.
Note: When using the Login As feature, you are submitting live data to your project space. Since you are submitting on behalf of a mobile worker, the data will appear in your exports and reports as such. We recommend using this feature with test mobile workers to ensure your submissions do not affect any live user data.
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For more information on how to use the Login As feature with Application Preview or Web Apps, please see this documentLogin As Feature.
Limitations
Any data submitted this way will be done so as if you were that mobile worker. The data will appear in exports and reports as such.
Any limitations that would apply to a mobile worker in Web Apps.
The only way to confirm a form was submitted on behalf of a mobile worker by a Web User, is to find the specific form itself. You can do this by searching for submissions in the Submit History. Once you find the form in the submit history, there will be a note at the top that states 'Submitted by Web User <name> on behalf of Mobile Worker <name>':
If One Question per Screen is enabled, repeat groups will not be functional on App Preview.
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Usually, this happens when you have Case Sharing, Lookup Tables, or Organizations (Locations) (Locations) references enabled in your app, and you need to log in as a mobile worker to be able to test the application. Logging in as a mobile worker and syncing thereafter should resolve the above error messages. You can refer to the "Login As" section above for more information.
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