Overview
By default, CommCare ODK offers a few features to help manage forms on the device. Since some of these features are not visible until discovered, and thus somewhat confusing, this page lays out the basics of how forms are managed.
Configuration Options
Currently Incomplete and Saved form management can be disabled by turning on CommCare Sense mode in the UI Settings for your app in CommCare HQ's app builder.
When the features are disabled, incomplete and saved form records are not created, and all of the user interface options pertaining to them will be removed from the CommCare application's home screen.
Incomplete Forms
What are incomplete forms?
Incomplete forms are forms that have been started but not finished. This could happen, for example, if the client or user is suddenly called away.
Instead of losing the information the user has already filled out, the user can save the form to the phone as "incomplete" and return to it at any time.
How do I save a form as incomplete?
There are three ways you can save a form as incomplete:
- Pressing the back button during form entry (to cancel entry and return to CommCare) results in a popup asking whether changes to the form should be saved. If the user chooses to save the changes, the current form will be saved and marked as incomplete.
- During form entry, if the user brings up the soft menu and chooses Save Form, the form will be saved in its current form as incomplete.
- At the end of form entry there is a checkbox specifing whether the form should be marked as complete (checked by default). If the user unchecked the box and then clicks the button to exit, the form will be marked incomplete
Once you have saved the form as incomplete, it will be saved in an encrypted format to the device's storage.
How do I continue a form I saved as incomplete?
There are two ways to resume entry of an incomplete form
- From the CommCareODK home screen, select Incomplete under the Form Records heading, navigate to the incomplete form, and select it.
- If the form is associated with a case, then the next time the user selects that same case and form they will have the option to resume the incomplete form. A dialog box will ask whether the user wants to resume the form which that had previously started and saved as incomplete. From here, the user can resume entry, start a new form, or delete the incomplete form (and start a new form).
If you choose to continue an incomplete form, the original incomplete form you saved will remain saved on the phone unless you save it again or complete the form. If a user pressed the back button and chooses to not save their changes, for instance, the original incomplete form remains as it was before form entry. If the user presses Save Form on the menu, however, it will update the existing saved form with the new version.
How can I remove an incomplete form?
If an incomplete form is stale and should be removed, this can be done from either of the 2 screens described in the steps to continue the form. To remove an incomplete form from the Incomplete Forms screen, you can long-click a form and then choose Delete Record
Unsent Forms
Once a form has been entered and processed by CommCareODK it is stored in an encrypted format to be sent to the server as soon as a connection is available. These unsent forms aren't available to view individually, but the number of unsent forms can be checked by navigating to the CommCareODK home screen and reading the message underneath the Sync with Server button. If that message does not contain a notification about unsent forms, all forms have been sent.
Saved Forms
What are saved forms?
Once a form has been completed CommCareODK, it is then saved on the device in an encrypted format so it can be reviewed in a read only format in the future. Forms remain saved on the phone for a while even after they have been sent to the server.
Forms are only saved to the device in this way after they have been processed and submitted to the server.
How can I see my saved forms?
You can view these forms by navigating to the Saved button under the Form Records heading on the home screen. The forms can be selected and viewed in a read only format.
How can I remove saved forms?
A saved form will automatically be deleted from your phone after 1 week. If necessary the records can manually be removed from the device's local storage in the same manner as Incomplete forms.