Before we start changing settings in our app, let's explore the Case Management Settings
In the Form Case Management Settings Part of the Case Management Tutorial you will learn:
- The different features of the Case Management tab of Form Settings
- How to save data to the case
- Why it is useful to save data to the case
Registering a New Case
Click on the gear icon on the "Register" form to go to the Form Settings.
There are four "tabs"- Case Management, Settings, User Properties, and Actions.
Go to the "Case Management" tab (verify that you are on the Registration Form and not the Home Visit Form)
When you click on the Case Management tab you will see one drop down where you can choose the type of form.
As mentioned on this page, this form Registers a new case ("opens a case") - this makes the form one that will create a new case of the type specified in the Case List settings.
SAVING DATA TO THE CASE
The next section says "save data to the following case properties." This is where it's important to think back to the Case Management overview. Remember that every piece of information you ask for in a form is automatically sent to the CommCareHQ server; however, you may want to "save" some of that data in the local case file. There are a number of reasons why you might do this, including referencing data in another form, or having the data available in a case view of the data. But at a minimum let's think of some information about each pregnant woman we might want to reference on the phone.
The first one is mandatory- "name." In CommCare you always have to have a case property that you designate as the case's name. That makes sense- you have to be able to call the case something, after all.
In the top of the "save data to the following case properties box" open the "Select a Question" dropdown and choose "Woman's name:"
What if two cases have the same name?
No problem- it happens all the time. Behind the scenes CommCare is giving each case it's own completely unique id- which is an alphanumeric string. You cannot see it on the phone easily, but it is in there in the data.
However, having cases with the same name does present a challenge for the mobile user. For this reason we suggest including another identifying piece of information along with name, like the name of a family member, a phone number, or an identification number
In the next section we will set our "Home Visit" follow-up form to require selection of a case name prior to opening.
Basic Case Management Tutorial Home
- Adding Follow-up Forms - add two more forms to your application with more practice in form building
- Registering a New Case - get to know the Form Case Management Tab and how to make your Registration Form open a New Case.
- Configure a Follow-up Form - how to make a form require selection of a case before opening it and close out a case
- Module-level Case Management Settings - how to prepare all of your module-level case management and test out your new application