Hi,
I know that it's possible to change a deployed application and have mobile
workers update the app on their tablets.
My question is:
If they've already collected and synced data, and then updated the app,
what implications does this have for data exports - would there be two data
sets, one before and after the update?
More importantly, how would this affect data collection in follow up forms
if we're using cases?
Thanks,
Lameez
Hi Lameez --
I am not a Dimagi person, but from my own experience:
Let's say you first launched your app version 1, and used it for 2 months.
Then let's say that you made some changes and improvements to the
application (but during development, of course, you never pressed "star" on
those new versions, while you were still testing them, so that the users
never got them on their phones...
And then, on May 1, when you were totally happy with the changes, you DID
press "star," on the new version, which we will call verson 2... and you
asked all your users to press "update" on their phones.
And then, the users used the Version 2 app for a month.
To answer your questions:
-- There is no "separate list" of form data or case data from the two
different versions. All the new data that comes in from the app goes into
the same data collection that the older data did.
-- Just as an example... If your changes did not create any new fields and
it did not change any old fields... (so, perhaps you only changed wording
of questions or something) then the resulting data in the data exports
would of course be basically the same as the old ones.
-- but let's pretend that your version 2 actually added 3 new fields
(either new questions or new hidden values.) Then, the next time you run
your data exports, you actually won't see those new fields! Because you
defined your data export earlier on and you of course never included those
new fields when you chose the fields for the new export. Therefore, you
need to go to your export, EDIT it, and click the check boxes so that the
new fields appear.
-- if your version 2 deleted fields, at first those "old fields" are still
probably in your data export... so in the new forms, they will start to
show "---" or blank data, since they are not collected anymore.
-- If it's *important *for you to look at your forms and know exactly which
version app created each form in your data export, I recommend going into
the forms editor and just adding a new hidden value field called "version"
and placing a "2" in it before you publish the new version. Then your data
will contain the new version. Also, there may be system fields built in
that record the app version (like 402 or whatever) of the version that was
being used by the user when they created it.
eric
You also said you are using case management and you have follow-up forms...
the same principles apply that I mentioned above. If you adjust your
follow-up form, then you might want to change the forms export to include
new fields or remove old ones, and you might want to create a field in the
forms editor, that clearly states, in the form data, which version the
user is using.
Hi Eric,
Thank you for your comprehensive response, much appreciated! I have since
released new updates and data exports work as you described.
Great idea about adding the version a hidden value!
Thanks,
Lameez
You also said you are using case management and you have follow-up
forms... the same principles apply that I mentioned above. If you adjust
your follow-up form, then you might want to change the forms export to
include new fields or remove old ones, and you might want to create a field
in the forms editor, that clearly states, in the form data, which version
the user is using.--
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Hi Lameez,
You may also find this page useful in pointing out some things to keep in
mind when making changes to a deployed
app: Making Changes to a Deployed Application - CommCare Public - CommCare Public
Jeremy