CommCare August Updates: CommCare Mobile 2.8, CommCareHQ Improvements

Jeremy_W · August 9, 2013, 5:51pm

Dear CommCare Users,

CommCare Mobile 2.8 is now available!

Below is an outline of new 2.8 features and major updates to CommCareHQ since
the May announcement.

CommCare Mobile

Nokia phones
Features

Login Icons: As part of Sense mode, the "login" and "demo" buttons on
the login screen will be replaced by icons. These icons are customizable
through the UI translations interface. You can still enable or disable the
icons through the "Login Buttons" setting in your application settings on
CommCareHQ.
The initial image displayed on the phone when viewing a video (by
default the # symbol) can now be configured
The "tools" menu item can be translated through the standard UI
translations
Performance improvements to prevent "Out of Memory" errors
Fixed storage issues that caused "null" error on startup

Android phones
Features

GPS capture questions include graphics to better illustrate success
and accuracy of location
Display text as QR codes on the phone- See how here [1]
Improvements to case list search on the phone

General Fixes

More helpful error messages instead of crashing or "force-close"-ing
for some errors
A repeat group inside a repeat group no longer crashes the phone

CommCareHQ

The following is a list of the major improvements we've made since the last
announcement in June:

Worker Activity Report: a new Worker Monitoring report that gives you
a sense of mobile worker activity at a glance [2]
Ability to open child cases from a repeat in a parent case form
Archiving a form now reverses changes the form made to the case [3]
Import new or updated cases into CommCare from Excel [4]
Redesign of case configuration pages in the App Builder to make
loading and saving case properties easier
More advanced case list sorting: sort your case list by multiple case
properties [5]
Parent-Child case selection: if you are using child cases, you can
configure the child module's case list to first display a list of parent
cases. The child list will then only show child cases of the selected
parent. [6]
Question List: a new group question in the Form Builder that puts all
questions in the group on the same screen of the phone (Android only)
The Form Builder detects the size of your window and expands into
available space
Enhancements to the Submit History filter to help you find the form
you're looking for
Excel upload and download of fixtures
Deploy your application via SMS now lets you mass deploy to a group of
users or "all users"
Form error messages in the app builder now include more information
and are easier to read
In data export, there is no longer a delay in reflecting case
reassignment.

Advanced (for software developers)

Case APIs now support references to child cases [7]
API users can subscribe to notifications when their application changes
CommCare Export now supports referencing form and case properties in
the same export [8]

As always, your questions, comments, and feedback are welcome and
appreciated!

Happy August,
Jeremy and the CommCare Team