Collecting & Analyzing Data on an Android Device

Companion for Android
  1. Companion for Android Introduction
  2. Initial Set Up
  3. Designing Forms for Mobile
  4. Copy Form to Mobile Device
  5. Collect Data on Mobile Device
  6. Preload Data on Mobile Device
  7. Transfer Data From Mobile Device
  8. Configuring Cloud Synchronization
  9. Share Spreadsheets Between Mobile Devices
  10. StatCalc Epidemiologic Calculators
  11. Analyze Data
  12. Chapter 6: Companion for Android – Full Chapter
Related Pages

Introduction

Epi Info™ Companion for Android allows users to transfer forms to a mobile device and collect data remotely. The mobile application is compatible with Android tablets and phones running Android version 4.0 (codename “Ice Cream Sandwich”) and above. The ability to load Epi Info™ forms onto a mobile device allows users to collect data in places lacking information technology infrastructure and for activities that could benefit from mobility, GPS tracking, or photographic capabilities. Once data is collected, users can perform simple analysis with the Analyze Data function or view geographic data using the built in mapping function. These tools do not contain the full Epi Info™ functionality; however, data can be transferred from the mobile device to a PC for more complex analyses. The mobile application also contains a full featured StatCalc function similar to the one found in Epi Info™ 7.

Supported Field Types

Epi Info™ Companion for Android does not support all field types available in Form Designer. See below for a list of supported and non-supported field types. When designing a form for use with the mobile application, exclude non-supported field types from the form.

Supported Field Types
  • Label/Title
  • Text (single line)
  • Text (Uppercase)
  • Multiline (text)
  • Number
  • Date
  • Time (not “Date/Time”)
  • Checkbox
  • Yes/No
  • Option
  • Legal Values
  • Comment Legal
  • Group
  • Command Button
  • Image
  • Relate
Non-Supported Field Types
  • Unique Identifier
  • Phone Number
  • Date/Time
  • Mirror
  • Grid
  • Codes
If a form contains one or more of the non-supported field types, a message will identify the field(s) that will not publish. To publish the form, perform one of the following two actions:
  1. Delete the unsupported field(s). This will also delete any data that may have been in the Epi Info™ 7 Enter tool. If you want to preserve pre-existing data, make a project template and create a new project that you will customize for the Mobile application. In this new project, delete the non-supported fields.
  2. If a data table does not exist for the form, you can use the “Change To” feature to change the field type to one of the supported types. For example, you can change an unsupported Text (Uppercase) field to a standard Text field or a Multiline field.

Supported Check Code Commands and Functions

Epi Info™ Companion for Android does not support all check code commands and functions available in the Form Designer tool. See below for a list of supported and non-supported commands and functions. When designing a form for use with the mobile application, exclude non-supported check code commands from the form.

Supported Commands
  • Assign
  • Clear
  • Dialog
    • Simple Dialog only
  • Enable / Disable,
  • GoTo
  • Hide / Unhide
  • Highlight / Unhighlight
  • If / Then / Else
  • Set-Required / Set-Not-Required
Non-Supported Commands
  • AutoSearch
  • Define
  • Dialog
    • Get Variable Dialog
    • List of Values Dialog
  • Execute
  • Geocode
  • Help
  • NewRecord
  • Quit
Supported Functions
  • ABS
  • Cos
  • Day
  • Days
  • Hour
  • Hours
  • LN
  • Log
  • Minute
  • Minutes
  • Month
  • Months
  • Rnd
  • Round
  • Second
  • Seconds
  • Sin
  • StrLen
  • Substring
  • SystemDate
  • SystemTime
  • Tan
  • Trunc
  • UpperCase
  • Year
  • Years
Non-Supported Functions
  • CurrentUser
  • DateDiff
  • Date
  • Environ
  • EpiWeek
  • Exists
  • Exp
  • FileDate
  • FindText
  • Format
  • Linebreak
  • NumToDate
  • NumToTime
  • PFROMZ
  • RecordCount
  • Step
  • TxtToDate
  • TxtToNum
  • ZSCORE

Although the non-supported commands and functions do not work when entering data into the mobile form, they are still compatible with check code on the downloaded version of the form. After downloading the responses to a PC, you can run these commands and functions as normal, or you can use Epi Info™ 7 Analysis to perform the necessary operation.

Page last reviewed: September 16, 2022, 12:00 pm
Content source: Office of Public Health Data, Surveillance, and Technology