Collecting & Analyzing Data on an Android Device

Companion for Android

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 Supported Check Code Commands and Functions

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 and non-supported field types
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:

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.
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 and non-supported commands and functions
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.