Hi,
Considering the tutorial on this topic doesn’t exist yet (https://documentation.networkcanvas.com/tutorials/offline-data-management-workflow/), I was wondering if someone could already provide some tips on this. When trying to export the files from a tablet, it only shows online/cloud options for sharing, but no option of just storing the zip on the device itself. Isn’t that an option?
Best wishes,
Maya
Hi, can anyone help here? Is it impossible to export raw data on the internal storage of a tablet?
Hi Maya
Sorry for the delay getting back to you - I’ve been on leave and the others don’t check in on the forum as often.
The “share” menu is the only way the app is able to export files from a tablet device. Apps are not given direct file system access for security reasons.
In order to export to the file system, you need to install a file management app on your android tablet, which will add a share action to this menu allowing you to save the file to your device’s filesystem.
I believe the “Files by Google” app will allow you to do this. It can be found here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.nbu.files&hl=en_ZA&gl=US&pli=1
I hope this helps.
Hi!
I noticed that when exporting data to the tablet’s internal storage, the option “select exported” forms in the management section of Interviewer doesn’t work.
Is that normal?
It would be helpful though to be able to select all the forms already finalised and exported (on the internal system) and delete them, rather then having to select them one by one. But maybe I’m missing something?
Thanks,
Maya
HI Maya!
This definitely doesn’t sound normal! I will investigate the issue and get back to you.
We are having some issues with the release process for the Android app at present, so pushing out a fix (assuming we can verify the problem) may take a few days.
Thank you for letting us know!
Hi Maya
I looked into the issue you were having. This seems to be caused by the way that Android file saving works. We aren’t able to check if the files were successfully exported, because this is being done by whichever app you “share” the zip file to. Because of this, we cannot mark the file as exported in our UI.
I’m afraid this is not something we can resolve on our end. We continue to suggest that you use a laptop with a touchscreen as the best possible experience with Interviewer. It is increasingly difficult to support Android and iOS, since they require a disproportionate amount of development time.
Hi Joshua,
Thanks for getting back to me.
Are there other “bugs” to be expected when working with tablets?
@Harlingg how did you manage your data on tablets? Were you exporting data online, hence avoiding that issue? For security reasons our IT colleagues advise doing all data transfer offline. Did you experience other issues when using tablets? For now the rest seems to work fine.
Best wishes,
Maya
I would say that bugs are never “to be expected”. We do try to create tools and are high quality and reliable, but it is an unfortunate reality that all software will have issues from time to time. There may be problems that we are not aware of. If you do encounter a problem, please let us know (as you have been!). We are committed to fixing bugs as best we can (with the resources that we have).
The only issues I am currently aware of impacting tablet devices are performance related, when working with particularly large rosters. With that said, I will reiterate my earlier advice that the most tested platform for the software is Windows/macOS.
I would add for anyone coming across this post that since all the Network Canvas tools are open source, it is possible to help the community by identifying and fixing issues directly. We would be very grateful for direct code contributions in the form of bug fixes, features, or enhancements!
Hi Maya, we use different approaches at the two sites I work at. One transfer is done via the (secure) wifi at the study centre; the other is done by manual download I believe. We haven’t had problems specific to downloading that I am aware of, but we tend to use an older version of Interviewer due to the issue Josh mentions around large rosters. If you are still having problems in the medium-term, perhaps email me directly and I’ll try and put you/your IT team in touch with someone on our data management team for a discussion?