Introduction to Creating Digitise apps

Digitise Apps mobile apps are created and edited using App Studio and then need to be published to an App Server before they become available to your users.

When creating an app within App Studio, it doesn't matter how you intend to deploy the app to your users, i.e. whether users will download the app within a standard Digitise Apps Client or you will create an enterprise or store Standalone App version. In fact, you can produce both store and enterprise Standalone versions of the same app if you need to from the same Project and also download the app within a standard Digitise Apps Client.

 

Digitise apps are composed of a series of forms through which the user moves according to the navigational route you specify. Each form can contain one or more Controls, such as text boxes, list boxes, buttons and so on, allowing data to be entered and displayed, and allowing the user to move through the forms. Data can be downloaded into your app from a remote data source, such as a back-office system, so that users can view, edit and add to this data, before it is uploaded back to update the original source. You can also create apps which store data in a local database on the user's device and which aren't connected to a remote data source.

When designing the layout and flow of your forms, remember to keep accessibility in mind.

Forms are stored in a Project. A Project may also contain other information besides your forms required by App Studio. A finished app can contain the forms in a single Project or multiple Projects can be combined to make up your app.

 

You can create simple apps using just forms in combination with a Data Source (remote or local) and navigation buttons (OK, Next Form etc.), but you can also create more complex apps using the inbuilt Scripting language if required. This allows you to write code segments (Scripts) which can be used to manipulate data, navigate through your forms, change settings and so on. These Scripts are linked to Events – predefined conditions which occur during use of the app, such as a form loading or a button being clicked. A Script runs whenever the Event it's assigned to occurs. So, for example, instead of a Next Form button simply displaying the next form, a Script linked to that button could allow you to validate any data input and only move to the next form if all fields have been entered correctly. Any errors could be redisplayed and corrected before the next form will be displayed.

 

Controls you add to your forms to display data and allow user input are linked to one or more Data Sources which can be a local database stored on the mobile device or remote databases or applications. Remote data sources can be accessed directly (using an ADO database connection) or via a web service. And you can pass data between your app and remote data sources in real-time or store data on the device to be uploaded to the remote data source(s) when convenient. Data can be downloaded and uploaded using a GPRS or wireless connection. In addition, Android devices can use Bluetooth, if appropriate.

 

To create a Digitise app, you use App Studio to design and produce your forms, to add the Controls to each form, link Controls to Data Source(s), write Scripts and link them to the relevant events. Finally, you add navigation Controls, usually in the form of buttons, such as OK, Next, Previous etc.

The information required to describe your forms and their Controls along with your Scripts and any additional files, such as images used within your app, are stored in what we call the app's 'Model'.

When you are ready to test or deploy an app, you need to publish it to the App Server and, if relevant, build it into a Standalone App version. Publishing an app and building Standalone App versions are done from within App Studio.

When you publish an app a copy of its Model is stored in the App Server Configuration Database and, in the case of a Standalone App, the Model is packaged into the Standalone App. When you run a Digitise app on a device, the Digitise Apps Client interprets the Model and converts it into the functioning app.

A published app automatically becomes available to download within a standard Digitise Apps Client, providing it has access to the App Server to which the app was published and subject to any access permissions you may have configured for the app.

When you build a Standalone App, it is at that point that you specify whether you want an enterprise or store version of the Standalone App. If you want to, you can build both enterprise and store versions of an app. Once a Standalone App has been built, you can deploy it to your users, using a method appropriate to the type of Standalone App it is.

For more information about installing your Digitise apps and the Digitise Apps Client to mobile devices see Install Digitise Apps Clients and Digitise apps to Mobile Devices.