Create a Form to Capture Data

Use forms to record measurements taken manually or to record field observations.

For example, you may want create forms for:

• Field sampling
• Water quality testing

In order to record data, each field in your form needs to have an associated virtual sensor. You can create these sensors during the form creation process.

Once data is entered in the form, you can use the associated sensors and their data in analytics and charts.

To create a new form:

1. Go to Data Forms and click New Form.
2. Fill in a Name, Description, and any Instructions for filling out the form.
3. Time Entry: Select how you want the date/time field to work. This can be defaulted to the current time (can be edited), manually entered, or forced to current time (cannot be edited).
4. If you have already created sensors to store the data entered via the form, select these. Otherwise, go to the Input fields tab where you can create these.
5. For each input field you want in your form, select or create a virtual sensor where the data will be stored.
6. Specify a field name that makes it clear what should be entered.
7. Select whether the input field is a required field or not.
8. Optionally, you can add Minimum, Maximum and Default values.

   • Setting a maximum/minimum will limit the values that can be entered. For example, for a pH measurement you can set the range to 0 to 14 to avoid incorrect entries.
   • Setting a default value may be useful when the value is not expected to vary often.
9. If you want to use a drop-down list for any of the fields instead of a value input field, you can use the 'Choice' input type. For example, if you want to collect weather observations (cloudy, clear, stormy).
   1. Select the three dots icon beside the sensor and select Convert to Choice Input.
   2. Click on Choice Options.
   3. Configure the options you want to include in the drop-down list, then save.
   Note: You need to assign a numerical value to each option. These numbers will not show when adding an entry, but they can be used in analytics and charts. For example, for entries on the status of a piece of equipment, you can set 'On' equal to 1 and 'Off' equal to 0, then use the data to create a chart.
10. Click Create Form.