Question Type: Image and Sketch Pad
Contents
About
The Image and Sketch Pad question types allow your mobile users to collect or use images and integrate the result with their form submissions. A common use for this is in Inspection or Audit forms, allowing a user to use their mobile device's camera to photograph problem areas or verify an equipment reading.
The Sketch Pad question type expands upon the Image question type's functionality, allowing the mobile user to draw on top of the image.
Several drawing tools (lines, shapes, and freehand draw) and colors are available. Making use of the touchscreen functionality of smartphones and tablets, the Sketch Pad control is easy to use and quite flexible. It is possible to customize the Sketch Pad control in several ways, allowing users to:
- Sketch on a blank canvas
- Sketch on a background image chosen by an administrator
- Choose an image stored on their device to sketch on
- Take a photo with their device's camera to sketch on
- Add data to Sketch Pad images with Data Stamping
- Any combination of the above
Examples of both a Sketch Pad and an Image question on an iOS device are shown below:
Form Builder
An example of the Sketch Pad question type in the Form Builder is shown below:
The Question Edit screen for the Image or Sketch Pad question type has three tabs: General, Properties, and Help Options. This article will go through each of the tabs.
General
Unique ID
The Unique ID
A Unique ID refers to the specific identifier of a question, form page, form section, or Data Destination. Unique IDs are used as reference points when pulling data for conditional logic, Analytics projects, Data Destinations, and Documents. is the reference for the question. For more information on Unique IDs, read: Overview: Unique IDs. It can either be auto-generated based on the question text, or customized.
Restrictions
Restrictions control how your mobile users interact with a question. They can be set on the question itself or controlled by Conditional Logic.
The following table shows which restrictions you can set for the question type. Note that:
-
✓ indicates a restriction that you can configure.
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✓* indicates a restriction that is always on.
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✘* indicates a restriction that is always off.
| Required | Read-Only | Hidden on Device | Hidden on Reports |
Keep question width to 100% |
|
| Image | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓* |
| Sketch Pad | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓* |
Properties
Properties allow you to set up your question in various ways. While properties for most question types change with the data type chosen, Image and Sketch Pad questions support only one data type:
| Attachment (Image) |
|
Question Properties
Camera and gallery access: Select whether your mobile users must take a new photo, use their existing photo gallery on their mobile device, or must use a Resource Image ("None").
Tip:Allow Camera Only: Use this setting if you want to ensure that your mobile users are taking new photos and cannot re-use photos from a previous inspection or location.
Sketch Pad-Only Options
Allow sketching on a blank canvas (Sketch Pad Only): When enabled, mobile users can draw freehand on a white canvas.
Allow sketching on a map (Sketch Pad Only): When enabled, mobile users can draw freehand on a satellite image based on their location.
Allow Users to Sketch on Resource Images (Sketch Pad Only): Resource Images are images uploaded in the Web Portal. These images can then be referenced in forms with a Sketch Pad control. They can be referenced in any form in the same FormSpace FormSpaces are where forms are stored and organized in the TrueContext Web Portal. A TrueContext Team may have multiple FormSpaces, depending on their needs. Admins can set FormSpace permissions to control which users have access to the forms in that FormSpace.. They are often used for images that do not change, but require daily referencing in the course of work, such as a site layout or a blueprint.
Toggling this option allows you to choose from all Resource Images within the form's FormSpace.
For example, you can use a Resource Image in Health and Safety forms to mark evacuation routes or muster points on a map of a work site.
Output Properties
Custom Filename Prefix: Setting this allows you to configure a custom filename prefix to allow you to identify attachments to form submissions without opening them. For more information, please read: Attachment File Naming
Convert images to black and white: Converts color images to black and white. This is most often used for printing reasons.
Stamp Data on Images
Both the Image and Sketch Pad question types allow you to stamp data on the images used. This allows you to easily identify when and where a photograph was taken, or where the mobile user was when they submitted the form.
For detailed information on this feature, please read: Stamping Data onto Images
Tip:Need to know when or where a photo was taken and don't want to use a separate question for it? For Image questions, you can use the Data Stamping feature to automatically add date and time information, or a Geo Location using the Image Properties (EXIF data). Sketch Pad questions do not support EXIF-based data stamps.
Help Options
Adding "Help" content to forms gives mobile users access to support and other resources out in the field. Help content is available to users through a button embedded beside a question. Any question in the form can include a link to YouTube videos, web pages, or work instructions.
For more information on Help Content, please read: Add Help Options to Questions