sharing standardized forms and standardized form data?

[pwoolf]

Hi,

First off, I’m very pleased with tap forms–it can do so much already, and has great potential for more. I find that it is great for me to use alone, but is harder for me to use in conjunction with others for data tracking.

Ideally, I’d like to be able to do the following:

1) share a form and all of its associated pick lists, ordering info, and linked table schemas so that someone else can immediately start using an identically formatted form.

2) be able to upload the data to a common shared repository. We can do this via dropbox, but the files clobber each other, and we can’t tell who they are from.

I can think of work arounds for #2 on my side, but #1 is more tap forms related.

The advantage of having these two pieces together is that it allows developers (like myself) to develop data visualization and analysis interfaces for these data for a broader community. I could put together an appropriate set of forms, and give an upload location, then the user could visualize their data using my tools. It requires standard forms though to work.

Thoughts?

[Brendan]

Hello pwoolf,

I like the idea for #1. I’ll see what I can do about that. I should be able to leverage the work I did for form beaming in order to generate a file that can be emailed that contains the entire form definition, including pick lists and related forms. It would contain no data though, just the form definition.

As for #2, I’ll have to leave that up to you as I don’t have the resources to maintain a server for that.

Thanks,

Brendan

[lgol27]

For item 2 I suggest to use version control software ( Visual Source Safe, Surround, CVS). Here is an article, though a little bit old http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/09/18/the-top-7-open-source-version-control-systems/

[lgol27]

And to merge files there is a perfect software WinMerge.

[pwoolf]

Thanks Brendan and Igol27!

I’d like to be able to share the form via the web (say “click here to download form X”) and then help them coordinate depositing the data somewhere where I can see it. A lack of data in the form is no problem–I just need the structure in an identical form for machine reading later on.

I like the idea of using a versioning system for the data–seems like a great idea! Odd, I tend to only think of code living in these systems, but you are right, data has the same needs too!

Thanks!

[Author]

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