This tutorial is for the new, online project designer. The tutorial for the Desktop Designer is available
here
.
Ultradrop Point
Learn how the Ultradrop point can be used and see it in action with the sample projects.
What is the Ultradrop point?
The Ultradrop point is a more advanced version of the Drop List point with support for more columns of data and many more advanced features. The list of items can be filtered down using the value of specified point. Each column can be configured to output its value to another point on the page, such as an Edit point or a Math point and these output values can also be used to filter another Ultradrop to create a cascading set of Ultradrops .
Key Features
- Supports an unlimited number of columns of data.
- Each column can output a value to a specified point.
- Flexible text formatting options allow multiple columns to be used to generate the display text and the saved session for the Ultradrop point.
- Data can be imported from a text file using the import feature .
- Share data between Ultradrop points, using the data sharing feature .
- Show which items have already been captured in earlier sessions, and optionally stop them being selected twice, using previously selected items .
- Control whether to display items that have the same display value or to hide duplicate items.
Share data between multiple Ultradrop points
An Ultradrop can be configured to re-use the same data as another Ultradrop point using the data sharing settings which can improve the process for creating and maintaining projects. When this option is enabled, the data for the current Ultradrop point can only be changed by changing the data of the source Ultradrop point. When sharing data, it is important that the columns are configured to have the same number of columns in each point, though the names of the columns can be varied.
Hide Duplicate Items
By default, the Ultradrop will display all items that are specified in the data tab. A setting can be enabled to prevent duplicate values from appearing in the list using the setting Display distinct values only .
Filtering an Ultradrop
Filters can be used to filter down the list of available items in an Ultradrop point, by comparing the values in a column with the value of a specified point. An Ultradrop point can have multiple filters assigned to it which can be used to compare multiple points against multiple columns of data. Multiple Ultradrops can be used together to filter each other consecutively to quickly filter through a large set of data, see cascading ultradrops .
Showing Previously Selected Items
An Ultradrop can show which of its items have already been selected in other sessions of the
same project, so that the user can see at a glance what is still outstanding. This is typically
used for an audit or stocktake, where each asset is captured once and the assessor needs to know
which ones are left. Items can be
greyed out
or
hidden
, and can optionally be blocked from being selected a second time. See
previously selected items
for the settings.
Cascading Ultradrops using Filters
This is a term used to describe setting up multiple Ultradrops that quickly traverse through each of the columns of a shared Ultradrop's data. This is done by adding an Ultradrop for each of the columns in the data. Each Ultradrop is then filtered by the value of the previous Ultradrop in the sequence which results in the user selecting a value for each column. This can be seen in action, in the sample projects which can be opened in the Mobile Data Anywhere Designer for a more detailed example.
Configuration and Settings
The Ultradrop point can be configured in the designer to set the data for the list of items and to choose how the point functions within a session on the mobile application. See below for details on each of this point's properties.
Ultradrop Settings
Style
The style is used to change how the items are displayed on screen. By default,
the items will be displayed as a
pulldown drop list
, which will display the items on a popup window when
the point is clicked. The alternative option,
on screen selection
will display each item on screen, in the session, similar to the
Selection point
.
Distinct items only
When enabled, only items with distinct output values will be displayed. If duplicates exist, only the first of those items will appear in the list. Any items that contain the same formatted stored value as another item is considered to be a duplicate.
Sort Items
By default, items will be displayed in the order that they have been added. When
Sort Items
is enabled, the items will be sorted in ascending alphabetical order, using the
display value
of each item.
Multiple selection Options
When enabled, the user will be able to select multiple items from the point. The point's stored value will be a combination of each selected item's formatted stored value, separated using the specified separator character.
Column Settings
This section is used to create and manage the columns that are used for each item in the point's list. One of the powerful features of the Ultradrop point is that you can create as many columns as desired and each column can be configured to output to another point when an item is selected.
Columns
This setting opens the
Columns Editor
window where you can manage the columns for the point. The columns are managed as a list, where each
row defines a column. Columns can be added, edited, removed and re-ordered from this window.
Output to
Each column can be configured to output its value to another point in the project. When an item is selected during a session, the value from each column of the selected item will be output to the associated points. This is commonly used to output data to Edit and Math points and can also be used to filter other Ultradrop points in a series, see cascading Ultradrops using filters .
Display format
This option controls the text that is displayed for each item, when used on the mobile application.
This is usually configured simply to use values from one of the columns such as:
<% First %>
to use the column with name,
First
. This could also be configured to combine multiple columns such as using:
<% Last %>, <% First %>
Output format
This option controls the text that is saved to the session for each item, when used on the mobile application.
This is usually configured simply to use values from one of the columns such as:
<% First %>
to use the column with name,
First
. This could also be configured to combine multiple columns such as using:
<% Last %>, <% First %>
Enforce Output
When disabled, the column data will only output values to the associated points when an item from the Ultradrop is selected. The associated points can then be edited freely and their data will be saved to the session. When the enforce option is enabled, each time the Ultradrop point is displayed or the session is re-opened, the Ultradrop will forcefully output values for the selected item, overriding any modified values in the associated points.
Item Settings
This section allows you to add and manage the items that will appear in the Ultradrop list. Items can be added manually using the items editor or by sharing items from another point or by using items from a dynamic ultradrop resource .
Items
This setting will display the
Items Editor
window containing the items that have been added to this point.
Items Editor
The
Items Editor
allows you to manually manage the list of items for this point. The items will be read-only when the
point has been configured to
share items from another point
or to use a
dynamic ultradrop resource
.
// Legacy
Import from file
Items can be imported from a tab or comma delimited text file using the
Import from file
button, in the
Items Editor
window. Each line in the file will be treated as an item
to be imported into the list. Each column should be separated by a comma or a tab character.
If there are more columns specified in the file than there are in the columns tab of the
Ultradrop, the extra columns will be ignored. Some example data can be seen below:
.
Two items with columns of data using comma delimiter:
Item 1 Column 1,Item 1 Column 2,Item 1 Column 3,Item 1 Column 4
Item 2 Column 1,Item 2 Column 2,Item 2 Column 3,Item 2 Column 4
Two items with four columns of data using tab delimiter:
Item 1 Column 1 Item 1 Column 2 Item 1 Column 3 Item 1 Column 4
Item 2 Column 1 Item 2 Column 2 Item 2 Column 3 Item 2 Column 4
// Legacy
Share items from another point
This setting can be used to select an existing Ultradrop point from the project, to re-use the items from that point. This can be useful when setting up multiple Ultradrops to filter through a large set of items. The items would only need to be added or imported into the first Ultradrop point and each consecutive Ultradrop can use these settings to share that point's items.
When sharing items from another Ultradrop point, it is important to ensure that both points have the same number of columns in the Columns Editor .
Ultradrop Resource
The items for an Ultradrop point can be imported dynamically from an external text file, allowing you to edit the items separately from editing the project. The text file can be deployed to a device by uploading the data as an Ultradrop Resource file to the portal.
Select Ultradrop Resource
This option allows you to select an Ultradrop Resource file from your account on the web portal. If you haven't created any Ultradrop Resources yet, then see the next setting to Upload a new Ultradrop Resource .
Filter Settings
Filters allow you to use another point, such as an
Edit point
,
Drop List point
or another
Ultradrop point
to reduce the list to only display items that are relevant to the current session.
Creating Filters
Filters allow you to use another point, such as an
Edit point
,
Drop List point
or another
Ultradrop point
to reduce the list to only display items that are relevant to the current session. Filters
are created by selecting a column from the Ultradrop, a point from the same project and a condition.
The filter determines if an item should be displayed using the condition as seen below:
Display all items when all filter conditions are empty
Multiple filters can be added and an item will only be displayed if all the filters' conditions have
been met. By default, if all of the filters' associated points have empty values then the Ultradrop
will not display any items. This behaviour can be changed by enabling the option to
Display all items when all filter conditions are empty
which will display all items in the Ultradrop list when the filters' associated points have empty values.
Previously Selected Items
These settings let an Ultradrop show which of its items have already been selected in the other sessions of the same project. Nothing is stored to make this work: the values are read back from the sessions that already exist, so the list always reflects the data as it stands.
Show previously selected items
Turns the feature on. With it switched off, which is the default, the Ultradrop behaves exactly as it always has and every item is shown normally.
The point being matched on must be one of the project's
Session List Columns
. Previously selected values are read from the session summaries, and those only carry the
session list columns, so a point outside that list can never be matched. The designer warns
you if the chosen point is missing from the list.
Show already selected items as
Controls how an item that has already been selected appears in the list.
-
Greyed out- the item stays in the list and is drawn in grey. Use this when the user should still be able to see everything, including what has been done. -
Hidden- the item is removed from the list, leaving only what is still outstanding. Useful for a long list where the completed items are just noise.
Only allow each item to be selected once
Stops an item that has already been selected from being selected again. Leave this off when the same item may legitimately be captured more than once and the greying is only there as a hint to the user.
This only applies to greyed out items, since a hidden item cannot be selected in any case.
Which sessions count
- Active and sent sessions both count as having used a value.
- Deleted sessions never count, so deleting a session makes its item available again.
- The session being edited never blocks itself. Reopening a completed session always shows the value it already holds, whichever setting is used.
Worked example
The
Asset Audit
sample project has an asset list of eight items and one Ultradrop for each combination of
these settings, all sharing the same data, so the behaviours can be compared side by side.
Capture a few assets, then look at the same asset in each Ultradrop:
-
Asset (default)- previously selected items are not shown at all, exactly as an Ultradrop behaved before this feature. -
Asset (greyed)- captured assets are greyed but can still be picked again. -
Asset (hidden)- captured assets disappear from the list. -
Asset (greyed, once only)- captured assets are greyed and cannot be picked. -
Asset (hidden, once only)- captured assets disappear and cannot be picked.
The same five settings appear again as
on screen selections
, and an
Asset Filter
edit point filters every Ultradrop on the page at once, so the interaction between filtering
and previously selected items can be seen too.
Sample Project
Sample Projects
The
Basic Points Sample
project contains examples of how to use many of the various points that are available. This project also contains a
page that demonstrates some of the ways that this point can be used in your projects.
Sample Projects
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