The Media Field Type enables app users to capture and upload photos, video, and audio media in a Data Entry Form submission.
Adding a Media field to your Form design enables your app users to capture photos, audio, or video as part of their Form submission. Simply drag and drop a Media field from the left-hand toolbar onto your Form page and then configure it using the right-hand properties panel. By default, the Media field will have its Media Type property set to Image. This allows the user to capture a photo or select an existing image from their device gallery. Change the Media Type property as desired to capture audio or video instead.
Initial properties worth configuring:
- Title Text - The title text shown to the user
- Media Type - Type of media to upload, Image[default]/Video/Audio
- Capture Only - Removes the "Choose" from device gallery option, forcing the user to capture
- Copy to Device Gallery - Copies captured files into the device's gallery
File Name Property
The file name property on the Media field allows you to specify a custom file name that will be used for a media file that is output from a connector with the "Send Media Files Separately" checkbox enabled. This property can be static, dynamic, or a combination of both, using static text and data names from the form -- e.g., Photo-{{UserCaption}}. A data entry field like a text field can be used for the user to enter a caption in this way. Consider also using metadata fields to add further specificity to file names.
Video Capture
Video capture is limited to 10MB file size. This is to save on data upload bandwidth since videos can be very large - easily 10 times bigger than a photo. On iOS devices, this usually allows for 30 seconds of footage due to iOS's ability to automatically lower the video resolution to fit this size limit. Android users, however, will need to manually lower the video resolution of their camera to record as much footage as possible. It is also recommended that Android users enable High-efficiency video (HVEC) within Advanced Recording Options for the same reason.
Note: Video Capture is limited to 10MB. This is to save on upload data as videos can easily be 10 larger than an image.
Adding GPS data to your Image
When capturing images, you also have the option to capture the user's GPS location and heading information. This can be useful for several reasons. E.g., if your user is completing a land survey, you can use their position information to plot each image on a map. Select the "Include GPS Information" property to enable this functionality in your Media field.
Now when capturing images, the user's GPS location and heading information will be stored as part of the field's value.
This information can also be used to dynamically drive additional properties and other field values using the following formula:
- LAT({{mediaField}}) - Returns latitude
- LON({{mediaField}}) - Returns longitude
- HEADING({{mediaField}}) - Returns heading
Dynamic Image Watermarking
This feature allows you to apply dynamically generated text as a watermark onto images that are captured or chosen via a Media field during Form entry. You can define the desired text output via the "Apply Watermark Text" property on your Media field. The text stamped on the image is driven by a formula of your creation, with options to customize the color of the text and the position it appears in the image. And yes, multi-line watermarks are supported!
Apply Watermark Text
Under a Media field's Advanced Options properties, is where a watermark can be configured.
This feature supports:
- Dynamically generated multi-lined test
- Custom text color, size, and position
- Watermark background color
- Stroke outline text
This feature allows you to dynamically generate multi-lined text as a watermark onto images that are captured or chosen via a Media field during Form entry.
The text stamped on the image is driven by static text, a formula of your creation, or a combination of both (not just a data name reference), with options to customize the color of the text and the position it appears in the image.
When using a formula in a Text Builder, the formula needs to be wrapped in a single curly and round brace tag: {()}
Example
Formula to generate a watermark:
Date: {( IMGDATE({{mediaField}}) )} {('\n')} GPS: {( FORMAT-GEO({{mediaField}}, 'DMS') )}
Watermark Text displayed on the image:
Date: 2022-03-04T05:31:311+02:00
GPS: 28°44'53"S 29°46'46"E
Watermarking size is directly and inversely related to pixel limit (default: 800), as its limit decreases the watermark size increases.
Note: A Data Entry Form's pixel limit can be located in the Title Bar Properties.
1) Click on the Title Bar
2)Default pixel limit
Custom File Name
Under a Media field's Advanced Options properties, is where a custom File Name can be configured.
Static Text: Form Name -
Dynamic Text: {{fileName}}
The Custom File name takes a standard formula, that can have static and dynamic text by referencing field data names.
Repeatable Data Considerations
If you want to reference a specific repeat within a Table field using the POSITION({{TableFieldName}}) function, you cannot do so directly in the File Name Formula.
You need to add another field (i.e. Hidden/Textfield) to the table which calculates the file name, and then reference the field in the File Name formula.
Example:
1. Text Field: File Name
2. Table Field, allows for repeatable data capture
3. Numeric Field: Image Number, with dynamic value POSITION({{table}})
4. Hidden Field, calculate full file name using File Name and Image Number
5. Media Field with custom file name: {{fileNameHidden}}
Audio Capture on Android
To capture audio with the media field on Android devices, a manufacturer-released recording app will need to be installed on the device. For example, a Samsung phone will need to have an audio-recording app installed that was released by Samsung. Many Android devices do not come with such an app pre-installed on the phone; in these cases, the user will need to install such an app through the Play Store.