Using the Data Viewer to concatenate and convert to csdb files collected on Android tablets

Discussions about tools to complement CSPro data processing
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asheffel
Posts: 23
Joined: July 14th, 2014, 9:07 am

Using the Data Viewer to concatenate and convert to csdb files collected on Android tablets

Post by asheffel »

Hi,

I have a CSPro application that has been used for multiple surveys with the Dropbox sync using a .pnc file to collect data on Android tablets. Recently I have become aware that the .pnc sync function will no longer be supported and we need to update to CSPro 7 and utilize the new sync function. I have updated the CSPro application to v7.0, but have now come across a few issues that I wanted to ask about.

1. A group of about 12 people was all trying to use the Data Viewer tool and we found that for some people, the tool wouldn't open at all and gave an error message similar to "The program is not responding. Please quit and try again." Others were able to open the Data Viewer tool, but the Dropbox connection didn't work and gave a message similar to "After 1000 milliseconds the server timed out". Others of us were able to successfully connect and concatenate data collected from a number of android tablets and synced to Dropbox. Hence the questions: Have others reported issues with the Data Viewer tool? If so, are there any solutions? How about the Dropbox connect function? In addition, for the Data Viewer tool to work via Dropbox, does the the computer you are using have to have Dropbox installed and that account invited to the folder where they Android tablet is stored? Or can the credentials for the Dropbox account where the data is stored simply be entered after clicking on connection and the files will be pulled from the cloud regardless of the status of Dropbox on the computer?

2. As an alternative, I tried copying the Android tablet data files from my Dropbox folder to a USB drive to allow others to test out the Data Viewer tool to concatenate the data and convert to csdb format without connecting through Dropbox. However, I realized that the Data Viewer tool doesn’t seem to have an option to just select the files you want to convert from a local drive. Is there a way to do this? Or any other alternatives to converting the Android files to csdb other than the Data Viewer? We also tried the old CSConcat tool, but that didn't seem to work with the Android tablet data.

3. In the past, after concatenating data from multiple tablets, we would use the Index Files tool to identify and resolve duplicates before the concatenated data file could be opened in CSEntry. As I was reading some related posts on this forum, I noticed that it may be possible that the Index Files tool no longer works with csdb files. Hence the questions: Does the Index files tool work to identify duplicates in the csdb file? If not, will a csdb file open in CSEntry if it has duplicates? If not, is there a different tool to use to identify and remove duplicates for csdb files?

Many thanks for any suggestions or insight into how the new tools work!

Ashley
josh
Posts: 2399
Joined: May 5th, 2014, 12:49 pm
Location: Washington DC

Re: Using the Data Viewer to concatenate and convert to csdb files collected on Android tablets

Post by josh »

1. I have not seen the error message "The program is not responding" with DataViewer. Some people have reported issues starting DataViewer that were fixed by installing .NET framework version 4.5 or later. The "After 1000 milliseconds the server timed out" error sounds like a problem with the network. Some offices, including ours, block Dropbox on the local network which can result in errors like this.

You do not need to have Dropbox installed on the computer to use Dropbox synchronization or DataViewer. CSPro uses the Dropbox web API which is independent of the Dropbox client software that you install on your computer. Most people just use the same Dropbox email/password on all the computers/tablets in order to share the data.

2. The files that are stored in the Dropbox are not regular data files. In order to support "smart" synchronization on Dropbox we use a different format that contains information about which cases have already been synced. As a result you can't just concatenate the files together to create a data file. You must use DataViewer to download the data into a csdb file. Once you have done that you can share the resulting csdb file with others if they are unable to run DataViewer. Another alternative is to create a simple data entry app or batch app to download the data using sync instead of using DataViewer. You can use the synchronization options dialog (under options) in a data entry application to set up a sync to download the data without writing any logic.

3. A csdb file that is downloaded using DataViewer (or sync) can have duplicates in it and it will still open in CSEntry and in DataViewer. Under the view menu in DataViewer you can see the duplicate cases. The index files tool does not work on csdb files.
asheffel
Posts: 23
Joined: July 14th, 2014, 9:07 am

Re: Using the Data Viewer to concatenate and convert to csdb files collected on Android tablets

Post by asheffel »

Many thanks Josh for the quick responses! It seems that we have a combination of problems (.NET framework, network blockage of Dropbox, etc). We were able to successfully use Data Viewer with about 8 of us this morning and the others we are working on sorting out the issues-- hopefully all can be resolved.

One additional question, some participants wanted to change the Dropbox account associated with the Data Viewer sync. Is it possible to do this?

Thanks!
Ashley
josh
Posts: 2399
Joined: May 5th, 2014, 12:49 pm
Location: Washington DC

Re: Using the Data Viewer to concatenate and convert to csdb files collected on Android tablets

Post by josh »

Yes, to change the Dropbox account you need to delete the saved from the Windows Credential Manager. See this post:

http://www.csprousers.org/forum/viewtop ... 105&p=6865
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