CSEntry, CSPro's data collection tool, is available as an Android application from the
Google Play store. This application can be used to run data entry applications on devices such as phones or tablets running Android version 5.0 (Lollipop) or higher. CSPro data entry applications can be designed on Windows machines and then run on either Windows or Android devices. This is a "build once, deploy many" system, whereby the running behavior across the two operating systems is very similar, so you have the freedom to decide what device you want to use to conduct
CAPI surveys using CSEntry.
In the Android environment you will only be able to run binary data entry applications (
.pen files). You will not be able to execute .ent files or any other kind of CSPro application (concatenation, batch processing, etc.). This .pen file, along with the .pff runtime script, constitute the two files needed to run a data entry application on an Android device.
All applications on the Android device must be stored in the csentry folder on your device. Connect your Android device to your computer and, via USB transfer, copy your .pen and .pff files to the Android device. Generally the device's external storage is its SD card. The first time you run the CSEntry application, the csentry folder will be automatically created for you. The application searches subdirectories located in the csentry folder, so it is possible to add multiple applications while maintaining a clean directory structure.
Starting with CSPro version 7.5, the csentry directory is located at <external storage>/Android/data/gov.census.cspro.csentry/files/csentry. In earlier versions it was located at <external storage>/csentry. If you previously had an older version of CSPro on your Android device, the csentry will not be moved when you upgrade.
As in the Windows environment, the Android application does not encrypt data files by default. Fortunately, it is easy to encrypt an Android device so that all files stored on it are encrypted. On your Android device:
- Go to Settings.
- Under the Personal group of options, select Security.
- Select the Encrypt Phone option and follow the subsequent instructions.
Encrypting the phone will require that you supply a PIN or password to protect the data on the phone.
The Android application only displays one question per screen (unless using
blocks). A future release may allow the displaying of rosters and multiple fields on a single screen. In addition, though most functions operate identically on the Windows and Android platforms, there are a few functions that behave differently, such as
execsystem. Remarks about differing functionality are noted in the help documents about each function.