CommCare August Updates: CommCare Mobile 2.8, CommCareHQ Improvements

Dear CommCare Users,

CommCare Mobile 2.8 is now available!

Below is an outline of new 2.8 features and major updates to CommCareHQ since the May announcement.

CommCare Mobile

Nokia phones

Features

• Login Icons: As part of Sense mode, the “login” and “demo” buttons on the login screen will be replaced by icons. These icons are customizable through the UI translations interface. You can still enable or disable the icons through the “Login Buttons” setting in your application settings on CommCareHQ.
• The initial image displayed on the phone when viewing a video (by default the # symbol) can now be configured
• The “tools” menu item can be translated through the standard UI translations
• Performance improvements to prevent “Out of Memory” errors
• Fixed storage issues that caused “null” error on startup

Android phones
Features

• GPS capture questions include graphics to better illustrate success and accuracy of location
• Display text as QR codes on the phone- See how here
• Improvements to case list search on the phone

General Fixes

• More helpful error messages instead of crashing or “force-close”-ing for some errors
• A repeat group inside a repeat group no longer crashes the phone
• How to upgrade to 2.8: https://help.commcarehq.org/display/commcarepublic/Updating+to+a+new+version+of+CommCare

CommCareHQ

• The following is a list of the major improvements we’ve made since the last announcement in June:
• Worker Activity Report: a new Worker Monitoring report that gives you a sense of mobile worker activity at a glance
• Ability to open child cases from a repeat in a parent case form
• Archiving a form now reverses changes the form made to the case. See more information and exceptions.
• Import new or updated cases into CommCare from Excel
• Redesign of case configuration pages in the App Builder to make loading and saving case properties easier
• More advanced case list sorting: sort your case list by multiple case properties
• Parent-Child case selection: if you are using child cases, you can configure the child module’s case list to first display a list of parent cases. The child list will then only show child cases of the selected parent.
• Question List: a new group question in the Form Builder that puts all questions in the group on the same screen of the phone (Android only)
• The Form Builder detects the size of your window and expands into available space
• Enhancements to the Submit History filter to help you find the form you’re looking for
• Excel upload and download of fixtures
• Deploy your application via SMS now lets you mass deploy to a group of users or “all users”
• Form error messages in the app builder now include more information and are easier to read
• In data export, there is no longer a delay in reflecting case reassignment.
• Advanced (for software developers)
• Case APIs now support references to child cases
• API users can subscribe to notifications when their application changes
• CommCare Export now supports referencing form and case properties in the same export [8]

As always, your questions, comments, and feedback are welcome and appreciated!

Happy August,
The CommCare Team