Configuring map layer fields

After you add a mobile service or mobile cache to your project, you can specify field settings for each map layer—such as which fields display in the map, the order of the fields, and for layers you've set to collect data, which fields are editable and in what order. These settings are saved as part of your project and honored by field applications. Understanding the available field settings is important because they let you control a large portion of your users' experience.

In the field applications, fields are presented in the following ways:

• View form—A read-only representation of feature attributes. It's displayed when field workers identify, search, or browse for features in work list, or when they manage edits.
• Collect form—Define how attributes are presented to the field workers when they collect new features.
• Update form—Define how attributes are presented to the field workers when they update existing features.

Note:

• You can configure the view, collect, and update forms for map layers that are used to collect data.
• With read-only layers, you can only specify settings for the view form.
• You cannot configure fields for hidden layers.

Setting field visibility for the view form—how fields are presented during data inspection

You can determine whether to show or hide a field when your field workers view the attributes of a feature. For example, you may have a field storing the date and time information when the feature was initially collected. This field can be autopopulated by the application so it can be hidden from the collect form. However, you can show the field to field workers on the view form.

Steps:

1. In Mobile Project Center, click the drop-down arrow next to the mobile service or mobile cache to view a list of map layers.

2. Click the name of the map layer whose fields you want to configure.

   The Layer and Fields tabs appear next to the Map Preview tab.

3. Click the Layer tab and set the layer type as either Is used to collect data or Provides read-only reference information. For more information about setting layer types, see Configuring map layer properties.
4. Click the Fields tab. The fields list box shows the fields you can configure. By default, all visible fields in the map document from which the operational map layer is created are listed and set to be visible.
   Tip:

   Only visible fields of a map layer in the .mxd file (map document) can appear in the fields list box. Turning off visibility for unneeded fields in the .mxd document is recommended because it reduces the size of data transmitted between the field applications and the server. However, if a required field is missing from the viewable fields list box in Mobile Project Center, check whether it's turned on in ArcMap. Also note that if a field is used for a subtype of a feature, even if it's set as invisible in ArcMap, it will still appear and be configurable in Mobile Project Center.

5. To specify that a field should not be visible in the View form of the field applications, clear the check box under the Viewing column.

   In the following image, the Unit Number field is hidden when the field workers inspect the attributes. However, the field will be visible during data collection and update:

Setting field visibility for the collect and update form—how fields are presented during data collection and update

For the map layers that you have set to collect data, you can specify which fields appear during data collection and update. You can show your field workers only those fields that are intended for data collection or editing, or, if you use the built-in field autopopulation or you autopopulate field values with custom extensions, you can hide such fields in the collect and update forms.

For data editing, field users can collect new data or update existing data, and you can set up field visibility independently for the collect form and the update form. For example, you can show a hydrant's installation date on the collect form but hide it in the update form so that your workers won't accidentally overwrite it.

To configure the collect and update forms complete the following steps:

Steps:

1. Click the drop-down arrow next to the mobile service or mobile cache to view a list of map layers.
2. Click the name of the map layer whose fields you want to configure.
3. Click the Layer tab and set the layer type as Is used to collect data.
4. Click the Fields tab. Under the Updating and Collecting columns in the fields list box are the visibility check boxes to set for collecting and updating individual fields.
   Note:

   If you set the layer as a read-only layer, the Updating and Collecting check boxes will be cleared and disabled, as shown below:

5. Uncheck the box under the Updating column so that the corresponding field is hidden when the field workers update an existing feature, or uncheck the box under the Collecting column so that it's hidden when a new feature is being collected.

   In the following screen shot, the Assessor Identification field is invisible when the field workers collect a new feature or update an existing feature, while the Number of Floors field is visible only when a new feature is being collected. Likewise, the Description field is visible when an existing feature is updated. However, these fields are all visible in the view form.

Tip:

Even a field is invisible during data collection or update, it can still be autopopulated by the field applications based on your setting. The image in the Setting field autopopulation section is an example.

Setting field autopopulation

You have the option to pre-define values for some types of editable fields so that when field workers collect or update attributes of features, those fields are automatically populated by the field applications.

The type of fields that can be autopopulated are text, date/time, and double. The following values can be used to populate the fields:

• Text
  • User identity (from the user currently signed in to the field application)
  • Display name (from the user currently signed in to the field application)
  • Machine name
  Note:

  To autopopulate a text field with a user identity or display name, your mobile project must have an Identity layer. See Understanding project user identity for additional information.

• Date/time
  • Machine data and time
  • Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receiver date/time (if Global Positioning System (GPS) is connected)
• Double
  • Latitude (if GPS is connected)
  • Longitude (if GPS is connected)
  • Elevation (if GPS is connected)
  • Speed (if GPS is connected)
  • Direction (if GPS is connected)
  • Position dilution of precision (if GPS is connected)

Furthermore, you can set a field to be autopopulated with one value when the feature is being collected and another value when the feature is being updated.

To configure autopopulation for editable fields in Mobile Project Center complete the following steps:

Steps:

1. Click the drop-down arrow next to the mobile service or mobile cache to view a list of map layers.
2. Click the name of the map layer whose fields you want to configure.
3. Click the Layer tab and set the layer type as Is used to collect data.
4. At the bottom of the Fields tab, locate the two drop-down menus under Auto Fill.

   Depending on the data type of the field, the drop-down list shows the available options for autopopulating the field.

Reordering fields

You can determine the order in which the fields appear when your field workers view or edit attributes. This setting can be valuable if one attribute choice determines the attribute for the next field. By changing the order of fields, you can make field presentation similar to paper work that your field workers are more familiar with.

To change the field order in Mobile Project Center, follow these steps:

Steps:

1. Click the drop-down arrow next to the mobile service or mobile cache to view a list of map layers.
2. Click the name of the map layer whose fields you want to configure.
3. Click the Layer tab and set the layer type as either Is used to collect data or Provides read-only reference information.
4. Click the Fields tab.
5. Click the field you want to move.
6. On the right side of the Visibility and Order list box, click the Move Up Field button to move the field up or click the Move Down Field button to move the field down.

Setting the field caption

For each map layer, you can configure how the fields are displayed when viewing, collecting and updating attributes. The Caption property uses the field alias name set for the field in your map document. This text appears inside the view, collect and update forms when displaying the attribute of a feature, and depending on your settings for captions, the text can differ between these forms. For example, when viewing attributes of a light bulb, you might want the caption to read "The wattage is," while, for a collect or update form, you may want "What is the wattage?" before the text box where users collect the wattage value. Again, if you can leverage Caption for each field for viewing, collecting, and updating, it will be easier for field workers to understand and edit an attribute.

To change the field caption in Mobile Project Center, complete the following steps:

Steps:

1. Click the drop-down arrow next to the mobile service or mobile cache to view a list of map layers.
2. Click the name of the map layer whose fields you want to configure.
3. Click the Layer tab and set the layer type as either Is used to collect data or Provides read-only reference information.
4. Click the Fields tab.
5. Click the field with the caption you want to change.
6. Locate the Captions section, edit the text boxes next to When Viewing: and When Updating and Collecting: as desired.