QuickCapture provides three ways to create a project. You can create a project by saving as a new project from an existing project, from a selection of sample projects available as ready-to-use templates, and directly from existing web feature layers. Each method results in a project that you can share and use in the mobile app.
In each of the following methods, you must open the QuickCapture website and sign in to your ArcGIS organizational account first.
| Organizational account | Where to sign in |
|---|---|
Using ArcGIS Online with QuickCapture | Go to https://quickcapture.arcgis.com and choose Sign in with ArcGIS Online. |
Using ArcGIS Enterprise with https://quickcapture.arcgis.com | Go to https://quickcapture.arcgis.com and choose Sign in with ArcGIS Enterprise. Enter your portal URL, for example, https://host.domain.com/webadaptor/ (where host, domain, and webadaptor are replaced by your portal information) to continue. |
Using ArcGIS Enterprise (10.8 and later) | Choose QuickCapture from the app launcher in your portal. |
Create a project from an existing project
You can create a project from one you already own or any project that is shared with you.
- Select the My Projects or Shared with me tab.
- Choose Save as from the project card menu of the project you want to duplicate.
For projects shared with you, you can click Preview to preview the layout and basic information about the project, or click View Results to view the results of the submitted records before using it.
- Optionally, change the title and directory and click Save.
By default, QuickCapture reuses the existing feature layers referenced by the project. Optionally, you can create duplicates of the target layers. The created project is not automatically shared.
Create a project from a template
QuickCapture templates allow project authors to quickly deploy a ready-to-use QuickCapture centered solution to your organization. A template may be a single QuickCapture project or a solution that includes a number of items that cover a workflow from data collection to data visualization. Depending on the use case addressed, an Esri template may include the following:
- A QuickCapture sample project. The sample project is also available for you to download immediately in the mobile app without signing in.
- Feature layers used by the sample project.
- A project map, which may be either an online or offline map.
- The visualization app, for example, a dashboard used to view submitted records.
Note:
Deployment of QuickCapture templates that include additional content, such as dashboards and surveys, is supported on ArcGIS Enterprise 10.9 and later.- Click New Project and select Start from template.
- Choose one template.
Choose one template in From Esri or From Organization. Before using a template project, you can preview the project layout and see basic information about the template.
- Click Use template to deploy a copy of it in your organization.
- Optionally, specify the project title, directory, and recovery email, and click Create.
A new folder is created in My Content and all of the items included in the template are re-created in this new folder. The content is also summarized in a new Solution item created in the same folder, which shows the relationship of the items. The created items are not automatically shared.
Create a project from existing feature layers
You can create and modify projects on the web from existing feature layers. To use all features of QuickCapture, existing layers must have specific capabilities enabled. For more information, see the Prepare a feature layer section below.
- Click New Project and select Start from existing layers.
- Choose one or more feature layers that you own or are shared with you.
- Optionally, create a web map containing the selected layers and link to the project, and click Next.
- Provide a thumbnail, project name, project tags, and recovery email address and click Create.
A QuickCapture project is generated based on your chosen feature layers, with buttons that represent the types of data defined by the symbology of your layers. A group is created for each layer, and a button is created for each unique symbol. You can go on to customize an existing button—by adding parameters or copying buttons and modifying their parameters—to create unique capture buttons. You can also add more layers and buttons to your project.
If you chose to create a web map at the time of project creation, it will be saved in the same location as the project. This web map will be used in the mobile app when displaying unsent records, or can be used on the web to view records that have been sent from the users of the project. When used in the mobile app, unsent records are symbolized with a single pin symbol. The symbology of unsent records in this web map can be changed by the project author to either the icon or color of the button, or the symbology of the target feature layer.
If you symbolize your layers using a Simple Renderer or UniqueValue Renderer, the designer applies the label, color, shape, or picture defined in the symbology when creating buttons.
Buttons are generated for all point, polyline, or polygon layers that are included in the selected existing feature layer. It is not recommended that you use buttons that are generated for child layers (layers that have a relationship to a parent layer) unless the key value that is associated with the parent record is included as an attribute. Without this populated attribute, orphaned records would be created. Ways to populate an attribute with the parent key value include the following:
- Populate a project user input with the GlobalID of the parent record, typically passed to QuickCapture from another app with a URL link, or by using a dynamic choice list [add link to dynamic choice list doc].
- Populate an attribute with the result of an Arcade expression that returns the GlobalID of a record from one layer related to the location of the current record, for example, a point in a polygon query.
It is recommended that you create projects based on hosted feature layer views. In a hosted feature layer view, you can apply different editor settings, styles, or filters to the hosted feature layer and share the view to different groups or the public. For example, you can create a hosted feature view that is shared to the public that only allows the addition of new records and reference this in the QuickCapture project. Another layer view can allow viewing of a filtered list of records, and you can use it in a dashboard shared with stakeholders. The most obvious benefit of using views is to limit accidental editing of data, but they can also improve performance of large layers.
Create feature layer views before you create a QuickCapture project. To learn more, see Create hosted feature layer views in ArcGIS Online or Create hosted feature layer views in ArcGIS Enterprise.
Tip:
If you have already created a QuickCapture project based on a hosted feature layer and want to change it to be based on a view of that layer, create the hosted feature layer view in your organization, and then in the QuickCapture project settings, change the layer that your project is based on. To change the layer used in a project, complete the following:
- Click the Manage project layers menu item
. - Delete the existing layer that will be replaced.
- Choose Add and select the new layer view.
- For each button in the project, in the Data panel, click Select, choose the new layer view, and redefine each of the data capture fields with the fixed value, user input, or variable that you previously defined.
- Click Save to save the project.
Note:
You can also create QuickCapture projects from existing ArcGIS Enterprise 10.6 or later feature layers when they are registered as items in ArcGIS Online. These layers must be secured using token-based security and the credentials must be stored in the service item. If you intend to capture photos in your project, ensure that attachments are related to your feature layer using GlobalID fields.
To learn how to add feature layers as items, see Add items in ArcGIS Online and Add items in ArcGIS Enterprise.
If you have trouble storing credentials in your service item, see the Technical Support article Problem: The option to store credentials is not available when adding secured services in ArcGIS Online.
See Configure a project to learn more.
Prepare a feature layer
To use a feature layer with QuickCapture, it must be a hosted layer from ArcGIS Enterprise or ArcGIS Online.
Note:
Before creating a project, check that your feature layer does not use special characters in the service URL. Layer names that contain special characters such as ( ) & ? @ may cause issues when you try to duplicate the project with new layers or try to reuse the layer as a template in other ArcGIS apps.
To work with nonfederated feature services, some additional configuration is required, as you must manually create a feature layer item in your ArcGIS organization that represents the service. For details, see this Knowledge Base article on how to connect to nonfederated ArcGIS Server services.
The owner and users of the project must have access to the feature layer, and it must be editable. Also consider the following:
- The Create capability is required.
- If users are capturing images, hasAttachments must be set to true.
There are two additional capabilities that are recommended to be set to true for the feature layer:
- supportsAttachmentsByUploadId—This capability should be automatically turned on if attachments are enabled on the feature layer. It allows the app to send all attachments associated with a project before attempting to send the records. If any of the attachments fail, the entire record send will roll back, preventing data loss.
- supportsApplyEditsWithGlobalIds—The feature layer must support applying edits with global IDs. This allows the app to create and manage the global IDs in created features (as opposed to the server forcing a new global ID for created features).
For a feature layer to support applying edits with global IDs, the following requirements must be met:
- The layers in the feature layer must have a GlobalId column with a unique index. The easiest way to do this is to enable sync when publishing your feature layer.
- If using a multiuser geodatabase, layers can use branch versioning but not traditional versioning. For more information, see Versioning types.
- Global IDs must exist in a feature layer or table before enabling attachments on either.
- If your feature layer contains m-enabled layers, editing without m-values must be enabled.
For more information on how to support editing in your feature layer, see supportsApplyEditsWithGlobalIds in Layer (Feature Service) in the ArcGIS REST API documentation.
Share a QuickCapture project
For others to be able to use your project, you must share it with them. Select Share in the web designer and choose who can use the project:
- Everyone (Public)—This option is only available for ArcGIS Hub premium–enabled organizations.
- Your organization—Share your project with everyone in your organization.
- Groups—Share with specific users through a group.
The feature layers and map that are configured in the project must also be shared. For items that you own, you can share them when you update sharing of the project in the web designer. For items that you do not own, contact the item owner to have them shared. Links for items that require sharing are provided in the web designer. To learn more about how to share your layers with a user or group, see Share items in ArcGIS Online or Share items in ArcGIS Enterprise. Projects shared with a shared update group in ArcGIS Online or shared update group in ArcGIS Enterprise can be modified by all members in that group. Once you've shared to users in your organization, when they sign in to the mobile app, they will see the project available for download.
Note:
To share your project publicly, it must be hosted in ArcGIS Hub Premium. Public projects can be used anonymously or by signed-in users.
If your shared project contains sensitive information, you should use feature layer views and configure layers to prevent downloading, querying, or modifying submitted data. For more information, see Manage editor settings in ArcGIS Online or Manage editor settings in ArcGIS Enterprise.
Once it's shared, you can provide access to the project to users in the following ways:
- QR code—A code the user can scan with the app's built-in barcode scanner or an external scanner on the device.
- Link—A shortened URL that takes the user to a download page for the project.
- Access code (for public projects only)—A unique code that can be typed into the mobile app.
Note:
The mobile app must be installed on the device that the QR code or link is being accessed on. To try, use any of the following to launch the BioBlitz sample project.
- QR code—
- Link—https://arcg.is/qeS1D (copy and paste this URL into your browser)
- Access code—qeS1D
View captured data
To view captured data from your project, go to the Projects page of the QuickCapture website and hover over your project. Select View Results. Map Viewer launches, showing your captured data.