Pendragon Forms and Automation

I use a great software program called Pendragon Forms 5.1 to conduct household surveys using PDAs. Overall, I highly recommend this program to others looking to use PDAs to collect data in the field. It offers a wide variety of input types (text, number, drop-down lists, signatures, etc), the ability to integrate peripherals such as GPS receivers and digital cameras, and a useful scripting interface to customize surveys (e.g., if/then skip statements).

Palm Z22 PDA

As with any good program, it could be better. When I am using the program to develop surveys, as I am now, I find myself getting frustrated by the lack of a few key features. For example, the program does not allow the user to make formatting changes to all “screens” at once, like you might in PowerPoint. There is also no method for importing survey items. While you can link to an external Access database and import field names, you cannot (to my knowledge) import survey items.

This may not be news to some PDF users, but I just discovered what I think is a great workaround to these limitations: automation with WinTask.

WinTask is a automation program that records computer activity and greatly reduces the need for some types of repetitive data entry. Using WinTask, I was able to import all of my survey items into PDF from Excel. I was also able to format hundreds of screens in a matter of minutes by recording a series of mouse clicks.

A little how-to for PDF users:

Creating Forms

I like to develop survey protocols in Excel. It makes organization and collaboration easy (e.g., sorting, rearranging, commenting, linking items to variable names). Excel files are also easy to import into Access if you are like me and prefer to use an external Access database to manage data (rather than PDF).

So when I start with PDF, my survey items and variable names are in Excel (multiple worksheets corresponding to protocol section). The first step is to import variable names into different Access tables. After changing all data types to correspond to the planned input type (see PDF Reference document), the next step is to create new forms in PDF by importing field names from the Access tables.

Repetitive Tasks

A. Formatting Screens

The import process populates the PDF field name and column ID (link to Access) with the Access field name. But that is about it. I like to do a few things to each screen: (1) change the answer size to “large bold”, (2) make each item appear on a new screen, and (3) change each item to “hidden”.

B. Copy Column IDs to Field Label

A great feature of PDF is the scripting interface. The program gives the user the option to create a field label for each item and refer to field label in scripts. I like the field label to be the same as the column ID (making it identical to the Access field name and the Excel variable name), but the field label is not automatically imported from Access. So I have to copy the column ID for each item to the field label.

C. Insert Survey Items

Without an import feature, I have to copy each survey item into PDF (as the field name) from Excel. Quite annoying if you have a large survey.

Let WinTask Do The Work

WinTask allows me to format hundreds of screens in a matter of minutes. It is easy:

(1) With the WinTask program recording, format the first screen in PDF. I start by copying the column ID to the field label. I click on the DATA tab, click in the column id field, type Ctrl+A to select the text, type Ctrl-C to copy the text, click on the SCRIPT tab, click in the field label field, and type Ctrl-V to paste the text.

(2) Then I format the screen by clicking on the VISUAL tab, clicking “Start Next Screen” and “Hidden”, and selecting “Large Bold”.

(3) That’s it. I click on the next screen icon and stop the WinTask recording.

Press play in WinTask and see if it works. Sometimes the program can be finicky and it takes some experimenting (e.g., doing the first one manually and beginning the recording with a command to go to the next screen). When it looks good, insert a repeat code and set it to iterate as many times as necessary. Hit play and watch it work (NOTE: other coffee shop patrons will be amazed if you get up to refill and the computer works while you are away).

When this finishes, I record another sequence of commands to import survey items from Excel. Sometimes this works better than others. Today I had to copy the Excel column into WordPad and import from there. IMPORTANT: Verify that the order of your items in Excel matches the order of field names in Access (and therefore the order of PDF screens).

With WinTask recording,
(1) Left click the first cell (item) in Excel
(2) Type Ctrl-C
(3) Click in the field name box on your first screen in PDF
(4) Click Ctrl-A to highlight the existing text then click Ctrl-V to paste the item from Excel (if necessary, delete extra spaces or rows)
(5) Click the next screen icon
(6) Return to Excel and right click the first row containing the item you just pasted into PDF
(7) Click delete
(8) End the recording

By deleting the top row, the next item you need to copy is always in the same position. WinTask will keep copying from that position over and over.

Recording sequences in WinTask takes some trial and error, but it is a huge time saver (probably reduces design error too)!