New Features REDCap version 10.6.28 (Sept. 24, 2021)
New feature: Save Survey PDF to Field
The new "Save Survey PDF to Field" feature allows you to automatically save a PDF copy of a participant's survey response to a File Upload field upon completion of the survey. This may be useful if you want to store the snapshot of the response immediately after being submitted, or it can be used to send the PDF of the response as an email attachment via Alerts & Notifications, among other things. This new feature can be enabled on the Survey Settings page for any data collection instrument in the Online Designer.
New feature: Field Embedding
The Field Embedding feature in REDCap is the ultimate way to customize your surveys
and data collection instruments to make them look exactly how you want. Field Embedding
allows you to reposition fields on a survey or data entry form to embed them in a
new location on the same page. Embedding fields gives you greater control over the
look and feel of your instrument. For example, you may place fields in a grid/table
for a more compact user-friendly page, or you can position some fields close together
in a group if they are related.
For Field Embedding to work, just place the variable name of a REDCap field in curly
brackets { } - e.g. {date_of_birth} - inside a field label, section header, or choice
label. Once done, that field will be repositioned to that specific location on the
page. It's as simple as that!
For more information on Field Embedding and to view screenshots of how it looks, see https://redcaptest.elpaso.ttuhsc.edu/redcap/redcap_v10.0.0/DataEntry/field_embedding_explanation.php
New feature: Lock entire records
While records have always been able to be locked (i.e., made read-only) for individual
data collection instruments in a project, you may now easily lock an ENTIRE record
so that no data in the record can ever be modified while it is locked.
WHAT HAS CHANGED? It is important to note that the old user privilege "Lock all forms"
has now been converted into the new record-level locking feature, which works completely
independently from instrument-level locking (i.e., the checkbox at the bottom of data
entry forms). Instead of that particular user privilege allowing you to lock all forms
individually (which was the previous behavior), it will now serve in a slightly different
capacity as the record-level locking user privilege to lock an entire record fully.
HOW TO USE IT: You may lock an entire record via the "choose action for record" drop-down
on the Record Home Page or by clicking the "Lock Entire Record" link on the project's
left-hand menu when viewing a record. Note: Since the record locking and instrument
locking are completely separate features, they both may be used together in a project,
if you wish. However, please note that since record locking is a higher-level locking
than instrument locking, an entire record may be locked or unlocked while one or more
instruments are currently locked, but an instrument cannot be locked or unlocked while
the entire record is locked. ENJOY!
New send-time setting for ASIs and Alerts
Great news! A new setting has been added to Automated Survey Invitations and Alerts & Notifications to allow you to specify the send-time of the invitation/alert based on the value of a date or datetime field in the project. When setting up an ASI or Alert, the third radio button option under the "When to send" section allows you to set the time delay and ALSO specify whether the time delay is based on when the invitation/alert was triggered or based on the time value of a specific field. It can be set in days, hours, and/or minutes before *or* after the time value of a given date or datetime field. This should now make it much easier to more accurately specify the send-time of an ASI or Alert. Enjoy!
Assign users to multiple DAGs
A new feature called the DAG Switcher allows users in Data Access Groups (DAGs) to be assigned to multiple *potential* DAGs in a project, in which they may be given the privilege of switching in and out of specific DAGs on their own whenever they wish. To assign a user to multiple DAGs, navigate to the Data Access Groups page in your project where you will see the DAG Switcher near the bottom of the page. Then follow the directions provided there. The DAG Switcher feature is completely optional and can be used in any project that has Data Access Groups. Enjoy!
Notice: Project Status Changes
A few things have changed and improved upon in REDCap of which you should be aware.
1) The "Archived" project status has been removed and converted into a built-in Project
Folder named "My Hidden Projects", as now seen at the bottom of your My Projects page.
If you wish to hide any projects from your My Projects list, just click the Organize
button on that page and place the projects into that new Project Folder. NOTE: Any
already-archived projects will be automatically placed there for you.
2) The "Inactive" project status has been renamed to "Analysis/Cleanup" status to
help reinforce that cleaning and analyzing your data is the next logical step after
data collection in Production status.
3) Projects that are in "Analysis/Cleanup" status can now optionally have their project
data set as "Locked/Read-only" or "Editable" (see the top of the Project Setup or
Home page). This will give you more control to prevent data collection from happening
while in this project status.
4) Mark a project as "Completed": If you are finished with a project and wish to make
it completely inaccessible, you may mark the project as Completed. Doing so will take
it offline and remove it from everyone's project list, after which it can only be
seen again by clicking the Show Completed Projects link at the bottom of the My Projects
page. Once marked as Completed, no one in the project (except for REDCap administrators)
can access the project, and only administrators may undo the Completion and return
it back to an accessible state for all project users. Marking a project as Completed
is typically only done when you are sure that no one needs to access the project anymore,
and you want to ensure that the project and its data remain intact for a certain amount
of time.
New feature: Select and modify multiple fields together on the Online Designer - Users may select multiple fields on the Online Designer by holding the Ctrl, Shift, or Cmd key on their keyboard while clicking on the field in the table, which will reveal the options to Move, Copy, or Delete all the selected fields. To make users aware of this feature, a floating note now appears near the right side of the page in the Online Designer with instructions on how to use this.
New feature: Integration of Paul Litwin's Stealth Queue external module
New ”Keep the Survey Queue hidden from participants?” setting in the “Set up Survey Queue” dialog on the Online Designer
This setting will keep the Survey Queue table hidden from participants, and will force Auto Start to be enabled for all queue-activated surveys. This is useful if users wish to use the Survey Queue to automatically guide survey participants to the next survey without displaying the queue of surveys.
New feature: Added "Language of text to be spoken" for the "Text-To-Speech" survey functionality, which is available on the Survey Settings page. For several years, REDCap has had a Text-to-Speech feature for surveys that, when enabled, allows questions and other text on survey pages to be converted into natural-sounding audio for the participant to hear. Up until now, it supported English only, but now REDCap users may utilize the Text-to-Speech feature in a variety of non-English languages and voices, assuming that the survey text is in a non-English language. This includes Arabic, Brazilian Portuguese, English (UK and US), French, German, Italian, Japanese, and Spanish (Castilian, Latin American, and North American).
New feature: Users may re-evaluate some or all Automated Survey Invitations for all records in a project. If an ASI has been modified after data has already been entered in the project, users may click the “Re-evaluate Auto Invitations” button in the Online Designer, which will re-evaluate selected ASIs for all records to ensure that invitations get properly sent or scheduled based on the new conditions of the ASI (otherwise they could only be triggered if each individual record had data modified). If a user modifies the conditional logic of an ASI, it will recommend that they utilize the “Re-evaluate Auto Invitations” functionality. If an ASI has the “Ensure logic is still true…” option checked, then it is possible during this process that some already-scheduled invitations might get removed (and thus would no longer be scheduled) based on the new conditions.
New feature: Users may re-evaluate some or all Alerts & Notifications for all records in a project. If an alert has been modified after data has already been entered in the project, users may click the “Re-evaluate Alerts” button on the Alerts & Notifications page, which will re-evaluate selected alerts for all records to ensure that notifications get properly sent or scheduled based on the new conditions of the alert (otherwise they could only be triggered if each individual record had data modified). If a user modifies the conditional logic of an alert, it will recommend that they utilize the “Re-evaluate Alerts” functionality. If an alert has the “Ensure logic is still true…” option checked, then it is possible during this process that some already-scheduled notifications might get removed (and thus would no longer be scheduled) based on the new conditions.
New feature: Data Access Group import/export and DAG-User assignment import/export - The Data Access Groups page in a project now displays a drop-down list of options for users to import/export Data Access Groups, which allows users to bulk create or rename DAGs via a CSV file. It also allows for the import/export of DAG-user assignments via CSV file to bulk assign/reassign/unassign users from DAGs in a project. Note: The DAG-user assignment import affects only a user’s *current* DAG assignment; thus, it has no effect on the DAG Switcher assignments for the user.
New feature: Data Quality Rule import/export - The Data Quality page in a project now displays a drop-down list of options for users to import/export custom Data Quality rules via a CSV file. Note: This does not apply to the pre-defined DQ rules (rules A-I). Also, when DQ rules are imported, the process is additive only, meaning that the CSV upload cannot replace or edit existing DQ rules but will only add new ones to the project.
New feature: New logic editor for conditional logic, branching logic, calculations, report filters, etc. In every place where users might add/edit logic or calculations, the new logic editor will be displayed in a modal dialog to provide a better user experience for entering their logic. The logic editor provides much more space for entering large amounts of logic, including a fullscreen mode to take maximum advantage of their screen’s real estate. It also provides bracket-matching and parentheses-matching where it will highlight a pair of matching brackets/parentheses to make it easier for users to gauge which brackets/parentheses belong together in the logic, thus reducing possible errors in the logic when typing.
New feature: Auto-numbering of repeating instances for data imports - When using repeating events or repeating instruments, it may be difficult when performing dynamic imports of data for these because it is not easily known how many repeating instances already exist in a project for a given repeating event/instrument, thus often forcing users to invent clever ways to determine this, such as performing data exports beforehand and then dynamically determining what the next repeating instance number should be. However, that is no longer necessary. When performing a data import now for a repeating event/instrument, users may use the literal value “new” as the value for the “redcap_repeat_instance” field in their data import. By doing so, REDCap will perform the instance auto-numbering on its own to increment the repeating instances properly based on the highest numbered instance that already exists in the saved data in the project.
New feature: New survey option “Save a PDF of completed survey response to a File Upload field” - On the Survey Settings page in the Online Designer, users may select a File Upload field in the project where a static PDF file of a participant’s survey response will be stored immediately after they complete the survey. For longitudinal projects, if the target field exists on multiple events, users may set this feature so that it stores the PDF in the selected field in the current event (default) or else in a specific event in the project. Thanks to Philip Chase and his team at University of Florida for their inspiration for this feature, in which it was based on their “Save Survey PDF to Field” external module. NOTE: Upgrading to REDCap 10.6.0 will *not* automatically disable the “Save Survey PDF to Field” module if it is installed and enabled on any projects, nor will it transfer the saved settings of that module into this new feature in REDCap.
New action tag: @CALCDATE - Performs a date calculation by adding or subtracting a specified amount of time from a specified date or datetime field and then provides the result as a date or datetime value - e.g., @CALCDATE([visit_date], 7, 'd'). The first parameter inside the @CALCDATE() function should be a text field with date, datetime, or datetime_seconds validation, in which you may specify (if needed) the event and repeating instance - e.g., @CALCDATE([baseline_event][visit_date], 7, 'd'). The second parameter represents the offset number amount that should be added or subtracted. It can be a decimal number or integer. Tip: To subtract (i.e., go backwards in time), use a negative number. The third parameter represents the units of the offset amount, which will be represented by the following options: 'y' (years, 1 year = 365.2425 days), 'M' (months, 1 month = 30.44 days), 'd' (days), 'h' (hours), 'm' (minutes), 's' (seconds). The unit option must be wrapped in quotes or apostrophes. NOTE: Both the source field and the result field must be a text field with date, datetime, or datetime_seconds validation. It is important to realize that a field with @CALCDATE will not be editable on the survey page or data entry form, and the field will function almost exactly like a normal calculated field, in which its value may get updated via a data import, when running Data Quality rule H, or in real-time during normal data entry on a form or survey.
New action tag: @CALCTEXT - Evaluates logic that is provided inside a @CALCTEXT() function and outputs the result as text, typically performed with an if(x,y,z) function - e.g., @CALCTEXT(if([gender]='1', 'male', 'female')). NOTE: It is important to realize that a field with @CALCTEXT will not be editable on the survey page or data entry form, and the field will function almost exactly like a normal calculated field, in which its value may get updated via a data import, when running Data Quality rule H, or in real-time during normal data entry on a form or survey. If desired, it is possible to return the value as a number - e.g., @CALCTEXT(if([age] >= 18, 'adult', 5*[other_field])).
New action tag: @PREFILL - Sets a field's value to static text or dynamic/piped text whenever a data entry form or survey page is loaded, in which it will always overwrite an existing value of the field. The format must follow the pattern @PREFILL="????", in which the desired value should be inside single or double quotes. A field with @PREFILL will always be read-only, thus its value cannot be modified manually on the data entry form or survey page. For text fields, you may pipe and concatenate values from other fields in the project - e.g., @PREFILL='Name: [first_name] [last_name], DOB: [dob]'. For checkbox fields, simply separate multiple checkbox values with commas - e.g., @PREFILL='1,3,[other_field:value]'. NOTE: The piped value does *not* get applied during any data imports (via API or Data Import Tool) but only operates when viewing survey pages and data entry forms. NOTE: A field with @PREFILL will have its value updated ONLY when the page loads, which means that its value will not be updated in real-time if you modify other fields on the same page that are piped into the @PREFILL tag. NOTE: If being used on a date or datetime field, the date value inside the quotes must be in Y-M-D format - e.g., @PREFILL='2007-12-25' - regardless of the field's set date format. NOTE: The only difference between @PREFILL and @DEFAULT is that @DEFAULT is only applied when an instrument has no data yet, whereas @PREFILL will always be applied on an instrument, meaning that @PREFILL will ALWAYS overwrite the value if a field value already exists. TIP: To pipe the value of one multiple choice field into another multiple choice field, make sure you append ':value' to the variable being piped - e.g., @PREFILL='[my_dropdown:value]'.
New special functions: left(), right(), mid(), length(), find(), trim(), upper(), lower(), and concat(). These nine new functions can be specifically used when dealing with text values and may be especially useful when using them in conjunction with the @CALCTEXT action tag. To learn more and to see some practical examples of their usage, click the blue 'Special Functions' button in the Online Designer in any project.
left (text, number of characters) - Returns the leftmost characters from a text value. For example, left([last_name], 3) would return 'Tay' if the value of [last_name] is 'Taylor'.
right (text, number of characters) - Returns the rightmost characters from a text value. For example, right([last_name], 4) would return 'ylor' if the value of [last_name] is 'Taylor'.
length (text) - Returns the number of characters in a text string. For example, length([last_name]) would return '6' if the value of [last_name] is 'Taylor'.
find (needle, haystack) - Finds one text value within another. Is case insensitive. The "needle" may be one or more characters long. For example, find('y', [last_name']) would return '3' if the value of [last_name] is 'Taylor'. The value '0' will be returned if "needle" is not found within "haystack".
mid (text, start position, number of characters) - Returns a specific number of characters from a text string starting at the position you specify. The second parameter denotes the starting position, in which the beginning of the text value would be '1'. The third parameter represents how many characters to return. For example, mid([last_name], 2, 3) would return 'AYL' if the value of [last_name] is 'TAYLOR'.
concat (text,text,...) - Combines/concatenates the text from multiple text strings into a single text value. For example, concat([first_name], ' ', [last_name]) would return something like 'Rob Taylor'. Each item inside the function must be separated by commas. Each item might be static text (wrapped in single quotes or double quotes), a field variable, or a Smart Variable.
upper (text) - Converts text to uppercase. For example, upper('John Doe') will return 'JOHN DOE'.
lower (text) - Converts text to lowercase. For example, lower('John Doe') will return 'john doe'.
trim (text) - Removes any spaces from both the beginning and end of a text value. For example, trim(' Sentence with spaces on end. ') will return 'Sentence with spaces on end.'.
Improvement: File Upload fields and Signature fields may now be used in piping. If you are piping *from* a File Upload field or Signature field, the field's numerical value will be piped by default, but you may pipe the original filename of the uploaded file by appending the ':label' option, such as [my_field:label].
Improvement: When deleting an invitation from the Survey Invitation Log (either as a single invitation or using the multi-select option to delete many invitations at once), it now provides a new option in the dialog prompt to “Permanently cancel this invitation?”, in which the phrase “permanently cancel” implies that the invitation cannot be re-triggered/scheduled again in the future even if the ASI conditions are met again. If the user chooses to uncheck the option, then the scheduled invitation will be removed, but could possibly get re-triggered in the future if the ASI conditions are met again (assuming it was originally scheduled via an ASI).
Improvement: The Survey Invitation Log has a new filter drop-down option to view “only deleted invitations” (i.e., permanently cancelled invitations).
Changes:
- Change/improvement: In Alerts & Notifications, the email "To" field that is used for an alert now allows fields having custom email validation (i.e., added manually in the redcap_validation_types database table) to be utilized as the recipient. Previous versions only allowed fields to be used that had the explicit "email" field validation.