Best Practice Tips for Layers and Forms

• Working with layers

Here are some best practice tips to make your work easier in the long run.

Working with layers

• Making changes in the data schema of layers can lead to issues in the synchronisation process. Be careful to deploy the revised project properly. Design the data schema carefully when creating a layer to avoid the need to change it later.
• Always use GeoPackage for survey layers. If you use other formats, such as ESRI shapefile, it is not possible to detect changes from other users and they may be overwritten. Overwritten files are stored in a conflict file.
• Add some extra back-up field attributes when creating a survey layer with different types (e.g. a couple of texts, int, real, date/time) and hide them in the form design. These can serve as a backup: if you need extra fields later in the survey, just alias these extra fields and add them to form.
• If you do not need a field, remove it from the form. You don't need to delete it from the table.
• Instead of renaming a field, change its alias.
• Add new layers to your project as separate GeoPackages. Do not add a new table to your existing GeoPackage that contains a survey layer. Just to be safe, it is better to have one GeoPackage for each of your survey layers.
• use GeoTIFF format for your raster files or store them in a separate GeoPackage database