This Guide walks you through the steps to create and customize forms with database integration using the CountThings from Photos app.
With the CountThings from Photos app, you can create Customizable Forms using your company's terminology and classifications to create the options for users when sorting and categorizing your counted photos.
Step 1 - Create form
Open the Settings window by clicking on the Settings icon (top right). Click
Forms
In the next window, do the following:
Click on
Add new form and give a relevant name to the newly created form.
A. Add dropdown menus in which we will add the data we need from the database
B. Click on a dropdown's Edit icon
C. This enables the editing options
D. Click on "Import values" button
E. Locate your CSV file and open it.
F. Select the column with the values you want to import and click OK.
The imported values for the selected dropdown are displayed on the bottom right.
G. If you count large batches of photos that have items with similar characteristics, we recommend that you uncheck the "Reset with new image" option, so that your dropdown selections are kept with each new image you are counting.
H. Depending on the data, the items can be related: a selected value determines what values will be shown in the subsequent dropdowns. In this case, we need to tell the app to only display the dropdown values that are relevant. To do this, enable the "Sync in form" option. This sets up the relationship between the dropdowns and their values. Now, each dropdown menu will only show the relavant values as specified in the CSV file.
Repeat steps B, D, E, F, G and H for each dropdown added at step A.
After you have finished editing all the dropdowns, click on "Save & Exit" to save the form and to return to the Settings window.
Now we need to tell the app to how to export the data collected with the forms.
I. Go to the CSV / Export menu
J. For any form, you can select what items you want to export. For this tutorial, let's select "Use All".
K. You can see the Export CSV file preview below. You can rearrange the columns using the left and right arrows.
Click on "Save" after you have finished editing the CSV / Export options to return to the main window.
The form is displayed on the right side.
Step 2 - Adding a Counting Template
From the
Template Library, select the Counting Templates appropriate for the kind of items you would like to count by clicking the
plus sign. Click Done once you've selected all relevant Counting Templates.
For this tutorial, select the
All Tubes & Bars & Sheets ID: 095 Counting Template by clicking on the GET buton and click Done.
Step 3 - Open Image
From the
CountThings from Photos app,
open the image file.
Step 3 - Open Image
For each image, adjust the form values.
Step 5 - Count
Click
Count.
Step 6 - Review the Results - Make Modifications if Necessary
If you notice any counting mistakes, you can easily correct them by adding, deleting, or moving tags.
It's very helpful to use the "Count Review," which divides the image into cells that can be reviewed one cell at a time.
For more details, see the
Review a Count guide.
Step 7 - Save results
Click
Save.
Repeat steps 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 for each image you need to count.
Step 8 - Saved Results
The results are located on your desktop in a folder named
CountThingsResults.
To open the results folder, click on the green Saved button.
The results folders are structured by date: the top level folder is named by year, inside each year folder are folders by month, and inside each month folders are folders by day.
Here you'll find the CSV File with the dropdown values entered. You can then import these counting results into your database.
The photos with the counted items are located in the
ResultsPhotos folder.
If you need help, email
Support@CountThings.com and send us a few images from which you would like to count.
Make sure to send images with the highest possible resolution available to you. Do not resize the image to save space.