Child Forms vs Branches

In Epicollect5 there are two ways to implement nested forms: child forms (linking forms using a hierarchy structure) or branches.

While these two approaches look similar, there are some important differences.

Nothing stops you from using a combination of hierarchy (child) forms and branches on your project!

Uniqueness

When using a hierarchy structure you can choose between a form or a hierarchy uniqueness. This is not possible when using branches. The branch uniqueness will be limited only to each branch scope as the hierarchy uniqueness cannot be applied.

Nested forms

When using child forms, you can have only one child form per parent (see linking forms). Using branches, you can have multiple branches for a single form. Using branches though, you can go down only one level (it is not possible to add a branch within another branch), while child forms can have a hierarchy of maximum 5 forms.

Rendering on the mobile app

Child forms and branches are rendered differently on the mobile app.

See how to add a child entry.

Bookmarks

The mobile app bookmarks feature only works with child forms.

Downloading entries to the mobile app

Branch entries are not downloaded to the mobile app, only hierarchy entries are. Learn more.