How to Make a Truck Inspection App

How to Build an inspection app

We’ll start by creating a Google Form and use

AppSheet to turn it into an app with mobile features

Capture Locations

Add your own branding

Capture Signatures

Capture bar-codes

Capture locations

Add your own branding

Capture Signatures

Capture bar-codes



Capture locations

Add your branding

Capture Signatures

Capture bar-codes



Capture locations

Add your branding

Capture signatures

Capture bar-codes



We’ll build it in three steps and without writing any code.

1. Set up your Google Form and prepare the response sheet.

2. Click LAUNCH. The app will be created automatically

and now you can customize it.

3. Share and install the app on Android, iOS, or Web.

Let’s get started!

1. Set up your Google Form and prepare the response sheet.

Set up your questions in Google Forms and modify types as needed.

For simple text questions, use the “Text” Question Type.

Create page breaks in your app by adding a section header or page break in the form.

The header text and descriptions will be used as page titles in the app

To automatically capture the time of the day in the app, use the word “Time” in your question and select “Time” as the Question Type.

For drop-down menus, select the “Choose from a list” Question Type and include your options.

Yes/No or Ok/Not OK answers are useful in inspection apps. Make as many as you need.

Use “Paragraph text” to add longer text answers in the app. This is useful to get additional notes or remarks.

You can trigger a picture option in your app by adding a question with the word “Picture” in it. Leave Question Type as text.

This app will require a signature by the driver. Simply add a question with the word “Signature” and “Text” Question Type.

We also want to use GPS location to pinpoint the place of the inspection. Set a question with the word “Location” to update in the App Editor.

We also want to scan bar codes using the smartphone camera. Set a question to indicate the behavior; we’ll change the behavior in the editor.

Once the form is ready, launch the AppSheet add-on to prepare your response sheet and launch the app.

Click PREPARE. AppSheet will annotate your question types in the response sheet.

After a few seconds, the LAUNCH button will turn green.

2. Click LAUNCH. The app will be created automatically

and now you can customize it.

Clicking LAUNCH will take you to the App Editor.

You can add and customize features for your app in the App Editor.

By the way, the app is already live! Check it out in the left emulator window.

Most of the fields are automatically generated: picture, signature, drop down menus, etc.

But some still need some tweaking in the editor. Location and Asset Tag need some changes.

To change the behavior of a specific question, go to the Advanced Editor.

In the Advanced Editor, navigate to 1: Data Column Structure to see a list with all the fields in your app.

Go to “Truck Location” and click the edit button next to it.

You can change the behavior of “Truck Location” in this menu.

Go to Field Type and select LatLong. This type will enable GPS features in your phone and automatically add the current location.

After you make the selection, click OK.

PRO TIP:Make the question in the Google Form “Geolocation” with a Text type and AppSheet will automatically add LatLong.

For the Trailer Asset Tag field, pick ScanText. This will turn the phone camera into a barcode reader!

Once you make your changes, click Save to refresh the app with the new features.

You can see that the two questions now reflect the added features.

You can now go back to the Basic Editor to continue customizing the app.

Go to the UX tab to change the app icon, launch image, and background.

The image should be in your Google Drive. Use the directory to pick it.

AppSheet will update the images and icons in your app.

You can change the color theme as well.

Once the app is ready, you can share it with others and install it on your phone.

3. Share and install the app on Android, iOS, or Web.

Click on Share/Install to send an install link via email to the intended app users.

Add the email addresses to send the app to your colleagues. You can repeat this process as many times as needed.

Users will follow the instructions in the email to install the app onto their phones.

Once AppSheet is installed on the phone, use the install link to add a shortcut to the app.

The shortcut will be installed onto the home screen. If you changed the app icon, the shortcut will have that icon.

Now the app is on the phone. It only takes minutes and there are no app store delays!

The app users can now start sending inspection information using the app. The data syncs back to your response sheet in Google Drive.

Signatures and images taken in the app are synced back to your Google Drive. The path to gets added to your spreadsheet.

That’s it! The app is live and deployed to all users. Let’s start thinking about the next one!

Tips & Tricks:

Tips & Tricks:

• Avoid using the Scale type question with only two ranges you’ll get a Google Forms error

• Avoid changing the order of your questions after you prepare the appIf you change the order after you click “prepare”, create a new response sheet in Google Forms

• Create multiple apps connected to the same spreadsheetUse the copy function in My Apps to create a new version of the app and tweak it for a different type of user

• Change the font size and type in the advanced editor.Go to Advanced Editor UX Style

Learn more on www.appsheet.com

How to Make a Truck Inspection App

Small Business & Entrepreneurship

Transcript of How to Make a Truck Inspection App