mod_survey

Survey question types

The following question types are defined in the survey.

likert

Answer a question on a scale of 5 points, from “completely disagree” (1) to “completely agree” (5).

long answer

An open question with a big text field.

matching

Question type which allows you to match given answers to each other.

narrative

Question type for specifying inline questions in a narrative fashion.

page break

Breaks the survey into multiple pages.

short answer

An open question with a single-lined text field. You have the option of specifying a validation like email, date, numeric.

thurstone

A multiple choice field. Like multiple choice, but more powerful. The choices are translatable, and you have the possibility to select either a single answer, multiple answers or submit the form directly when choosing an answer.

true or false

Answers a true or false question. You have the option to specify custom texts for both the options.

yes or no

Like true or false, answers a true or false question. You have the option to specify custom texts for both the options.

multiple choice

A simple multiple choice field that has the added option that the multiple choice can be a numeric value, in which case an overview of the total value will be shown in the printable list and beneath the survey pie chart. This is useful for creating forms which require you to enter an amount or quantity, e.g. for a reservation system. Multiple choice fields cannot currently be translated, use the “thurstone” question type in that case.

category

Choose a single resource from a given category as the answer to this question.

subhead

Renders a sub-heading between questions.

prompt

Renders an extra prompt block.

text block

Renders a text block between questions.

Intercepting survey submissions

When a survey is submitted, the survey module sends out a #survey_submit{} notification.

This notification has the following fields:

• id - The id of survey being submitted
• handler - A handler name (see below)
• answers - The answers that were filled in
• missing - answers that were missing
• answers_raw - Unprocessed answers, e.g. the raw submission

To intercept a survey submission you would observe this survey_submit notification, and return ok:

observe_survey_submit(#survey_submit{ id = SurveyId }, Context) ->
    ?DEBUG(SurveyId),
    ok.

Creating a custom survey handler

The survey edit page has a dropdown for so-called “survey handlers”. A survey handler is a property that is set on the resource that indicates the handler that needs to be taken. Handlers are collected using the #survey_get_handlers{} fold notification.

For instance, the following defines a handler called “email_me”:

observe_survey_get_handlers(#survey_get_handlers{}, All, Context) ->
  [
   {<<"email_me">>, ?__(<<"E-mail me when survey is submitted">>, Context)}
   | All
  ].

Each handler will show up in the dropdown list and the editor can pick which handler he wants. The value chosen is passed along in the handler property of the survey submission, and as such can be used to intercept the survey submission:

observe_survey_submit(#survey_submit{ handler = <<"email_me">>, id = SurveyId }, Context) ->
    %% Do something here for surveys which have 'email_me' selected as handler
    ok;
observe_survey_submit(#survey_submit{}, _Context) ->
    %% Let other surveys use the default submision mechanism
    undefined.

Configurations keys

In the survey result editor it is possible to link an answer to a newly created person.

The category and content group for this person can be configured via the following two keys:

• mod_survey.person_category, default to person
• mod_survey.person_content_group, defaults to default_content_group