After creating your script (or editing an existing script) you'll be presented with the script editor. This will allow you to modify your script settings, and also set up your script questions. Script questions will each correspond to a single screen on a mobile device that your canvassers will cycle through.
To get started, click the Script Questions tab. In our example, when we created this script we checked the "populate commonly used data fields" option, so we already have a contact info form loaded, along with the fields within it. More on these fields later.
You'll notice the display order column to the left. The display order is how the device knows in which order to display the questions. It will run through each question, then look for the next highest number to display. As you create your questions, you'll give each one a display order. The numbers do not need to be sequential, we actually recommend leaving space between them so if you need to reorder them you can do so easily without reordering every question in your script. For example, number them 10, 20, 30, 40, etc.
To add a question, click New next to any existing question.
Next, you'll be presented with the question editor.
Question title: this will appear at the top of the screen, and acts as a title for the question being asked.
Question text: this is the actual text of the question being asked.
Variable name: this is how the questions response will be stored in our database. 99% of the time you don't need to change this, and you can leave the default value. There's a couple scenarios where you might need to, we'll go over these later.
Display order: as mentioned above, this is how the script will know the order in which to move through the questions.
Restrictions: restrictions allow you to specify criteria that must be met in order to display (or not display) this question. You can set four types of restrictions:
Subject other: if your data upload contains information you'd like to use to display specific information to specific targets, you'll use a subject other restriction. For example, if your walklist has a header called "Party" which is populated with the subject's registered party, you can create a few possible options to show them based on their party. Here's what this would look like for a subject with the value "Dem" in their party field:
Question: allows you to show this question based on the answer of a previous question. The dropdown will populate with all the other questions in your script, and you can pick which response you'd like met to display this question. In this example, we had a previous question asking the subject their gender:
Subject: allows you to restrict based off the subject's contact information. This works the same as "subject other" above, but we're just looking at any of this information:
Product: a product restriction allows you to restrict the question based on a previously selected product, such as a one time, weekly, monthly, or annual donation.
Once you've set up your restriction, click Add, and it will be added to the question.
You can have multiple restrictions in a question, and by using the AND/OR setting, you can require that they are ALL met in order for the question to appear, or it will appear if ANY of them are met.
Required: if this box is checked, the canvasser must answer this question in order to proceed.
Magic: the magic setting is used if the question is hidden in the normal flow of the script, and instead will be used elsewhere. One example of this which we'll cover below is the Email question type. It can be used standalone to ask for an email address, but if it is marked magic, it will appear only on the contact info form. The other fields automatically added to a script for the contact info form are also considered magic, even though they don't have the magic checkbox marked. They are hardcoded magic in the system. Another example of magic questions is when you want to include them on a Screen, also covered below.
Active: choose whether or not this question is active in the script. If you uncheck this box, the question will not appear or be available for use elsewhere. Deactivating a question is a good way to temporarily hide it if you're not sure if you'll need it again, as opposed to deleting it entirely.
Enable Tally: if you want to track the number of responses you get in a standard question for display inside the app, check this box. Click here for more information on setting up a Tally.
Next question: choose the question that should appear after this one. If you do not make a selection, the next question in the display order will be presented. This allows you to override that order if you want to jump to a different place in your script.
Question Types
Once you've set up the other aspects of your question, you can choose what type of question it is. This will be determined by what kind of information you plan on collecting or displaying.
Standard: collect a single answer from several options.
Single line: allow the user to enter text in response to the question on a single line.
Multi line: works the same as single line, but gives the user more room to type a longer response.
Email: collect an email address. If you want this to appear on your contact info screen, give it the title "Email" and the variable name $EMAIL, and mark it magic.
Signature: allow the user to sign with their finger on the device.
Picture: take a picture with the tablet, which will be associated with this survey and available for download along with your reports.
Calendar: display a calendar on the tablet, either for checking availability or to schedule an appointment in the future.
Donation: display the payment screen to collect money. Click here to learn how to set up payments in your script.
Queue card: display any HTML in your script. Typically used to present a block of text for the canvasser to read, but you can include any HTML elements you like.
Check box: a single line of text with a check box. This is typically used as a magic question as part of a Screen or contact info form.
Contact info: presents a screen to confirm or collect contact information. Automatically created when checking the "populate commonly used data fields" box when making a script.
PDF: display a PDF in your app, which can be filled out in-app with text and signatures as well. Click here for more information about including a PDF in your app.
Screen: combine multiple questions onto the tablet screen at once. Click here to learn how to set up a screen.
Nearest Location: use this in conjunction with an uploaded list of locations to determine which is closest to your subject, or your current GPS location. Useful for polling places, nearest businesses, and more.
YesNo: creates a simple question with Yes and No as possible responses.
MarketingMaterials: display your marketing materials in a question, in addition to being available elsewhere in the script.
Language: creates a question which will allow the user to select which language to use for the script when multiple are available. The user can always switch language from the app menu, this will allow another way to switch.
Updating your script
After you've set up your question, be sure to click Update at the top right to save the question, then click Update Script at the bottom of the script editor to save your changes to the script.
