SurveyPress
[boilerplate post = "download" xxsvnxx = "http://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/wp-survey.1.4.0.zip" xxratexx="http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-survey/"]
SurveyPress is a tool that helps you create your surveys for your WordPress Blog. You supply you own forms and it takes care of all the rest, such as collecting the data. Surveys cay easily be downloaded from your site into your favourite spreadsheet package.
Requirements
- A basic knowledge of creating forms in HTML
[boilerplatepost = "InstallingAWordPressPlugin"]
[boilerplate post ="TandS"]
Options
The Survey Data
As the surveys are completed, the data is attached as meta data to the post or page that the survey is on. This is done to integrate the survey data with the post or page, which allows you to backup or export your site without having to select any extra tables.
The Exported Data
The results are exported in the CSV file format, This can be easily imported into almost any spreadsheet or database. Along with the fields from you survey there a a number of other fields that are added to the file for information purposes. These are :
- ip
- Purpose: The ip address other the person who filled out the survey.
- HTTP_REFERER
- Purpose: The page that referred the user to the survey.
- form_page
- Purpose: The tittle of the post or page the survey is on.
- form_page_url
- Purpose: The address of the post or page the survey is on.
Version History
- 1.0.0
- Initial internal release.
- 1.1.0
- Corrected problems with radio buttons on forms
- Added once attribute
- Added time-out attribute
- Added antispam
- 1.2.0
- Added action for use with templates
- 1.3.0
- Updated Libraries
- 1.4.0
- Improved form loading. Added configure screen, added direct download.
[boilerplate post = "PluginFoot" xxratexx="http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-survey/"]
Comments (page 1 of 3)
May 29, 2008 11:08 pm |
Nice work. I have one issue, though: is there a way to modify the plugin such that it allows the same person to take the survey repeatedly. I plan to use it to solicit feedback for different pages.
May 30, 2008 9:38 am |
If the same template is used for a different page, it will act as a different survey, each on which can be filled out once, the results will also be separate.
Also there is a feature that is not documented as it is going to part of a future feature, but if you add the attribute
once = “no”
this will allow the same survey to be filled out more than once.
When it is fully implemented it should still work the same, but will have a time-out feature that will only let the survey be used once in a given period, this is the part that will appear in the next version.
May 30, 2008 4:57 pm |
Thanks – I changed once to ‘no’ and that’ll work for me (I’m calling the survey from several pages, so what you’re describing isn’t going to make a difference for me.
I ran into a bigger issue, though: if I use radio buttons to solicit feedback, the button status is not reported correctly in the survey data. The corresponding value in the CSV file is either blank (if I don’t assign default values to the individual buttons) or it only reports the last button (eg, if I have three buttons and each is assigned a value, the CSV field remains blank if I click buttons 1 or 2, otherwise it shows the value of 3). This means I can’t use radio buttons at all. Any thoughts?
May 30, 2008 5:10 pm |
Radio button are odd in how they operate and pass values.
As a stop gap you could use a select box.
May 30, 2008 6:26 pm |
The radio button problem has been fixed in version 1.1.0
May 30, 2008 7:13 pm |
I wanted to check with you to see if this plugin would work for the following:
could your plugin be used to serve persistent/permanent surveys on individual posts? I would like to ask users to submit a keyword suggestion for each of several hundred individual posts so that I could track and report the suggestions (and the number of times each keyword was suggested). Then I would like to be able to search or sort posts by suggested keyword, and rank based on the frequency of suggestion. Reports could be shown in a number of ways (list, array, cloud, etc.).
Thanks
May 30, 2008 7:25 pm |
Nice work. I will try it next weeks.
May 30, 2008 7:29 pm |
The plugin only supplies data collection, it allows you to export the data, it does not do anything with it.
May 30, 2008 9:43 pm |
I installed this plug-in and created a form, but I cannot find the results after clicking the Save button on the Manage Surveys page. The notes above say something about a Results folder, but I cannot locate that. Please help.
May 30, 2008 11:29 pm |
To get to the results after you have saved then. You can get to them in a number of ways.
You can click on the date, in the results column, this might display in the browser, but depending on you browser they should be a way to save this file to disk.
You can also go directly to the results folder.
This is located in the folder where the plugin has been uploaded to.
something like
{your site path}/wp-content/plugins/wp-survey/results
May 30, 2008 11:38 pm |
Radio buttons now work like a charm. Thanks a bunch! This is now a really useful plugin.
Jun 2, 2008 8:56 pm |
Love the plug-in but am having a hard time implementing it on a theme template, i.e. can I call a function with parameters from page.php and have the survey embedded?
Jun 2, 2008 9:53 pm |
There is no way to do that at the moment.
You do not need to make a template to use the survey.
Just add [survey template="example"] or whatever you like to the page content it it will be inserted automatically.
Or are you saying that it isn’t working like that for you?
Jun 2, 2008 11:19 pm |
Oh, it works for me like that, but I want to force the survey onto all WP “Pages” by modifying the page.php file in my theme, so it’s not in the page content itself, but a part of the theme. THanks for your quick reply, btw!
Jun 3, 2008 9:06 am |
Sorry but that’s not possible at the moment.
I’ll try to add it within the next couple of days.
Jun 3, 2008 5:36 pm |
Version 1.2.0 , now does what you need. Check out the instruction for more details.
Jun 4, 2008 12:48 am |
DCoda, You Rock!
Jun 4, 2008 1:54 am |
One other note: since the ZIP package didn’t contain a “results” folder, in order to Save my CSV file I had to first create the empty “wp-content/plugins/wp-survey/results/” folder before clicking Save.
FYI, we are using your plugin for each of our conference sessions evaluations this year! Thanks again.
Jun 4, 2008 8:48 am |
Its, part of the project but must get removed because its empty. I’ll add a dummy file.
Thanks for the info.
Jun 18, 2008 6:24 am |
I like the plugin but I find it somehow hard to style. And WHY did you include inline styles in the documents? It only makes the site harder to validate and the forms harder to style. Where can i Change the dotted-border thingy?
Jun 18, 2008 9:32 am |
Some things where made in-line to protect them from being unpredictable altered by the theme, or where they need to be dynamic, there is very little in-line styling in the latest version however.
There should be no dotted borders in the form, I’ve just double checked this against the projects and there is no reference to a dotted anything in there.
Could this be the affects of you theme?
Where is the border showing up?
What version of the plug-in are you using?
Jun 18, 2008 12:03 pm |
I found out the problem about the border, Worpdress added some funky border. But I get some validation errors after installing the plugin, you know what this is?
Jun 18, 2008 12:08 pm |
What do you mean by validation errors?
Do you meant CSS or HTML?
Can you let me know what they are?
Jun 18, 2008 2:43 pm |
http://validator.w3.org/check?verbose=1&uri=http%3A%2F%2Folafg.se%2Fdev%2Fwp%2F
You can see it there
Jun 18, 2008 2:52 pm |
The some validation errors that seem to be caused are by the script that prevents premature submission of the survey. This doesn’t seem to affect its operation though. I’ll see if it can be made more acceptable to the validation program.
The other validation problems, do not seem to have anything to do with the plug-in.
Jun 18, 2008 3:20 pm |
Oh, ok. Is there anyway to reset the CSV-file? I cant find the file on my FTP, but when I enter the link that is listed in WP it is no problem
Jun 18, 2008 4:21 pm |
How do you mean reset the CSV file?
You can re-export the data to CSV file if that is what you mean.
If you mean reset the survey data back to empty, that cannot be done easily at present, but is planed for inclusion. To do it now, attach the survey to a new post
The file should be in the home directory of the plug-in under results. If it wasn’t able to create it here it would not create it at all.
Not sure on what OS you are using but in your browser you can ‘right click’ and select ’save as’ to export the csv file.
Jul 2, 2008 3:59 pm |
Hello DCoda and thank you for your free and flexible survey. it the most convenient I’ve found on the web.
I’d like to have further info about your last comment. I tried to browse the mysql database of wordpress and did find the survey entry…but not the way you check whether a user has already filled it or not!!
Could you give me some clue about it in order I can reset the stuff?
Thanks by advance.
Jul 2, 2008 4:18 pm |
@JM: The survey data is attached to the posts’ in the custom fields.
You can get to this when you edit the survey post.
To reset the survey you can delete all custom fields. An easier method would be to copy the survey to a new post, this would also have the advantage of keeping the original survey.
The already filled check is done by way of a cookie on the users machine.
Jul 2, 2008 4:33 pm |
Thanks for this quick answer!! It works perfectly
Jul 29, 2008 10:37 am |
Thanks again for your plugin!
Now I use wp_survey for a big survey (60 questions, 5 possible answers each) and I can automatically process the answers with the csv file. Much relief
One comment though, on IE 6, I get a strange behaviour.
Some closing tags are added in the rendered html page, I get a </p> after avery <input> entry, as if the code was trying to fix something which isn’t needed.
In Mozilla Firefox I don’t get such unecessary added code (which I prefer).
Is it part of the parser or am I missing something in my procedure…?
Jul 29, 2008 10:51 am |
Answer to myself
: appearently, adding a </input> at the end of each <input> entry in the form.html template file fixes the issue though it is normally not needed by standard html.
Jul 30, 2008 7:54 pm |
@JB: I’m Not much of a IE user myself so I’ve not really run it to problems with it.
you say that inserting a </input> solves the problems.
Do you put a / at the end of your input tabs like so?
<input name=”fred” />
This is a new standard of html for single tags, though most browsers seem to let people get away with
<input name=”fred” >
which was the old way.
Aug 4, 2008 3:57 am |
I’ve installed the plugin and activated it, but when I go to Settings>Surveys I get the error below, any ideas?
Fatal error: Cannot loadClass(‘contact_survey_dashboard’) as file contact/survey/dashboard
Searching Path:
/hsphere/local/home/kennedy/staging.gurtle.com/ppov/wp-content/plugins/wp-survey
/hsphere/local/home/kennedy/staging.gurtle.com/ppov/wp-content/plugins/wp-survey/library
and Sub folders:
classes
Searched for:
/hsphere/local/home/kennedy/staging.gurtle.com/ppov/wp-content/plugins/wp-survey/classes/contact/survey/dashboard/base.php
/hsphere/local/home/kennedy/staging.gurtle.com/ppov/wp-content/plugins/wp-survey/library/classes/contact/survey/dashboard/base.php
in /hsphere/local/home/kennedy/staging.gurtle.com/ppov/wp-content/plugins/wp-survey/library/classes/base.php on line 152
Aug 4, 2008 9:48 am |
@pat: There seems to be a problem with the dashboard, I’ll look into and post a solution as soon as possible.
Aug 6, 2008 12:38 am |
yeah, I seem to be having this same problem.
Aug 6, 2008 5:00 pm |
This has been address in the next release. Work Permitting it should be release with the next week.
Aug 6, 2008 10:44 pm |
wow, that’s awesome and extremely helpful. Thanks !
Aug 7, 2008 7:06 pm |
hi. Thanks for plugin
perfect.
Regards
Aug 8, 2008 8:45 pm |
is there a special way I supposed to be doing check boxes ? It seems to default to the wrong value every time, and wont submit multiple values. Any clarification would be greatly appreciated.
example…
Question 2
How do you like spam cooked
<label> <input type=”checkbox” name=”question2″ value=”raw” /> raw</label>
<label> <input type=”checkbox” name=”question2″ value=”fried” /> fried</label>
<label> <input type=”checkbox” name=”question2″ value=”boiled” /> boiled</label>
Aug 8, 2008 9:08 pm |
checkboxes are tricky in that they don’t sent a value if nothing is check at all. THis has been taken into account.
Your problem however is a new one, multiples.
if you could post the template you are using to
fri2106@dcoda.co.uk i’ll see what can be done to work around any quirks.
Aug 10, 2008 6:58 pm |
@Wade- The problem lies in the way PHP deals with forms, in that it assigns the passed data to an array. This has the consequence of not allowing you to have the fields with the same name.
To get around the problem it is recommended that you add a number to each of the checkboxs where you are using multiple values.
eg.
<label> <input type=”checkbox” name=”question2_1? value=”raw” /> raw</label>
<label> <input type=”checkbox” name=”question2_2? value=”fried” /> fried</label>
<label> <input type=”checkbox” name=”question2_3? value=”boiled” /> boiled</label>
I hope this isn’t an inconvenience.
Aug 12, 2008 4:38 am |
thanks so much this solves the problem I was having.
Aug 13, 2008 8:01 pm |
First, Congratulations for such a work.
Question : If I submit the page without filling the form, it answer thank you (The right answer from the right page ) but I fill it with name, address and so, it answered : Sorry, but you are looking for something that isn’t here. What am I missing ?
Is there anyway to show the results of the others votes in the bottom on the page after the submit Button ?
Thanks again for all you have done !
Aug 13, 2008 8:46 pm |
@Jean Bergeron-
On the subject of the submission, this is very strange. It should be submitting to the same page regardless or what you fill in. Is this with example form? Do this happen for any value you enter? If you could send a link to the problem page I could take a look to see if I could spot anything odd.
On the subject of results, at present thisis just a data collection tools it doesn’t show results in any form, they need to be exported and used elsewhere.
Aug 13, 2008 8:52 pm |
Wow,
You answered so fast. For the first issue, Here is the link : http://www.vivianisvirtual.ca/survey-sondage/
For the second one, I created a directory results, but nothing shows inside. From the back-end, it downloads it on my machine. Where are the data stocked ?
TIA
Aug 13, 2008 9:13 pm |
I was just on-line, and I hate to see things not work.
Canadian eh! My answer would be Banff
As to the problem, the errors is coming from WordPress, all I can think is some of the form variable are interfering with WordPress Form variables, this is just a hypothesis, if you could try to change the field names an see what happens. I’ll see if I can replicate the problem on my test machine.
As to the results, they are no longer downloaded into the results directory. they can be directly downloaded from the surveypress options screen. As to where there are actually store, they are attached to the survey post as meta data.
Aug 13, 2008 9:40 pm |
Having done a local test, it would see that the field name “name” classes with a posted parameter that WordPress is using.
For now use a different field name, we will look into a permanent solution.
Aug 13, 2008 10:48 pm |
Well, Banff is a very nice destination. If you try Montreal let me know
.
Thanks, I change the word name to nom (It usufull to speak French) and everything works fine, now.
As Vivian wants the results on the bottom of the page, I will continue my quest to find a solution for her. She’s so nice and I’m unable to say her no.
Aug 13, 2008 10:55 pm |
If you have no luck let us know. We do do custom plugins.
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