LimeSurvey Manual - User contributions [en]

Development proposal: Conditions

2009-06-25T20:57:42Z

Amit:

__TOC__

=Conditions Screen Mock-ups=

The first mock-ups of the conditions designer are presented here. Please let us know of any improvements which you may want to see. Please leave your comments below.

==Add New Conditions==

To add a new condition like:

(Which laptop do you want to buy? = Thinkpad)

AND

(Which laptop were you using? = Thinkpad)

The screen will be similar to the following one:

[[File:addNewCondition1.png]]

==Show All Conditions==

All the conditions will be visible like this one:

[[File:showAllConditions.png]]

==Copy Conditions==

Conditions can be re-used and the screen will be similar to the following one:

[[File:copyConditions.png]]

Now the condition can be edited and re-used.

==Edit Conditions==

The edit conditions screen will be similar to this one:

[[File:editConditions.png]]

==All conditions after edit==

[[File:showAllConditionsOnCopy1.png]]

GSOC09 conditions project

2009-06-25T20:31:53Z

Amit:

__TOC__

=Introduction=

Welcome to Google Summer of Code 2009 "Conditions" Project Page. This project page will be used and maintained over the summers to show the status and progress of the Conditions project.

=Project Proposal=

'''Title:''' Implement Condition Handling into LimeSurvey 2

'''Abstract:''' Condition handling is one of the powerful features in LimeSurvey 1.x which LimeSurvey users will love to see in LimeSurvey 2. Conditions let the user to display only those questions if certain conditions are met. This helps user to better design their surveys and gives flexibility to the survey takers to enter only the data required to be entered by them.

'''Content:'''

'''1: Please complete the following information:'''

(if you can't answer any, enter 'none')

Your Name: Amit Kumar

Your Email: amit8(DOT)88(AT)gmail(DOT)com

Your IM and user id (): ie: Skype, amit8_88, irc: amit8-88, AIM: amit8(DOT)88(AT)gmail(DOT)com

'''2: Please detail your project proposal'''

As discussed with the mentors, I plan to implement condition handling in LimeSurvey 2. The conditions in LimeSurvey will be implemented with a different design model than the one used in LimeSurvey 1. My aim would be to take care of the limitations and workarounds in LimeSurvey 1 while designing conditions for LimeSurvey 2.

Following Issues will be kept in mind while designing conditions for LimeSurvey 2:
# Conditions will be made as modular as possible in LS2 so that it can be easily extended to be used on more powerful features like conditions on sums on previous answers.
# Enable flexibility to add meta operators.
# Tightly integrate conditions in question handling.
# Have a check for mandatory questions so that users do not get message to answer a question that has not been displayed.
# Implement conditions on both server side as well as client side, using jQuery for client side.
# Design two modes of GUI for Conditions handling, one for simple users, second for advanced users.

'''Future Plans:'''

*Implement User-defined functions

*Implement Conditions on tokens, quotas, assessments

*Fix bugs and provide support to the LimeSurvey Community

'''3: How will LimeSurvey benefit from your proposal?'''

Condition Handling in LimeSurvey 2 will help users create better survey models by exploiting better and enhanced conditions model in LimeSurvey 2.

This project will give a platform to the conditions handling upon which many powerful features (see Future Plans)can be implemented during and post GSoC.

I am sure, LimeSurvey Community will enjoy these features and benefit from my efforts.

'''4: Please detail milestones and deliverables for your proposal:'''

The '''deliverables''' of the project include:

* Screen Mockups : Two modes, one for simple users and advanced mode for advanced users. The surveygizmo page skipping screenshot 2 can be of much help.

* Design and produce UML for a generic design so that other features can be easily implemented in future.

* Produce a generic condition designer implemented in LimeSurvey 2.

* Document the code for future reference.

'''Milestones'''

10 May - Produce Screen Mock-ups

27 May - Produce UML and Use Case Diagrams

6 July- Finish Implementation of Simple Conditions and fill Mid-term evaluation

6 August- Finish Implementation of Complex Conditions

10 August - Produce System documentation

17 August - Submit Final Evaluations

I have divided my summer into three time-frames and I will work accordingly. The Roadmap of how I plan to do the project is as follows:

'''First Trimester (20 April- 22 May)'''

* Learn how questions are implemented in LimeSurvey 2.

* Learn the principles of UI

* Create Screen Mock-ups for both simple users as well as advanced users.

* Brush up jQuery and cakephp concepts

* Start work on Conditions system flow and UML

* Document the progress and present a weekly report to the mentor.

'''Second Trimester (23 May - 6 July)'''

* Finish-up the UML design and seek advice/comment/suggestions from the mentor and other developers. Keep Design issues in mind while designing.

* Create conditions designer screen

* Implement the simple conditions based on the design

* Test the conditions

* Document the progress and present a weekly report to the mentor.

'''Third Trimester (7 July - 10 August)'''

* Implement complex conditions (meta operators) based on the design.

* Test the conditions.

* Document the progress and present a weekly report to the mentor.

* Start implementing conditions on user defined- functions.

'''5: What Open Source Development Experience do you have?'''

I started using Open Source Softwares three years back but I actually started contributing a year back when I showed my interest in becoming a LimeSurvey developer. I worked on the i18n and l10n of LimeSurvey 2.

I also test [http://syslinux.zytor.com/wiki/index.php/The_Syslinux_Project the syslinux project] in my free time.

Apart from Open Source Development, I spread the love for FOSS and motivate people to

* Use FOSS tools

* Use LimeSurvey for data gathering and survey taking

* Install and Use Linux

* Teach them coding under Linux environment especially C and PHP

'''6: Other coding, work or related experience:'''

I know PHP, Cakephp, mySql which is required for this project in LimeSurvey 2. I am a beginner to jQuery which is very nice javascript library and is easy to learn and powerful to implement.

'''Experience:'''

* Summer Internship at BlueWhale Labs - Developed a dashboard to help the project managers track current the status of the projects. It was developed in PHP, mySql in 2007

* Customized PHPSurveyor: Integrated score management system into PHPSurveyor in 2006

'''7: Academic Experience:'''

I am a full time student at APIIT SD INDIA affiliated to Stafford Shire University, UK . I am pursuing B.E Hons in Computing. Currently I am in 8th semester and in about 20-25 days, I will be a graduate. I learnt a lot being at college and had fun.

I have worked on following projects at my college:

* Linux Live CD Kiosk for taking Quizzes/Information Providing - developing the live cd from scratch as an individual project. Using shell scripts, isolinux and customized kernel for Live cd and PHP/mySql for Quiz / Information providing. It is a eight month project (August 2008-April 2009)

* Online Banking System - Developed in PHP, MySql as an individual project. It was two months project (Jan 2008- March 2008)

* An online DVD/CD rental web application - Developed in PHP, mySql as a group project. It was a two month project (Jan 2008- March 2008)

* Disaster Management System (inspired by Sahana)- Developed in ASP, MS ACCESS as a group project. It was a two month project (August 2006-October 2006)

Apart from these projects and languages I have also gained knowledge in Project Management skills, soft skills which I believe is very helpful while working in a team.

'''8: Why have you chosen LimeSurvey?'''

I have been using LimeSurvey for the last three years and I understand the codebase very well. I believe LimeSurvey is a great survey taking tool and I want to use my skills in making LimeSurvey 2 a wonderful experience to the users.

'''9: Personal Availability'''

My university exams end on April 26 and I am available after that for the whole summer. So I have enough time to invest on LimeSurvey this summer. I have seen the Important Dates and timeline on the GSoC website and can confirm my availability to it.

'''10: References'''

*LimeSurvey Documentation on Setting Conditions at http://docs.limesurvey.org/tiki-index.php?page=Setting+conditions

*Surveygizmo Screenshot on Page Skipping at http://www.surveygizmo.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/editor_page_logic_big.png

=Action Plan=

TBD

=Notes=

The notes for the Conditions Project are taken at [[Development proposal: Conditions|Condtions Notes Page]]

=More Information=

==LimeSurvey Google Summer of Code 2009==
*[http://docs.limesurvey.org/tiki-index.php?page=Limesurvey+GSoC+2009 Limesurvey GSoC 2009]

An introduction to LimeSurvey and our application for this years Google Summer of Code

==Other Project Pages==
*[[UserPage macduy|Mac Duy Hai]] (macduy)- [[GSOC09 dashboard project]]
*[[UserPage dqminh|Dao Quang Minh]] (dqminh)- [[GSOC09 statistics project]]
*[[UserPage honglianglv|Hongliang Lv]] (honglianglv) - LSOC09[[Web Service Project]]

=Comments On Conditions Project=

Your valuable comments/suggestions are welcome here:

Conditions is indeed one of the most important features of LS. In my opinion, LS2 could be a great opportunity to not only duplicate the existing LS 1.x conditions feature, but also to improve it. With that in mind, let me suggest that the new conditions feature in LS2 should handle random assignment.

In experimental research, participants are randomly assigned to conditions. In the limesurvey framework, this means that two (or more) versions of a question exist, and each participant is randomly assigned to view only one of them. I am currently implementing this in LS 1.x by 1) creating a hidden question, 2) using javascript to randomly generate a condition number 3) setting the value of the hidden question on the condition number, and 3) setting conditions on the question versions so they are only displayed for the corresponding condition. Please please please bake this into LS2!

Thanks for reading,

Ista

Writing GSoC application

2009-03-16T19:34:37Z

Amit:

__TOC__

=HOWTO : Write GSoC Application=

We want you to take GSoC Application very seriously as your application will tell us how much understanding you have gained about the project and your idea and are you ready to work on it.

We will like, you spend '''enough time''' on your application. Read on the references below to know what we expect. Choose any application template from there and create your GSoC proposal. It will be nice if you review your proposal several times before submitting it on the web app.

To make things easier for you, we have provided you with a template. You are not forced to follow this template but we want you to at least cover these points in your application.

==LimeSurvey Template==

'''<center>Note: Its not a template actually. But a bunch of very important things we will like to see in your application. You are free to use any template but make sure you give emphasis on the following points.</center>'''

'''Please complete the following information'''

Your Name:

Your Email:

Your IM and user id (): ie: Skype, Jasebo (Skype is preferred)

'''Please detail your project proposal'''

Describe your idea. We cannot judge you if you do not explain what you are going to do and how. If you do not explain the idea, it might reflect you are not serious and your application is liable to be rejected by our mentors.

'''How will LimeSurvey benefit from your proposal?'''

Expain what LimeSurvey Community will gain by accepting your proposal.

'''Please detail milestones and deliverables for your proposal:'''

Milestones and deliverables are points or stages during the project that can be used to check that appropriate progress is being made. A milestone may be a point where certain functionality is available. Milestones or deliverables have to be measurable and explicit, so there has to be something you can show to indicate that a milestone or deliverable has been attained. If your proposal is successful, we will pursue milestones and deliverables more with you, but we need an indication initially of what the key milestones are in your opinion.

'''What Open Source Development Experience do you have?'''

Please let us know of any experience you have with Open Source projects, whether that be large coding projects, bug reports or tiny bug fixes.

'''Other coding, work or related experience:'''

Let us know any other experience or skills you have that are related to our project, your proposal and your capacity to achieve the goals you've set out.

'''Academic Experience:'''

Please detail what you are studying at your higher education institution that is relevant to our project and your proposal. Let us know you're going with it.

'''Why have you chosen LimeSurvey?'''

Let us know why you chose to apply for GSoC with LimeSurvey.

'''More?'''

You want to let us know more about you and your application? Sure, you are welcome but please do not make your application too big.

==References & Further Reading==
*[http://code.google.com/p/google-summer-of-code/wiki/AdviceforStudents Advice for Google Summer of Code Students] from GSoC page
* [http://drupal.org/node/59037 HOWTO: Write a Summer of Code application] from Drupal.
* Excellent Article on [http://weblogs.mozillazine.org/gerv/archives/2006/05/how_not_to_apply_for_summer_of.html How Not to Apply to GSoC]
*MySql's [http://forge.mysql.com/wiki/SummerOfCode/ApplicationTemplate Application Template]
*[http://shlang.com/writing/soc2005.html How To Write the best Application in the Pile]

==More Information==

===LimeSurvey Google Summer of Code 2009===
*[http://docs.limesurvey.org/tiki-index.php?page=Limesurvey+GSoC+2009 Limesurvey GSoC 2009]

An introduction to LimeSurvey and our application for this years Google Summer of Code

===Project Ideas Page===
*[http://docs.limesurvey.org/tiki-index.php?page=LimeSurvey+2+Project+Ideas+for+GSOC+2009 GSoC Ideas Page]

The LimeSurvey Community Ideas Page:

- ideas that the community have come up with and would love to help you create

===Getting Started===
*[http://docs.limesurvey.org/tiki-index.php?page=GSoC_Getting_Started GSoC Getting Started]

How to Get Started With LimeSurvey:

- setting up the development environment, coding standards, and all the other important stuff that you need to know before the real fun begins!

===Frequently Asked Questions===
* [http://socghop.appspot.com/document/show/program/google/gsoc2009/faqs Google Summer of Code Faqs]
* [http://docs.limesurvey.org/tiki-index.php?page=GSoC_Faqs LimeSurvey's GSoC Faqs]

GSoC FAQ

2009-03-14T20:57:00Z

Amit:

__TOC__

=Frequently Asked Questions=

==I do not know CakePHP. Is that a problem?==

Not knowing [http://www.cakephp.org CakePHP] is not a problem if you are able to code with PHP. But expect some additional time to work yourself into the CakePHP framework (2-3 weeks). If you want to take up on a task and have never worked with CakePHP then now is the time to start getting familiar with it. The more you know, the easier and more fun it will be to do things in CakePHP!

==I do not know jQuery. Is that a problem?==

[http://www.jquery.com jQuery] is a Javascript framework and if you know a little about Javascript it is very easy to learn and use! Expect about 3-4 days of additional time to get yourself familiar with it.

==What kind of ideas you are looking for?==

LimeSurvey 2 is a rebuilding of LimeSurvey from the ground up. We're looking for key functionalities (as you will see if you look through the [http://docs.limesurvey.org/tiki-index.php?page=LimeSurvey+2+Project+Ideas+for+GSOC+2009&saved;_msg=y ideas page]), but we're also wanting LimeSurvey 2 to be innovative, daring and groundbreaking. The [http://docs.limesurvey.org/tiki-index.php?page=LimeSurvey+2+Project+Ideas+for+GSOC+2009&saved;_msg=y ideas page] is where our preferences are listed. But we're open to your ideas too. Go on, surprise and amaze us!

==How many hours would I need to work for LimeSurvey per week?==

During the community bonding period we'd expect students to spend a couple of hours per week getting to know the development team, playing around with our code and learning a bit about the community.

Once you've commencd the project then obviously a greater amount of time would be needed. The amount of time you spend each week will depend on the work you're doing and how much needs to be done to meet your various milestones. While we don't want to prescribe the number of hours you work, let's just say you can't do this, and hold down another job. You are a student, aren't you? [http://code.google.com/opensource/gsoc/2009/faqs.html#0_1_student_time_4542307971424_26897233126028375 Google Says This About Time for Students]

==How many students are you going to accept?==

We'll be accepting as many students as the available slots allocated to us by Google. Some students may also be selected as "backups" in case initial students are unable to complete their proposals. These backup students won't be eligible for funding unless the initially chosen students drop out. Students who drop out may not receive their funding.

==I have THIS idea I am interested in. Is it already taken?==

Make your proposal using the Google GSoC Form. Discuss it with us in the [http://www.limesurvey.org/component/option,com_fireboard/Itemid,105/func,view/catid,11/id,24710/lang,en/ forum] and on IRC. We'll be assessing them all at once so none will be `taken' before student applications close.

==I am new to LimeSurvey code base. Can you help me start?==

Have a look through our wiki and follow the "Getting Started" information to setup your development environment. Then get onto the LimeSurvey IRC channel and start asking questions :-)

==I am not a student but want to help LimeSurvey through GSoC. Is this possible?==

In order to be eligible for Google's Summer of Code, you HAVE to be a student. [http://code.google.com/opensource/gsoc/2009/faqs.html#0_1_student_eligibility_168297_04942995566279251 Who's Eligible to be a Student?]

==I want to be a student for LimeSurvey. What should I do?==

Have a look at our GSoC pages, and the ideas page. Get to know the project. Think of some ideas. [http://code.google.com/opensource/gsoc/2009/faqs.html#0_1_student_apply_143998159595_029492810429935346 Then apply]!

==I am interested in mentoring. How can I mentor for LimeSurvey?==

We also accept new mentors - requirements for mentoring would be extensive in-depth knowledge of the LimeSurvey software, close contact to the development lead and close cooperation with the existing mentors to make the best of it!

== Can you help me prepare my proposal?==

Sure, we will be glad to discuss your proposal with you - so that when you prepare your proposal it matches our common future vision for LimeSurvey - and gets you a nice task to work on!

==I did not discuss my idea with you. Do I have less chance for being selected?==

It would be great if you can discuss your ideas in advance. We generally have to find out if an idea fits the general way we laid out for the LimeSurvey application in the future. Discussing with us is a great way to make sure your idea gets the proper attention it deserves for you having it!

==Is it necessary to fix some bugs for being selected?==

No, it is not necessary. We'd love it if you could though :-)

=More Information=

==LimeSurvey Google Summer of Code 2009==
*[http://docs.limesurvey.org/tiki-index.php?page=Limesurvey+GSoC+2009 Limesurvey GSoC 2009]

An introduction to LimeSurvey and our application for this years Google Summer of Code

==Getting Started==
*[http://docs.limesurvey.org/tiki-index.php?page=GSoC_Getting_Started GSoC Getting Started]

How to Get Started With LimeSurvey:

- setting up the development environment, coding standards, and all the other important stuff that you need to know before the real fun begins!

==Project Ideas Page==
*[http://docs.limesurvey.org/tiki-index.php?page=LimeSurvey+2+Project+Ideas+for+GSOC+2009 GSoC Ideas Page]

The LimeSurvey Community Ideas Page:

- ideas that the community have come up with and would love to help you create

==Frequently Asked Questions==
* [http://socghop.appspot.com/document/show/program/google/gsoc2009/faqs Google Summer of Code Faqs]