Difference between revisions of "SurveyCTO Programming"

Jump to: navigation, search
Line 1: Line 1:
There are two common ways to program your questionnaire in SurveyCTO. Either by using the form builder or by write your code in an Excel Sheet. The form builder is useful for the absolute beginner and when you need to make a quick edit in a form already uploaded to the server. However, the complexity of a typical DIME survey, makes all projects sooner or later switching to coding in Excel.  
There are two common ways to program your questionnaire in SurveyCTO. Either by using the form builder or by writing your code in an Excel Sheet. The form builder is useful for the absolute beginner and also when you need to make a quick edit in a form already uploaded to the server. However, the complexity of a typical DIME survey makes all projects sooner or later switch to coding in Excel.  


As the questionnaire grew bigger, even the best coder loose the overview over the questionnaire. This is the most significant advantage of coding in Excel. While it is possibly to push through and keep using the form building. However, the data sets from questionnaires not finalized in Excel tend to be less well structured and more cumbersome to work with.  
As a questionnaire grows bigger, even the best coder lose the overview over the questionnaire. This is the most significant advantage of coding in Excel. While it is possibly to push through and keep using the form builder, data sets from questionnaires not finalized in Excel tend to be less well structured and more cumbersome to work with.  


We do not object towards starting programming in the form builder, but we strongly recommend that the questionnaire is at least reviewed in Excel. Experienced coder tend to skip the form builder part altogether, apart from making a quick update to a form already uploaded to the server.
We do not object towards starting programming in the form builder, but we strongly recommend that the questionnaire is at least reviewed in Excel. Experienced coders tend to skip the form builder part altogether, apart from making a quick update to a form already uploaded to the server.


= Read First =
= Read First =


*It is easy to switch back and forth between the form builder and the Excel method. Therefore, one way to transition into coding in Excel might be to create something in the form builder that can be downloaded and inspected in Excel format.
*It is easy to switch back and forth between the form builder and the Excel method. Therefore, one way to transition into coding in Excel might be to create something in the form builder that can be downloaded and inspected in Excel format.
*While it is easier for a beginner to start in the form builder, we strongly recommend you to swithc over to the Excel Method as soon as possible, as you will have to do that eventually unless your questionnaire is very small.
*While it is easier for a beginner to start in the form builder, we strongly recommend you to switch over to the Excel Method as soon as possible, as you will have to do that eventually unless your questionnaire is very short.


= Form Builder =
= Form Builder =

Revision as of 19:33, 17 January 2017

There are two common ways to program your questionnaire in SurveyCTO. Either by using the form builder or by writing your code in an Excel Sheet. The form builder is useful for the absolute beginner and also when you need to make a quick edit in a form already uploaded to the server. However, the complexity of a typical DIME survey makes all projects sooner or later switch to coding in Excel.

As a questionnaire grows bigger, even the best coder lose the overview over the questionnaire. This is the most significant advantage of coding in Excel. While it is possibly to push through and keep using the form builder, data sets from questionnaires not finalized in Excel tend to be less well structured and more cumbersome to work with.

We do not object towards starting programming in the form builder, but we strongly recommend that the questionnaire is at least reviewed in Excel. Experienced coders tend to skip the form builder part altogether, apart from making a quick update to a form already uploaded to the server.

Read First

  • It is easy to switch back and forth between the form builder and the Excel method. Therefore, one way to transition into coding in Excel might be to create something in the form builder that can be downloaded and inspected in Excel format.
  • While it is easier for a beginner to start in the form builder, we strongly recommend you to switch over to the Excel Method as soon as possible, as you will have to do that eventually unless your questionnaire is very short.

Form Builder

The form builder is a feature that SurveyCTO provides on their servers. You access it by going to the Design tab and click on any form that already exist. After clicking the form a menu appears below it. Click edit and this questionnaire will be opened in the form builder. If you do not already have a form you want to edit, then click start new right at the top of the section Your Forms. After you have filled in the forms and generated your questionnaire, you can click edit online and it will open your new questionnaire in the form builder.

Programming in Excel

Back to parent article

This article is a part of the chapter Questionnaire Programming.

See also

Further Reading