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Many survey designers like to (or would like to be able to) design their survey first in MS Word, then copy the texts over to Authoring to build the actual survey. Up to now this has been a relatively cumbersome process, requiring constant switching from Word to Authoring and back as you copy one piece of text over at a time. The Doc2Survey functionality enables you to copy a Word document into a scratch-pad-like browser. From here you can then select the texts you wish to use for questions, answers etc. and convert them directly into a Forsta survey.
When you copy a Word document into the Doc2Survey browser, all Word formatting (layout, text highlighting such as bold and italics, tables, numbered lists and bullets etc.) is retained. The document in the browser therefore looks just like the original Word document, so it is easy for you to keep track of where you are. As you convert the text into the survey however the formatting is removed to ensure you don't carry in spurious background code that might interfere with the Authoring layouts. All text formatting within Authoring therefore remains under the control of the Authoring styles and property settings.
Doc2Survey is based on a reduced functionality Survey tree. It is available to all types of user, and requires no installation - it is not an MS Word or browser plugin.
Once you have built a Survey using the Doc2Survey functionality, the survey is a standard Forsta survey and can be edited in Survey Designer. You can switch backwards and forwards between Doc2Survey and Survey Designer at any time, so you can for example take an existing Survey and edit it in Doc2Survey.
Note that the editing and formatting possibilities in Doc2Survey are limited - you cannot for example create conditions or loops here. If you add a condition or a loop to the Survey in Survey Designer, the node will be visible in the Doc2Survey Survey Tree but you will not be able to edit it there. You will however be able to edit a question within the node. Any question types that are added to the survey in Survey Designer that are not supported by the Doc2Survey functionality will appear in the Doc2Survey Survey Tree with the text "Unsupported question type".
Predefined scales and answer lists can be created from the Word document, then used in the survey.
When you select the Designer > Doc2Survey menu item for the first time, the information page shown below opens - .
Figure 1 - The Doc2Survey information page
Once you have read the information, if you do not wish to view the page again check the box, then click Close Window. The Doc2Survey page opens.
Functionality
The Doc2Survey page comprises three panes- .
Figure 2 - The Doc2Survey page
The pane on the left is the toolbox. This contains the Survey Tree as you build it, and the Text Processing Help list. The central area is the text editing area into which you copy the text from your Word file, and can include two toolbars. The area to the right is the Question Details pane. Once you have created a question (or selected an existing question), the Question Details pane lists details such as the Question ID, Title, Text, answers etc.
Note that any text remaining in the central text editing area when you close the Doc2Survey window will be saved with the survey and will be available to any user who edits the survey.
You can use the cursor (arrow) keys on your keyboard to move the cursor around the Editing area and to select text. To select text, press and hold the Shift key while you move the cursor using the arrow keys.
Once you have some questions in the Survey Tree, you can right-click on a question to open a context menu. Here you can edit the question, insert additional questions using standard Authoring procedures, convert the question to a different type, preview it, duplicate or delete it etc.
Note that some buttons in the toolbar and some items in the right-click drop-down menu are only available when an appropriate question is selected in the Survey Tree. For example the Text and Title buttons are available when any question is selected, while the Scale button is only available when a Grid question is selected.
Toolbox
In the Toolbox pane, the Text Processing Help area shows a list of the keyboard keys you can use to create the respective questions, texts, answers etc. - This is purely to assist you; there are no buttons or links here.
Figure 3 - The Text Processing Help toolbox
For example, to create a single question, place the cursor in a word in the Editing pane, then press the S key on your keyboard; to set a word as the question ID for a question, place the cursor in the desired word in the Editing pane, then press the Q key.
Editing Modes
The Doc2Survey functionality has two modes:
The Text Processing mode, in which you can create questions, answers, question texts etc. by selecting text and pressing the appropriate key on your keyboard, by clicking on the question type in the toolbar or by the right-click menu. When you are in this mode, the secondary Editing toolbar is not available and the text "Text processing mode" is displayed in the lower-left corner of the editing pane
The Edit mode, in which you can edit the text you have copied from the Word file into the Doc2Survey page. When you are in this mode the secondary Editing toolbar is available and the text "Edit mode" is displayed in the lower-left corner of the editing pane. Any changes made to the copied-in text and saved will be remembered and will be available to any user with permission to access this survey.
Toggle the modes by clicking the Edit Text button or pressing the F2 key on your keyboard.
Methods for Creating Questions
There are several methods available to you for creating questions:
Whilst in the Text processing mode (the secondary toolbar is not visible):
- Put the cursor in the middle of a word and press the appropriate character key on your keyboard (see the list of available keys in the Text Processing Help toolbox). The question will be created using the word in which the cursor is located as the Question ID, and all the text in the row as the question text.
- Select a word and press the appropriate character key on your keyboard. The question will be created using the selected word as both the Question ID and the question text. Note that if you select more than one word, the selected text will be used as the question text, and the Question ID will be the appropriate "q" number, for example "q10".
- If you select all the text in a table and press G, the first row will be set as the scale, and the first column will be set as the answers (go to Creating a Grid Question for more information). You will then also need to go into the Question Details to add the title, text etc.
- In addition to the keyboard keys, you can also use the question buttons in the Doc2Survey primary toolbar or the right-click menu in the central text area to create the questions.
- Put the cursor in the middle of a word, right-click, and select the question type that you wish to create from the drop-down list. You can also use this "right-click" method to create Titles, Text, Instructions, Answers and Scales, or mark the selected text or row.
Whilst in the Edit mode (the secondary toolbar is visible), only the question buttons in the Doc2Survey primary toolbar, and the right-click drop-down menu, are active; you cannot now use the alphanumeric keys on your keyboard as these are now available for editing the text.
Marking Text
Click the Mark Text button to automatically give processed text a gray background - . Click the button again to switch off the functionality.
Figure 4 - Marking processed text
You can also "manually" mark text: select the text to be marked, then right-click and select Mark Selected Text from the drop-down menu. To remove marking, select the text, right-click and select Unmark Selected Text.