Advanced WI Features

The properties available on this tab depend on the type of question selected.

Note: In Version 18, "advanced WI features" such as sliders, drag'n'drop ranking and answer buttons are no longer supported on Internet Explorer 6 or 7, Firefox versions below 10, Chrome versions below 26, Safari on Mac below 5.1 and any version of Safari on Windows. For survey respondents using these older browsers the default fallback rendering will be used for these question types.

Advanced WI Features are not supported in Opera browsers.

Important
Custom client-side code added into the JavaScript tab (go to JavaScript for more information) is treated as Advanced WI code. If a respondent accesses a survey containing such code via a browser that does not support Advanced WI Features (see Note above), then the custom JavaScript code will not run.

• Searchable answer list - [Multi, only with Optimized Database format] Check this box to enable respondents to search in answer lists for the desired answers (go to Searchable Answer Lists (Searchable Multis) for more information).
• Answer buttons - [Single, Multi, Grid, Multi Grid] when “Answer buttons” is enabled, respondents will be presented with a question interface where the answer options are clickable, labeled buttons instead of radio-buttons/check-boxes. This can be enabled for an entire survey by selecting “Answer Buttons” in Survey Settings. It can also be enabled (“On”) or disabled (“Off”) for specific questions through a question property. The property by default is set to “Inherit”, which means it will be controlled by the Survey Settings.

Note: When using Answer buttons, Capture Order is not supported (go to General for more information).

• Button images – [Single, Multi, Grid if "Use Images in Answers" (see below) is not selected] Allows you to specify images to be used instead of the standard radio buttons or checkboxes. Note that the type of question you have created, for example Single or Multi, specifies whether the images will replace radio buttons or checkboxes. Note also that these images may also be defined globally from the Survey Settings > Layout page. For the Button images field, three options are available:

• Global Images – a default value. The image URLs that are specified on the Survey Settings > Layout page will be used (see above).
• No Images – this setting overrides the setting from the Survey Settings > Layout page. Regular radio buttons and checkboxes will now be used for this question irrespective of the settings in Global button images (see above).
• Custom Images – this setting overrides the setting from the Survey Settings > Layout page, and allows you to specify image URLs for this specific question. When you select this option, additional input fields become available to enable you to input the URLs to the desired images (see below).

• Image URLs – These fields appear only when Custom Images is selected. Enter the URLs of the images you wish to be used instead of the standard radio buttons and .

• Default – this image will be displayed when the mouse pointer is not over the image area and an answer alternative is not selected.
• MouseOver – this image will be displayed when the respondent points the mouse at the button image.
• Selected – this image will be displayed once the respondent has selected an answer alternative.
• Width, Height – define the width and height of the images, in pixels.

Note: To ensure that any images used here are always available, you are recommended to store the images in the File Library (go to File Library Overview for more information).

• Auto-check Other – [Single, Multi] The Other-Specify answer alternative will be selected automatically when the respondent starts entering text in the textbox. The feature:

1. Automatically switches on the radio button/checkbox when the respondent types text in the other-specify field
2. Automatically switches off the radio button/checkbox when the respondent clears the text from the other-specify field
3. Saves the text of the other-specify field when the respondent switches off the radio button/checkbox, displaying the text again when the radio button/checkbox is re-activated

• Vertical Scrollbar – [Grid, 3D-Grid] This feature will enable the respondent to scroll long grids without loosing sight of the column headers.
• Off – Default. The feature is turned off.
• Automatic – Authoring will automatically assign an appropriate height to the grid and the scrollbar is active if necessary.
• Fixed – This enables the survey author to specify the height of the grid in pixels and the scrollbar is active if necessary.
• Horizontal Scrollbar – [Grid, 3D-Grid] This feature will enable the respondent to scroll wide grids.
• Off – Default. The feature is turned off.
• Automatic – Authoring will automatically assign an appropriate width to the grid and the scrollbar is active if necessary.
• Fixed – This enables the survey author to specify the width of the grid in pixels and the scrollbar is active if necessary.
• Slider – [Single, Numeric, Numeric List, Grid - supports touch devices] This feature allows respondents to click and drag a slider bar and drop it on the answer alternative of choice, instead of selecting radio buttons (go to Slider for more information). When you select this option, you can then customize the look of the slider in the Question Inputs control in the Question Skin (go to About Question Skins for more information). Note that for Numeric and Numeric List questions, the Slider option only becomes available once Upper and Lower limits have been defined in the Question Properties (go to General for more information). Selecting this option prevents the other options in Advanced WI Features being used. Additional slider-related selections become available:
• Slider Color - [Single, Grid] appears when Slider above is selected. Allows you to select a color for the slider rows. Type a color code into the field or double-click on the color marker and select a color from the dialog box.
• Size - [Numeric, Numeric List] sets the size (width or height as appropriate) of the slider bar.
• Vertical - [Numeric, Numeric List] check to display the slider bar vertically.

Note: For a Single question which is set to Slider, the slider will be displayed vertically by default. To change the slider to horizontal, go to the Single question’s General tab (go to General for more information) and set the List rows property to 1.

• Card Sort - [Grid - supports touch devices] activates the Card Sort functionality. The answers to the question are then presented as a deck of playing cards, with the scale being represented by a series of areas. The respondent answers the question by moving the cards into the appropriate area (go to Card Sort for more information). The various styles for the cards and drop areas are set up in the Question Skins > Grid Question > Question Form Input properties pane (go to About Question Skins for more information). Selecting this option prevents the other options in Advanced WI Features being used. Additional card-sort-related selections then become available:
• Card Offset - the offset for the stack of "unused" cards.
• Card Dropped Offset - the offset for the cards once they have been dropped onto the "answer" areas.
• Card Layout - specifies where the card deck is located relative to the answer areas. For example, Top-Bottom places the deck at the top of the page and the answer areas at the bottom.
• Use Images in Answers - [Single, Multi, Grid, depending on other selections] Check this box to use images for the answer options, instead of buttons or selection boxes. Checking this box opens two further options:
• Image Width - Specify the width of the image used.
• Image Height - Specify the height of the image used.

Note: Use Images in Answers will not display a scale label for grid and multi grid questions in Mobile rendering as these question types will be split up into single or multi questions. If you use "Global button images" in Survey Settings then both images and labels will be displayed on desktop rendering, and on mobile rendering only the label will be displayed (Global button images are not supported on mobile).

• Auto Scale Width - [Grid] check this box if you want the scales of the grid to be adjusted automatically to the same width. The width adopted will be that of the widest scale label.
• Star rating - [Grid] select to display star shapes instead of a grid (go to Star Rating for more information).

Note: For Star Rating and Grid Bars - due to space limitations, for mobile rendering a maximum of 11 stars/boxes will be displayed. If more than 11 options are used in the grid, then when the question is displayed on a mobile unit it will default to normal mobile grid rendering.

• Grid Bars - [Grid - supports touch devices] check this box to change the answer layout from a tabular format to grid bars (go to Grid Bars for more information).
• Exclude non-weighted elements from bars - this enables you to "exclude" specific scale elements from the grid bars for easier identification. If this box is unchecked, when the respondent hovers over or selects a scale element in the grid bar, all elements in the grid bar up to and including the selected item will be given the appropriate color. When this box is checked, if a scale element has no score, then when the respondent hovers over or selects that element in the grid bar, only that element will be colored. When the respondent hovers over or selects any other element in the grid bar, all the elements up to and including the selected item will be colored except the element with no score. This enables you to for example highlight a "Don't know" element in the scale.
• Carousel - [Grid] check this box to change the answer layout from a tabular format to Carousel format (go to Carousel for more information).
• Horizontal rating scale - [Single, Grid] check this box to present the answer options as a horizontal rating scale (go to Horizontal Rating Scale for more information).
• Resizable mode - [Open, Date, Open Text List - supports touch devices] you can allow the text fields to be automatically or manually resized while the respondent is typing text if the amount of text typed is greater that the current area will allow. The options are:
• Off - resizing of the field is not allowed, the text field will remain at the specified size. In the event the respondent writes more text than can be displayed within the field, vertical scroll bars will be activated.
• Auto and manual - in the event the respondent writes more text than can be displayed within the field, the height of the field will automatically be increased so the text can be viewed. In addition, grab-points are displayed so the respondent can resize the field as desired. Vertical scroll bars will be activated if required.
• Auto - in the event the respondent writes more text than can be displayed within the field, the height of the field will automatically be increased so the text can be viewed. Vertical scroll bars will not be activated.
• Manual - the text field has resize grab-points such that in the event the respondent writes more text than can be displayed within the field, he/she can adjust the height and width of the field manually so the text can be viewed. Vertical scroll bars will be activated if required.
• Auto sum – [Numeric List] this feature will automatically total the answers in a numeric list question. Note that with the Auto Sum property set, the numbers in the text boxes will be right-aligned regardless of the alignment in the HTML style setting for the input. The symbol displayed against this total field is by default the = sign. The default can be changed if desired; go to the Survey Messages page and change the "Auto sum equals sign" item (go to Editing a Survey Message for more information). To change the sigh for just one question, see Total Label below.
• Total label - the text entered here will override the “Auto sum equals sign” survey message text for just this question. The field can contain piped-in text to allow for dynamic content.
• Formatting Assistance - [Numeric, Numeric List] check this box if you want the numerical answers to be formatted with the thousand separator and decimal symbol added automatically. The characters used will be dependent on the respondent's language standards. For example, if the question requires a numerical answer comprising 9 digits, 2 of which are decimals, it will be displayed as 1,234,567.89 (total digits and decimal places are specified on the General tab). Use the minus (-) character for negative numbers.
• Drag-n-Drop ranking – [Ranked - not supported on mobiles/tablets] enables drag-and-drop functionality for Ranked questions (go to Drag-n-Drop Ranking for more information). Note that if a Maximum or Equal value is specified for the question, only the allowed number of drop locations will be displayed.
• Rank by click - when this option is selected, the answers will be displayed as answer buttons. When an answer is selected, its rank order will appear on the left side of the answer button (go to Rank By Click for more information).

Note: Sliders are not supported for RTL (Right-To-Left) languages. Respondents viewing surveys in RTL languages will see the standard survey interface.

Note: “Advanced WI features” such as sliders, autosums etc. are supported in IE8+ (Windows), Firefox 10+, Google Chrome 26+ and Safari 5.1+ on Mac, and "Dynamic Questions" is also supported on Safari 2 for Mac. Respondents using other browsers will see the standard Forsta survey interface, with "normal" radio buttons.