Re: Feature Request, Bug Data Export

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Let's see.. First a general comment on the state of the different branches=
=20
of mod_survey. Today there are two available code branches.

The stable branch ("3.2.4") is what people use. I view this as mature and=
=20
stable, apart from some minor bugs (some of which you point out in your=20
mail). If i would fix a bug report, this is the branch I would fix it in.

The development branch (no version number) contains large code updates and=
=20
feature additions. While it works technically, it is by no means ready for=
=20
production use. Further, it is in some places incompatible with the stable=
=20
branch.

The stable branch has some fundamental code structure issus which makes it=
=20
difficult to extend. In some parts, it builds on perl code as old as end=20
of the 90s. The development branch was hoped to address this, but=20
unfortunately there were not enough personel resources to make the major=20
intervention that was needed. Instead, changes were made in parts of the=20
code. This fixed some detail problems with the stable branch, but in sum=20
total, the fundamental code structure problems remain, making the code=20
very difficult to overview and maintain.

At this point in time I have a good grasp of the stable branch and know=20
its strengths and weaknesses. For the development branch, I do not feel=20
secure enough to do large interventions, since I cannot fully overview the=
=20
consequences.

All in all, the development has stalled on both branches since they suffer=
=20
from the same basic problem: Being very difficult to overview, maintain=20
and extend. Solving this problem would require more effort than what is=20
currently possible to put into an open source project maintained on a=20
hobby basis.

Now, what all this means is that when I say that basic code exists in the=
=20
development branch, then that's not really a comfort. The development=20
branch isn't likely to hit production anytime soon, and backporting the=20
changes to the stable branch will prove very difficult.

To address your points in more detail:

* Progress bar: Yes, I'm aware of this deficiency. Problem is as stated=20
above: difficult to backport working code from the development branch. It=
=20
is unlikely this will be fixed anytime soon.

* Mandatory fields. Same. This actually works in the development branch,=20
but only through the cost of having made really intrusive code changes in=
=20
the basic management of routing and branching. I am unwilling to make=20
these changes in the stable branch at the moment, since the consequences=20
are difficult to overview.

* Delimited fields: This was a new one for me. I don't have any=20
explanation for it at the moment, but I doubt it should be very tricky to=
=20
fix. I have been playing around with doing a maintainance release of the=20
stable branch for some time, and this could likely by fixed there (see=20
also list of other minor fixes below).

* Text below/under submit buttons. This is a feature which should not be=20
hard to add in the stable branch. I'll take a look at it. At the moment=20
you'd have to edit the perl code to add text there.

* SPSS export: Yes, this is a limitation in older (versions 7.5 and=20
similar) SPSS. I've let the code remain since I don't really see any point=
=20
in exporting large text fields to SPSS and since it is optional anyway.

So a summary of things that could end up in a maintainance release:

* Fix for delimited fields
* Feature addition for layout around submit buttons.
* Uniqueness checking on IP and/or cookie (stub exists, but not=20
implemented)

No promises whatsoever on when/if it will be released, but at least I'm=20
thinking about it. :-)

   // Joel


On Fri, 3 Aug 2007, Clemens Gruber wrote:

> Joel Palmius wrote:
>> And, oh.. If you have ideas and bug reports I'll be interested in
>> hearing about them no matter what happens with MATC. :-)
>
> Hi Joel,
>
> thanx for this encouragement. ;-)
>
> First I'd like to reminde the already reported bug concerning the
> progress bar
> http://article.gmane.org/gmane.comp.apache.mod-survey.general/1224
>
> You wrote:
>> But it seems something is missing in the code, it must have fallen off a=
t
>> some point.
>
> A really improvement (this is a feature request :-) for mod_survey would
> be a revision of the mandatory fields handling. I wrote this some time ag=
o:
>
>> The implementation of <CHOICE .. MUSTANSWER=3D"yes"> is a problem. You
>> get the message that an input is missing on the next page (...).
>> You have to go back (by browser
>> function) and you have to search "by hand" the missing fields. Would it
>> be possible to present the "normal" page with an additional text on top
>> "mandatory fields are empty" and a message "pleas fill out" next the
>> empty but mandatory fields? It would improve the usability for the
>> mandatory fields a lot.
>
> You wrote
> (http://article.gmane.org/gmane.comp.apache.mod-survey.general/1243)
> "initial code for it exists in the development branch"
>
> It would be great to have this function in a stable version. The lack of
> this function is the reason for using OSP instead of ModSurvey in some
> surveys where we need mandatory fields.
>
> By the last data export I noticed a minor bugs:
>
> - in the "Abgegrenzte Felder" export (I hope you know the english
> aquivalent, we have here a german installation) the option
>> Benutze [ ] als Trennzeichen.<
> with the pipe | as custom specified delimiter makes trouble, a "normal"
> delimiter like @ generates this output
>    20070621_082601_9828@-1@-1@- bitte ausw=E4hlen -@
>
> but the pipe provides this:
>    2 0 0 7 0 6 2 1 _ 0 8 2 6 0 1 _ 9 8 2 8 | - 1 | - 1 | - b i t t e a
> u s w =E4 h l e n - |
>
> Btw the SPSS option >String-Werte anfuehren (" enthaltene Werte werden
> ersetzt durch \').< would by good by the "Abgegrenzte Felder" export too.
>
> Another feature request: It would be nice to add some text next the send
> button. This does not work
>
>>      <ROUTE CONTINUE=3D"question-2-5.survey"/>
>>   <CUSTOM>{=A4footer.inc.html=A4}</CUSTOM>
>
> Is the limitation to 250 characters >Sofern nicht ausgeschloessen, sind
> MEMO-Felder enthalten, werden aber nach 250 Zeichen abgeschnitten.< on
> the SPPS export a mod_survey limitation? I guess longer stings were a
> problem of old SPSS versions, perhaps it is no problem with newer one.
> So the message could be deleted or adjusted.
>
> We use the latest stable releases 3.2.4.
>
> Kind regads.
> Clemens
>
> --=20
> Clemens Gruber (Dipl.-Psychologe)
>  Zentrum fuer Informationsmanagement und
>  virtuelle Lehre der Universitaet Osnabrueck (virtUOS)
>
> Schloss-Strasse 9, Raum E07, D-49074 Osnabrueck
>
> E-Mail:  [email protected]
> URL:     http://www.virtuos.uni-osnabrueck.de
>
> Telefon: (05 41) 969-6505 oder
>         (05 41) 969-6501 (Sekretariat)
> Fax:     (05 41) 969-16505
>
> Skickat av Clemens Gruber <[email protected]>
> till survey-discussion
>
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Skickat av Joel Palmius <[email protected]>
till survey-discussion