In all likelihood, you have used a Likert scale (or something you’ve called a Likert scale) in a survey before. It might surprise you to learn that Likert scales are a very specific format and what you have been calling Likert may not be. Not to worry — researchers that have been doing surveys for… Read More »
HTTP Connect Tutorial: POST or GET data to/from external databases Tutorial
Available to Enterprise and Dedicated Accounts.
HTTP Connect allows you to communicate with external webpages via an HTTP POST or HTTP GET standard. The action can send data through these methods and receive data through a special display method, all without the respondent's knowledge or input.
Add HTTP Connect Action
The action can be added to any page of the project, except the first page. Selecting Add Action will present the Choose an Action Type dialogue.
HTTP Connect Settings
The connection can be sent through normal http or through a secure https URL (1). The key is choosing what content will be sent in the HTTP Connect, specified in the Fields To Post section (2). If choosing an element from the project, you will need to select it from the dropdown menu and click Add Field (3). This adds it to the list, allowing you to specify which variable name will be used (required) and, if desired, what the default value will be if the element does not contain any value.
Advanced Settings
The default method (1) is via HTTP POST as it supports larger amounts of data to be transmitted. The HTTP GET method is also available if the API or webpage requires the data via this method. The HTTP Connect occurs when the page is displayed by Default (2), though it can be triggered when they click 'Next Page' or 'Submit'. Finally, you can decide if anything will be done with the results of the webpage (3). By default, Nothing will be displayed, however you can choose to Display the basic HTML page or use it for pre-population.
Prepopulate Elements with HTTP Connect Results
This special method requires the webpage to display a query string directly as the output of the page (e.g. userid=12345&fname=Bob). This is interpreted by SurveyGizmo and can be used to prepopulate elements in the project by choosing the element, clicking Add Field, and specifying the variable name as defined in the webpage's displayed output.
Piping and Logic
Piping will repeat the HTTP Connect for each element provided in a multi-select or list question type. Run This Action When provides logic to specify a condition that must be true for the HTTP Connect to be trigger as defined above, using the Logic Builder.
Testing your HTTP Connect Action:
One of our customers was very kind to provide us with this way to test the HTTP Connect action.
Step 1: Go to the following link: http://postbin.heroku.com/
Step 2: Click on the "Create" button,
Step 3: Copy the URL in your browser once a Postbin# has been created
**PLEASE NOTE**: Do not use the link above, it is a unique link that was created for our particular instance, it will not work for you.
Step 4: Go back to your survey, and under the Create & Edit tab, copy your HTTP connect Action
Step 5: Replace the URL in the copied action with the URL you just copied from "postbin".
Step 6: Save your data, and test this out in preview.
When you take it live or in preview the survey, the data will dump out onto this page.
UPDATED: 5.15.2012
Have questions? Want to comment on this? Join the discussion on our SurveyGizmo Support site.
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