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Confirmit 12 New Feature List - Confirmit Reportal
New parameter types
| Questionnaire element parameters | The existing parameter types that denote a questionnaire element in the survey have been renamed to: - Fixed questionnaire element - Free questionnaire element - Derived questionnaire element These are used to allow viewers to select which question is to be used in an aggregated or verbatim table. |
| String response | To hold a string value (typically used with the new "List" control (see below) in which the viewer can select from a list of values, for example answer alternative to be used as a filter) |
| Numeric response | To hold a numeric value (typically used with the new "Input" Control (see below) in which the viewer can set a numeric value to be used for example in a filter). |
| Date response | To hold a date value (typically used with the new "Date" control (see below) in which the viewer can set a date value to be used for example in a filter). |
| Project | To hold a project id (typically used with the new "List" control (see below) with a list of projects, so that the viewer can select a project from a list of available projects in the data source). |
| Segment | To hold a segment (typically used with the new "List" control (see below) with a list of segments, so that the viewer can select a segment from a list for example in a filter). |
New controls
| List | The List Control makes it possible to add a list with dropdown, radio buttons or check boxes for the viewer to select from. This can for example be used for presenting a list of questions for the respondent to choose from (to be used in a table), or a list of answers to select as a filter. |
| Input | The Input Control makes it possible to add an input field to the report. This allows report viewers to insert text or numbers to be used for example for filtering the report. |
| Hierarchy | The Hierarchy Control makes it possible to add a hierarchy selector to the report. This allows report viewers to make selections in the hierarchy to be used for example for filtering the report. |
| Calendar | The Calendar Control makes it possible to add a date selector to the report. This allows report viewers to set a date to be used for example for filtering the report. |
| Button | The Button Control makes it possible to add a submit button on the report page. This can be used to allow the viewer to confirm the selections made with other controls on the page, and redisplay the page or move to another page with these settings applied. |
Expression designer for filters and segments
| New expression designer for filters and segments | A new filter expression designer is introduced. The old filter tree will still be available for those who prefer to use this. Some of the advantages with the expression designer are: - More intuitive filter creation. - Allows use of parameter values in the expressions. |
Dynamic filters inside the report page
| Include filter controls inside report pages to allow viewers to set custom filters. | Custom filters for viewers have previously only be achieved by having a global "filter page". Now you can create the filters directly in the page by including one or more of the new controls (list, input, hierarchy, calendar, button), linking each of them to a parameter (to hold the viewer's selection), and creating a filter with the new filter expression designer where you refer to the parameter value(s). The filter can then be applied to the report, page or table. |
Scripting
| Scripting in Reportal | Scripting in Reportal is introduced to allow report designers to create flexible and highly customizable reporting portals with a high degree of interactivity for the viewers. With the combination of scripting and the new controls and parameters listed above, it is possible to create report portals where viewers can select which projects and questions are to be reported on, set filters, and even adjust properties on visual objects such as charts and tables. For details about the various types of scripts available in Reportal on the different objects/components, and the scripting interface towards Confirmit and Reportal entities, refer to the Confirmit Reportal 12 documentation. |
| Error frame for script errors and debugging | On preview and compilation of a report, if the report contains script errors, an error frame will appear showing a list of the errors. Each item in the list includes a link leading to the page on which the error is located. There is also a Debugging tab in the frame, which on preview will contain all debugging data. The user also has the possibility to view runtime errors in the frame. These can be script, page or component errors that occur during runtime. The list is searchable and has links which lead to the page/script/component which caused the error. |
| Script filters | Fixed filters can be set using a script in addition to using filter trees and filter expressions. |
| Role column for endusers and panelists | The Role column in maintenance screens for Reportal endusers and panelists makes it possible to set roles for different users. These can then be used in scripts by calling the user.HasRole method, to provide different options or content to different report viewers. |
| Using projects that are not in the data source in Reportal | The parameter type "Project" in Reportal allows you to use projects that are not in the datasource in Reportal. This may be desirable if you have a dynamic datasource, for example for a portal, that is to be used for new projects that are being added every day. To add a project to the report: 1. Add projects to the domain of a project parameter from the parameter domain script. 2. Grant users access to "your" (report designer's) projects. 3. Explicitely give access to projects from the report permission script. |
Gauge
| Gauge | To visualize key indicators in dashboard type reports, Gauge is provided as a new report object in Reportal. The layout of the Gauge is set up under "Styles". The Gauge type that is introduced is a "circular" gauge. It has support for several gauges within the same image. Each gauge can have one or more scales, one or more "pointers" and also any number of "ranges" to highlight parts of the scale according to targets, benchmarks etc. A range of layout settings are available to customize the look of the gauge. A gauge is placed on a report page by inserting the new Gauge component. Here you specify the gauge style and the source (one or more aggregated tables) of the values for the different pointers. Any Gauges in a report will be included in the exports from Reportal (Office (Excel/PPT) and PDF). |
Hitlist/Individual Reporting
| Single views in Reportal | Now designers can choose to add a single-view component on the same page as the hitlist, instead of using "individual record". The content of the single-view can be designed using a wysiwyg designer, allowing a more flexible and cusomizable listing of a respondent's individual responses to selected questions. |
| Searching in hitlists | Designers can now make the columns in the hitlists searchable for the viewers. You can enable/disable seraching on the hitlist level, and also on each specific element in the hitlist. |
| Exclude responseid column from hitlists | The responseid column in the hitlist can now be excluded from the hitlist. |
| Set which columns in the hitlist that should be clickable | Designers can now choose which columns are to be clickable (link) to access individual record or single-view. The Link setting is available at the hitlist level and for each element in the hitlist. |
| HitList Question Types | All question types are now supported in hitlist (except questions inside loops): System variable (Interview Start/End/Status), single, multi, multi element, open text, open numeric, numeric multi element, ranked multi element, open multi element and grid element. |
| Using question categories to control content of Individual Records in Reportal | You can now filter the questions that are to be included in the "individual record" report by question Category. The "individual record" report is the listing of a respondent's individual responses that a viewer can access through clicking in the hitlist. The question category is set in authoring in the question's property sheet. Then you can set a property on the hitlist component in Reportal to specify which question categories are to be included in the Individual Record report (comma-separated list of categories). In both places, multiple categories can be set by separating the string with semi-colon ( ; ) |
Number Formatting in aggregated tables
| Time span and currency formatting on numbers in aggregated tables | For header variables in aggregated tables, number formatting can be set to "time span" or "currency" in addition to "default" (as is). On "time span" you can specify a time unit (days, hours, minutes, seconds or milliseconds). If you choose for example seconds, the numeric value 69 will be shown as 00:01:09 (1 minute and 9 seconds). On currency you can include a currency symbol in the table, for example $. Excel exports will be given the number formatting set in Reportal. |
Viewer Presentation
| Allow viewers to create multiple folders in the Viewer Presentation | The Viewer Presentation Control that can be included in reports to allow users to save report pages with filter/parameter settings, is now extended with support for multiple folders. The viewer can now: |
HTML styles
| Use HTML styles from Survey Layouts in Reportal | In addition to the report-specific HTML styles (CSS), it is now possible to link a report to a survey layout and use the HTML styles from the survey layout. This is done in the report menu: Set Survey Layout. The styles will be available in style dropdowns in the WYSIWYG designer, and in all the property sheets that has HTML style settings. |
Performance/Scalability
| Bitstream Indexes | Bitstream indexes makes allow you to index the bitstream files on particular questions. This will make the calculations in Reportal run faster when tables are filtered on these questions. Only the system variables interview_start, interview_end and status and single and multi questions in the project can be indexed. If there is a loop in the project, no bitstream indexes can be made. To set the questions that are to be indexed, select "Bitstream Indexes" from the Reporting menu whilst inside a project. |
| Support for multiple BitStream servers | With support for running multiple BitStream servers on a Confirmit server installation, it will now be easier to scale out with increased Reportal/Rapid Results/Community Panel usage, as well as having redundancy on read/write from BitStream files. |
| "Force new file set" when updating BitStream files | After the first creation of BitStream files, Confirmit will create incremental files with records changed/added since the last generation. When the number of such files gets too large (config setting), the system will automatically create a completely new fileset. In addition it will be possible to force a generation of new files with the "Force new files" setting on the "Create Reportal BitStream Files" page. |
| Simplified interface for reexecuting BitStream file generation | After the fist creation of BitStream files, the "Create Reportal BitStream Files" page will have two buttons: One to edit the task and one to update files. |
Formulas
| New constants in Aggregated table formula expressions | The constant TCOL can be used to refer to offset (column number) of the total column of a horizontal distribution. The constant TROW can be used to refer to the offset (row number) of the total row of a vertical distribution. If no total row or column can such can be found, these constants return -1. |
Exports
| Export Administration | Report designers can now specify on a report which exports are to be available to viewers (Excel, Powerpoint and/or PDF). They can also specify the default export format and default export scope (entire report/current page). |
| Custom front page in PPT exports | A PowerPoint template can have any number of front pages. In report properties, the property "PowerPoint Template Frontpages" specifies how many of the pages in the template (if any) are to appear as front pages in PowerPoint exports of this report. For example, if the number of front pages is set to 1 this means that when making PowerPoint exports from this report, the first page in the template will appear as the frontpage, then the exported data will appear, and if the template contains more than 1 page, these would appear in the end of the PowerPoint presentation. |
| Disable compression of report export files | A report setting controls whether or not Report exports will be zipped. Some companies do not allow emails with zipped attachments, and this setting gives the user the option of turning off compression for export files. |
Security
| Enforce https | The setting "Always Use HTTPS" on an end user list will enforce https for Reportal endusers belonging to the list. |
Parameter selector/Active Filter Summary
| Wrap text | The parameter selector and the active filter summary will now wrap text, instead of being sized according to the longest text. |