8.8.17 Enhancements

Below is the list of enhancements by program for version 8.8.17

Click Here to go to the Release Notes/Bug Fixes for Version 8.8

SURVENT

New Special question sub-type RESUSPEND 

There us a new Special question sub-type  !SPECIAL, RESUSPEND that can be used in the Resume block to cause an attempted resumed interview to be resuspended.  This is useful for web Surveys where you want to ask a secondary security question in the resume block before the survey is actually resumed to provide a higher level of security compliance.  The command causes the interview to resuspend as though it was never resumed in the first place when the end of the resume block is hit.  If no new phone status is set, it defaults to a status 904.

EX:

{!Special,Resuspend }

New Numeric question sub-type GET_FROM_HTML_VARIABLE

There us a new Numeric question sub-type  !NUMERIC,GET_FROM_HTML_VARIABLE  (short hand is H) which will create a hidden variable on the web page that then can be filled in with a JavaScript similar to how the !VAR, GET_FROM_HTML_VARIABLE (short-hand is  H)  works.  The differences with this new option is that the data will be stored right justified so that it looks like numeric data and the auxiliary files (specifically the .def) can be created with more useful categories .  The example below would set up a hidden variable called store_numdata and would expect numeric data with a value from 0 to 10.

{Store_NumData:
!Numeric,get_from_html_variable,,0-10 }

The HTML_RADIO_BUTTONS and HTML_CHECK_BOXES compiler directives are now runtime.

The !HMTL_RADIO_BUTTONS and !HTML_CHECK_BOXES compiler directives have been changed from compile time directives to run-time directives.  This should simplify the programming on web Surveys which may be done either on a computer or a mobile device.   You can program  most questions a single time and then get a different display depending upon the device that is used to administer the survey.  The example below would set up the survey to use radio buttons or a check box for surveys done on a computer when the list is 25 or less otherwise it would use a drop down.  If the survey is done on a mobile device it would always use a drop down.

EX:

{!If device(m)
!HTML_RADIO_BUTTONS=1}
{!if device(c)
!HTML_RADIO_BUTTONS=25 }
{!If device(m)
!HTML_CHECK_BOXES=1}
{!if device(c)
!HTML_CHECK_BOXES=25 }

The HTML PREFIX/SUFFIX compiler directives can now be multiple lines. 

The HMTL compiler directives that allow you to put text before or after the question elements on a page now support multiple lines. This allows for more complex programming to be included in them or you can just organize the code better to be more understandable.  If you have similar questions in various parts of the survey you can define the HTML blocks once and just reference them as needed.   Also, you can get more usable auxiliary files to be used for data processing (.DEF, .DB, and .RFT).

EX:

STUDY SERVER/SUPERVISOR

There is a new PARMFILE keyword “Allowed_IP_Addresses” which allows you to restrict what IP addresses the Study Server will accept messages from.

The PARMFILE keyword “Allowed_IP_Addresses” now allows you to set up a “white list” of IP Addresses and/or server names that the study server will accept messages from.  If it gets a message from a system not on the list, it will reject the message and record the incident in the log files.  If you don’t use the option,  the study server will accept messages from any IP address/system name as it always has.   Note the “local host” is still allowed by default, unless you use the keyword NO_LOCAL_HOST.   This is not meant to be a replacement for firewall rules, but just another way to augment them and protect the study server from an attack.

EX:

Allowed_IP_Address:  123.456.789.012, 111.222.333.444, mymachine.mydomain.com,yourmachine.yourdomain.com

The Supervisor notifications that are run when an event occurs (Tell_All_Bosses, Blow files, etc) are now all stored in the ${CFMC}control sub-directory.

Previously some of the Supervisor notifications were stored in the ${CFMC}control sub-directory while others were stored in the %{CFMC}cfg sub-directory.  This was both confusing and could lead to permissions issues if the Supervisor “user” did not have permissions in the ${CFMC}cfg sub-directory.  All of the scripts that were being called out of the ${CFMC}cfg are now called out of the ${CFMC}control sub-directory.  If you had customized any of the files in ${CFMC}cfg you will have to copy/move those to the ${CFMC}control directory.

DIALER

There is a new CDIPARMS keyword “Allowed_IP_Addresses” which allows you to restrict what IP addresses the “CDI” will accept messages from.

The CDIPARMS keyword “Allowed_IP_Addresses” now allows you to set up a “white list” of IP Addresses and/or server names that the cdi will accept messages from.  If it gets a message from a system not on the list, it will reject the message and record the incident in the log files.  If you don’t use the option,  the cdi will accept messages from any IP address/system name as it always has.   Note the “local host” is still allowed by default, unless you use the keyword NO_LOCAL_HOST.   This is not meant to be a replacement for firewall rules, but just another way to augment them and protect the cdi from an attack.

EX:

Allowed_IP_Address:  123.456.789.012, 111.222.333.444, mymachine.mydomain.com,yourmachine.yourdomain.com

There is now an installer that only installs the CDI.

There is now an installer that only installs he CDI program.  This allows you to install the CDI on any machine you want:  the one with the study server on it, the one with Asterisk on it, or even a third stand alone machine.

CONSOLE

The Composer now supports marking response codes as CATI only.

The Composer in the SURVOX CONSOLE now allows you to mark response codes as CATI only.   This allows you to put answers like Don’t Know or Refused in the list so that interviewers can choose those answers if a respondent responds that way, but you do not allow web respondents that choice.

The Composer now supports the creation of a “slider” question.

The Composer in the SURVOX CONSOLE now allows you to create a “slider” question which automatically creates the JavaScript code to create the slider and the accompanying NUMERIC,GET_FROM_HTML_VARIABLE question to store the result from the JavaScript.

BETA RELEASES

BETA RELEASE OF CAPI-SURVENT
CAPI-Survent is still under a BETA release, but several improvements have been made based on initial feedback.  Contact us if you would like to be a beta tester for the Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing component of Survent.  This allows you to do interviewing in places that may not have reliable Internet access like a convention hall, subway station, etc.
BETA RELEASE OF INTEGRATION BETWEEN AN EMAIL PROGRAM AND THE PHONE SYSTEM
This integration is still under a BETA release, but several improvements have been made based on initial feedback.  Contact us if you would like to be a beta tester for a new integration that allows you to update phone files with status codes that have been gotten from an email program such as whether or not the email was opened or it bounced, etc.
BETA RELEASE OF WINDOWS MENTOR FOR VERSION 8.8.
Contact us if you would like to be a beta tester for the new version of Windows Mentor that was previously only available in version 8.6.2
BETA RELEASE OF THE DIALER BASED ON ASTERISK 16.
Contact us if you would like to be a beta tester for the new version of the dialer that is based on the latest version of Asterisk.   There are a couple of new features available mostly having to do with security, but this version now only provides a more stable environment, but also will allow for many new enhancements in the future.