import_data

import data is a widget which allows survey programmers to define and populate variables with data. These are not survey variables, and they do not exist in the data. These variables exist in programming only and are used to facilitate survey function.

Syntax

Use import data to name a variable, and then assign a value to it. The value may be a hash or a hashref, and as such accepts fetch_cell and fetch_row. Multiple variables may be defined.

# Define
import_data: (variablename => value)

# Reference
$variablename

# With fetch_row
import_data: ( hrefname => fetch_row( name => 'sheetname', row => row id ) )

# Or fetch_cell
import_data: ( variablename => fetch_cell( name => 'sheetname', row => row id, column => col id ) )

Tags

Example

import data is most useful when requirements are complex, and programming is aided by being able to access data stored outside of the survey code, such as in a sheet. Conjoint programming makes use of import data, and there are other applications as well.

Suppose a survey requires that a list of price ranges for a product display on screen for the respondent. There are 40 values within in each, and the exact set of ranges that display are based on inputs to earlier questions. Finally, suppose that there are 200 (or 2,000, or 20,000...) different ranges that could potentially be displayed. There is no utility to having this data take up space within the survey source, nor appear in the data set. In this case, we'll store it all in a spreadsheet and use import data to access ranges.

The import data tag defines the variable rangetext, the value of which is the relevant row from the sheet priceranges. We use this data to build an unordered HTML list, where each value is a given column from the priceranges sheet.

1. Please select the smallest amount you've spent on this product:
type: radio
0. $0
1. $1
2. $2
3. $3
4. $4
5. $5
6. $6
7. $7
8. $8
9. $9

1A. Please select the largest amount you've spent on this product:
type: radio
1. $1
2. $2
3. $3
4. $4
5. $5
6. $6
7. $7
8. $8
9. $9
 
RESP. Respondent Type
type: text
invisible: y
cvalue: {"1" . $Q1 . $Q1A}

newpage

import_data: ( rangetext  => fetch_row( name => 'priceranges', row => $QRESP ) )

<ul>
	<li>$[* $rangetext ->{range1}  *]</li>
	<li>$[* $rangetext ->{range2}  *]</li>
	<li>$[* $rangetext ->{range3}  *]</li>
	<li>$[* $rangetext ->{range4}  *]</li>
	<li>$[* $rangetext ->{range5}  *]</li>
	<li>$[* $rangetext ->{range6}  *]</li>
	<li>$[* $rangetext ->{range7}  *]</li>
	<li>$[* $rangetext ->{range8}  *]</li>
	<li>$[* $rangetext ->{range9}  *]</li>
	<li>$[* $rangetext ->{range10} *]</li>
	<li>$[* $rangetext ->{range11} *]</li>
	<li>$[* $rangetext ->{range12} *]</li>
	<li>$[* $rangetext ->{range13} *]</li>
	<li>$[* $rangetext ->{range14} *]</li>
	<li>$[* $rangetext ->{range15} *]</li>
	<li>$[* $rangetext ->{range16} *]</li>
...etc