Actions (routing instructions)

A routing instruction's action specifies the event that will be triggered by the routing instruction. Each routing instruction executes one such action (except for the run an AskiaScript action, which allows you to trigger multiple actions).

In this topic:

Action types
Target question

Action types

The available action types are:

	ACTION	Description
	Do not ask	Specifies part of the questionnaire (a question or chapter) that will not be asked if the routing condition is met.
	Only ask if	Specifically targets parts of the questionnaire which are to be asked only if the specified condition is met.
	Go to	Jumps immediately to the specified question. We recommend that you use "Do Not Ask" routing action wherever possible to skip sections of the questionnaire. This helps ensure that your questionnaire routing remains easy to understand.
	Go back to	Jumps immediately to the specified question. We recommend that you use "Do Not Ask" routing action wherever possible to skip sections of the questionnaire. This helps ensure that your questionnaire routing remains easy to understand.
	Go without saving	Terminates the current interview without saving the data, and records a specific call result code.
	Goto and mark as incomplete	This routing action is designed for screening out respondents. It jumps the respondent immediately to the specified question (or the end of the interview, if this is specified as the target). The respondent's data will be sent back to the server, but the interview will be marked as Incomplete.
	Set value	Records a specific value in the specified variable. Different values can be recorded, depending on whether the routing condition evaluates to true or false.
	Set value and hide	Records a specific value in the specified variable, and then hides the variables (so it will not be visible to the agent or respondent). Different values can be recorded, depending on whether the routing condition evaluates to true or false.
	Show message	Displays a message to the interviewer or respondent. The message can be set to "blocking": this means that the respondent will not be able to proceed until the routing instruction's condition is met.
	Run an Askia script	Runs the specified AskiaScript 2.0 script. This allows you to carry out multiple actions (e.g. setting or skipping multiple questions) with a single routing instruction. There are several keywords that may be particularly useful with this routing type, as they are equivalent to various other routing actions. For more details, see run an AskiaScript.
	Change the response order	Changes the order of the responses in the specified question, or the order of loop items within the specified loop, for the current respondent.
	Ignore responses	Ignore the specified responses in a particular variable. These responses will not be displayed to the respondent, who therefore cannot select them.
	Change order	Changes the order of questions in the questionnaire for the current respondent (so the order in which he or she will answer the questionnaire changes).
	Make question invisible	Makes one or more variables invisible during data-entry. The respondent will not be asked the invisible variables, but any data stored in the invisible variables, such as with a Set Value routing action, is retained.
	Set language	Specifies the language that will be used for the current interview.
	Set charset	Specifies the character set that will be used to display the current interview, for languages whose characters are different to those of the default Latin alphabet.
	Set current scenario	Changes the version of the questionnaire used for the current interview. The respondent will only be asked questions assigned to that particular version. This routing action was formerly known as `set current version`.
	Evaluate screen groups	Causes interviewing screens to be updated. This is useful when you need to change the screen settings mid-interview (for example, after asking if the respondent would like to use an HTML-only version of the interview).
	Send e-mail	Sends an email to a specific destination, with the specified subject line and message text.
	Start SQL query	Initiates an SQL query. This can be used to store data in an external database. You must specify the database’s DSN, and the appropriate SQL query.
	Query as a web service	Initiates a Web Service query. The query is executed in the background from the Askia server and will not be visible or apparent to the survey participant.
	Set ADX properties	(5.6.1) Use this routing to send custom properties to an ADC or ADP for a specific question type through AskiaScript.
	Start program	Starts the specified external program on the interviewer’s computer (or, for AskiaWeb projects, on the respondent’s computer).
	Start predictive dialling trigger	In a CATI project, sends a predictive dialling trigger to the telephony system.
	Start recording	In a CATI project, this begins a recording of the telephone conversation.
	Interrupt recording	In a CATI project, this stops any in-progress recording.
	Trigger a custom AJAX event	(5.5.3) Trigger an AJAX event with the corresponding content
	Mark as completed	(5.6.1) When triggered, the interview is considered as completed