Askia Design Controls: using JavaScript to create enhanced data collection controls

It is possible to enhance the appearance of your CAWI questionnaires via custom JavaScript objects, known as Askia Design Controls. As well as making your questionnaires look better, they can also have a positive impact on survey response rates. Askia Design Controls are based on JavaScript, and are fully compliant with HTML 5.0. They are compatible with all devices, and include intelligent fallbacks, so that if JavaScript is not enabled on the device or browser, equivalent HTML controls are displayed instead. 

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Note: In previous versions, ADCs were based on Flash technology. ADCs now use JavaScript technology, and are more flexible and easier to work with than the old, Flash-based ones. The new, JavaScript-based controls are known as Askia Design Controls 2.0.

In this topic:

See also:

List of available Askia Design Controls

We offer a wide selection of JavaScript controls that you can use in your surveys. For a list of the currently available controls, please see the following section of the Knowledge Base: Askia Design Controls.

Customising or creating JavaScript Controls

As well as using the ADCs provided by Askia, you can customise them to suit your needs, or create your own. A tutorial on creating and editing ADCs is beyond the scope of this Assistant, but you can find the full specification of ADCs in the following support article: ADC 2.0.

If you have a Github account, you can also download further Askia Design Controls created by the Askia team and other users: Askia Design Controls on Github.
Askia provides a tool called ADX Studio that allows you to easily create Askia Design Controls.

Inserting an ADC into your questionnaire

Note: you can also have AskiaDesign generate ADCs automatically to single-coded questions, multiple-coded questions, and question grids when you generate your questionnaire's screens. See automatically generating ADCs for specific question types for details.

To insert an ADC by using the questionnaire resources:

  1. In AskiaDesign's screen mode, open the resources tab, and locate the ADC you want to use.
  2. Drag and drop the ADC into the appropriate screen of your questionnaire, and onto the response block where you want it to appear. Note that when you do this, only the ADC controls on this screen will be displayed during interviewing; normal controls will not be generated.
  3. A message appears asking if you want to create a control for this resource. Answer yes.
  4. You can change the properties of the control by right-clicking it and selecting properties.
Note: When you hover the mouse pointer over an ADC control in the resource list, a tooltip indicates the version number of the control. In addition, ADC 1.0 (the old, Flash-based controls) and ADC 2.0 (the new, JavaScript-based controls) controls are differentiated by their icons. A white ADC logo indicates that the control could not be read.
Note: If you cannot see a list of ADC controls in the resources tab, check that the scripts folder (and sub-folders for individual controls) are located in the system folder ProgramData/Askia on your computer. The location of this folder depends on the configuration of your system; please refer to your Microsoft Windows documentation for details.

Automatically generating ADCs for specific question types

When generating the screens for your survey in HTML, you can automatically associate a particular ADC to a specific question type (single, multiple or question table), and set the default properties for ADCs applied to that question type.

To assign ADCs to specific question types:

  1. In the screen generation dialog, open the design tab.
  2. In the askia design controls section, select the desired ADC for each question type (single, multiple and question tables). For each question type, you can select an ADC from the drop-down list.
  3. To set the default properties that will be used for the selected ADC, click ....
  4. The selected ADCs will automatically be generated for questions of the appropriate types.

Using an ADC library to share ADCs

You can store ADCs in a shared location (ADC library), which allows you to share them with your co-workers. When the control in the shared location is updated, this means these changes will be picked up by everyone using the library.

To specify a location as your ADC library:

  1. In the options menu, click settings. The AskiaDesign options dialog appears.
  2. In the option ADX/ADP library path, specify the path of the folder in which your shared ADCs are located.
  3. Click OK to apply your change.

To update a control in your survey, based on the version in the library:

  1. In AskiaDesign's screen mode, open the resources tab, and select the ADC you want to update.
  2. Right-click in the resources tab and select update control from library.

To update a control in your library, based on the version in your survey:

  1. In AskiaDesign's screen mode, open the resources tab, and select the ADC.
  2. Right-click in the resources tab and select update library.

Troubleshooting ADCs

If you do not see your ADC on the screen, there are several things to check:

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