How To Use Question Variable Names in a Script

Overview

When scripting you often use functions which reference questions. These functions require you to specify the question index however using question indexes can make your script difficult to understand and maintain and in some cases can also be dangerous unless using QRef which again makes the code even more harder to understand. Therefore we’ve introduced the ability to reference questions using their Variable Names instead.

Step 1: Check that the feature is turned on for your survey

• Make sure that the “Disable question symbols” option is not checked:
  • 
• If it is checked, uncheck it. 

Step 2: Using the variable names in your survey script

Reference the question variable names in your script wherever a question index is expected.

• The engine will define the question variables as internal variables that you can use.
• For example, if we have a question called “Q_Gender”:
  • 
• Add an Entrance Rule to Q7.
  • Ask this question only if the answer to the gender question was 1 (male):

Answer(Q_Gender) == 1

As we start typing “Q_Ge”, the auto-complete displays the Q_Gender variable that we can reference:

Instead of referencing the question by its numeric index (1), we referenced it by its variable name (Q_Gender). This makes the script easier to read and understand.

Another advantage is that the variable name remains unchanged even if the question is moved within the survey (from index 1 to 13 for example) because the variable name always points to the correct question.