Mendix Mini Surveys

Last modified: January 18, 2024

1 Introduction

After you have created a mini survey in the Developer Portal, use the Mendix Mini Surveys module to implement your mini survey in Studio Pro.

2 Installation

To import this module into your app, follow the instructions in Using Marketplace Content.

3 Configuration

  1. Open your app in Studio Pro.

  2. In App Explorer, go to Marketplace modules > AppInsights_MiniSurvey > _SETUP.

  3. Open the Set API Key & mode folder and do the following:

    1. Set the constant APIKEY_APPINSIGHTS to the API key that you obtained.
    2. (Optional) Configure the constant TEST_MODE. If this is turned on, the survey will always show.
    3. Save the changes.

  4. Open the Put Survey Widget On Template folder, and place Template_SurveyWidget on the page where you would like the mini survey to appear. Mendix recommends placing only one widget inside the primary layout page.

  5. Configure how the mini survey will appear, either on-action or on-page load:

    • For the on-action option:

      1. Open the Show Survey folder, then copy the ShowSurvey_OnAction nanoflow to your own module.
      2. In the nanoflow, double-click Create String variable, fill in the Survey ID of the mini survey, and then save the changes. You can find the survey ID on the Settings tab or Implementation tab of the survey details page in Mini Surveys in the Developer Portal.
      3. (Optional) Double-click CHANGE ME, add your microflow or nanoflow action, then save the changes.
      4. Create a button that calls the ShowSurvey_OnAction nanoflow on the page where Template_SurveyWidget is placed. Mendix recommends renaming the flow to something that describes the original action.

    • For the on-page load option:

      1. Open the Show Survey folder, and copy the widget from ShowSurvey_OnPageLoad to your page.
      2. Place this widget on any page you wish to show the survey (you can use multiple Show Mini Survey On Page Load widgets in your app to trigger many surveys).
      3. Double-click the Show Mini Survey On Page Load widget, then fill in the Survey ID.

  6. In App Explorer, double-click Security, and add the AppInsights_MiniSurvey.User user role to all the system roles that use the mini survey in the App Security dialog box.

4 FAQ

4.1 How to Use a Constant Variable for Survey ID to Show a Survey?

You can achieve this using the data view and nanoflow solution we provide in the module as follows:

  1. In your app, go to Marketplace modules > AppInsights_MiniSurvey > Private(Do Not Touch) > Resources > Deprecated Widgets > ShowSurvey_UsingConstant folder.
  2. Copy the ShowSurvey_UsingDataView snippet to the page where you want the survey to load. You also need to ensure that the Mini Survey widget is on the same page.
  3. Open the ShowSurvey_UsingConstant nanoflow and open the SurveyID action activity, replace the string value with your constant variable.

4.2 What Happens if a User Does Not Finish Answering a Survey?

If a user only answers one or two questions before they close the mini survey. The answers will be stored in your app. Every 15 minutes a scheduled event will submit all unfinished surveys collected in your app to the Mini Surveys in the Developer Portal. A survey answer must be more than one hour old before it is submitted by the scheduled event.

4.3 Does TEST_MODE Constant Affect Unfinished Surveys?

No. The behaviors are exactly the same as described in the What Happens if a User Does Not Finish Answering a Survey? section above.

4.4 Can I Use Multiple Widgets on a Single Page?

Mendix recommends using only one Mini Survey widget per page. If you are experimenting, enable the TEST_MODE constant.

If your app uses a master layout page and many child pages. You can place one Mini Survey widget on the master layout page and then use multiple ShowSurvey_OnAction or ShowSurvey_UsingDataView nanoflow actions to trigger the survey to show.

4.5 What Are the Survey Opt-Out Rules?

A mini survey has the following opt-out rules:

  • If a user has closed a survey, without answering any questions, then the survey will not show again to this user.

  • If a user has answered one or more questions in a survey, but did not finished the survey, then the survey will show again. However, if the user has closed the survey before finishing for the second time, the survey will not show again to this user.

  • If the user has answered all questions, then the survey will not show again to the user.

Survey opt-out rule is a variable cached to your internet browser. You can reset and show a survey multiple times by clearing your browser cache. If you are testing, Mendix recommends using the TEST_MODE constant to avoid clearing every time.

4.6 Can I Delay the Appearance of the Mini Survey After the Page Loads?

Yes. To set the delay time, open the settings of the Mini Survey widget, and set the delay time in seconds in the Pop-up Delay field on the Show Survey tab. If the value is set to 0, it is still assigned to the variable that is used.

5 Troubleshooting

5.1 The Survey Is Not Showing?

If this occurs, try the following:

  • In the app, make sure that the APIKEY_APPINSIGHTS constant has the correct value of API key.

  • In the app, open the settings of the Mini Survey widget. Make sure that you have entered the correct survey ID.

  • In the app, enable the TEST_MODE constant. If the survey loads, then the survey has triggered an op-out rule and will not show. In this case, clear the survey opt-out rules by clearing your browser cache or using igcognito mode.

5.2 Surveys Do not Work Locally When Running Multiple Applications

If this occurs, upgrade the module to v1.1.0 or above, and ensure to clear your browsers cached data to remove deprecated feature – you only need to do this one time in your browser.