[phpesp-dev] phpESP branch

[randall e. <ra...@uc...>]

 i just downloaded and checked out your phpESP - very slick. we're currently
looking at developing a php/sql based application to build web surveys with
and to save time i think we're gonna be using phpESP as our starting point.

 currently we use commercial windows software to build our web based surveys,
and there are some features that we'll be needing to implement
(question/answer 'piping', answer based 'skips') and whatnot; as well as using
adodb for the database abstraction layer.

 our project is starting off just at UCSB with hopes of becoming a joint
development from all the UC campuses. in doing so we're also planning on
hosting the cvs repository for our project locally (but will be made available
publicly.) we already have an extensive set of tools for managing mass-mailing
of users for surveys that require authentication and data extraction (mostly
done in perl::dbi.) we'd love to have a single package to handle all the steps
needed to run a web based survey, so our plans are to extend phpESP to handle
the following:

 o admin users database containing login, password, and ACL info for survey
   creators and data extraction users
 o web based tool to create survey
   - surveys must be able to 'pipe' answers (ie: build a new question based on
     the answer to a previous one)
   - 'skips' - jump over certain questions based on answers to prior questions
 o initial import of users (from a csv file, containing at least a login,
   cleartext password, and a survey name)
 o mass-mailing of users, sending their cleartext password (optional) in the
   email and then encrypting it on the fly
 o mass-mailing a 'reminder' or 'preminder' notice to users who are about to,
   or who haven't taken the survey yet
 o web based tool for survey-admins to extract real-time responses
 o web based tool for survey-admins to display real-time results

 our current mix of tools provides all of the above except for the web based
tool to create surveys (which is where phpESP fits into the mix).

  http://open.survey.ucsb.edu/ - ignore the phpESP imported already, it was
merely a test.

         - randall s. ehren       :// 805.893.5632
            systems administrator :// isber|survey|avss.ucsb.edu
             institute for social, behavioral, and economic research