The Forsta Surveys Portal has powerful search capabilities that allow you to search for projects with ease. This document details the various methods available for searching and filtering through your projects.
1: Searching for a Project
The search bar is located at the top of the Portal screen. Simply enter the word or phrase you want to search for and click the magnifying glass (or hit "Enter" on your keyboard). The results will show the list of projects on one page.
Note: Any project path that starts with "temp, tmp, sst, preview" (e.g., template2) will not be found.
Note: The Portal will only display the first 500 surveys with your results. To learn how to refine your search, see 3: Refining Searches below.
2: Saving Searches
2.1: Saving Search Parameters
Once you have entered a search parameter you have the option to save it for use in the future. To save the search, select the save icon that appears to the right of the search bar.
In the Save Search window, enter a name to identify the search criteria, then click "Save". Saving the search will update the "Saved Searches" menu with the name of the search.
2.2: Using Saved Parameters
To use a saved search, click "All Surveys" to open the survey list menu and select the desired search option from the "Saved Searches" section. Then click "Apply".
Once applied, only surveys matching the selected criteria are displayed.
3: Refining Searches
If you're having trouble remembering the project name or number, or the search results are still too broad to locate your project, you can use the Refine Search menu to further refine and filter your results. To refine a search, first click the caret to the left of the search bar.
Then check one or more of the options and click "Go". The following options are available in the Refine Search menu:
Note: The Portal will only display the first 500 surveys with your results.
Project Type
Refine the search results based on the state of the project.
- Any: Projects in any state
- Active: A project is considered to be in an active state when any of the following have occurred:
- Respondents collected in the past 72 hours
- Project has been edited in the Survey Editor, XML, testing environment, Response Summary, or project settings
- Simulated data has been run
- Survey has been launched or closed
- Email campaign created or sent
- Created saved report, data layout or table set
- Project description edited
- Project renamed
- Any State: Beacon projects in any state
- Dev: Beacon surveys created by Decipher staff are set to dev state while they are built
- Draft: Beacon surveys in testing state/mode
- Live: Beacon survey is actively collecting responses
- Closed: Beacon survey is closed and no responses may be submitted
- Campaign Only: Projects created as campaign only
- Information Only: Projects created as information only
- SPSS Import: Projects created as SPSS Import
Field Date
Refine the search results based on specific dates it was in field (i.e., in "Live" state).
- Any: Any field date
- Date Range: Select the checkbox to specify a date range from the day the first respondent completed the survey to the last (qualified or not). Click in the "From" and "To" fields to select the month/day/year from the calendar. You may also type in the date range in the format mm/dd/yy (or yyyy)
Project Has...
Refine the search based on project features.
- Any
- Survey
- Campaign
- Saved Report
- Dashboard
- Files
My Projects
Refine the search based on projects you've been involved with.
- Any
- Favorites: Projects you've marked as favorites (i.e., starred)
- Edited by Me: You've done any of the following:
- Edited in the Survey Editor, XML, testing environment, Response Summary, or project settings
- Ran simulated data
- Launched/closed a survey
- Created/sent email campaign
- Added/removed users or user groups
- Added/removed tags (excluding mass editing)
- Edited project description
- Renamed project
- Accessed by Me: Any project you've accessed and done any of the following:
- Edited in the Survey Editor, XML, testing environment, Response Summary, or project settings
- Ran simulated data
- Launched/closed a survey
- Created/Sent email campaign
- Created saved report, data layout or table set
- Accessed project page, survey, Response Summary, Crosstabs, saved report, data downloads, dashboard
- Added/removed users or user groups (excluding mass editing)
- Added/removed tags (excluding mass editing)
- Edited project description
- Survey exported
Project Content
Refine the search based on specific text (alphanumeric) found in the selected context.
- Project Name: Name of the project in the portal
- Project Description: Description for the project
- Tags: Tags attached to the project
- Survey Content: Any text within the survey (specifically, the survey.xml file), excluding external files such as quotas, appended XML or other language translations
Users / User Groups
Refine the search based on users or user groups assigned to the project.
- Any: Any users / groups
- Users / User Groups: Select from users or groups within your company. Click "Show All Users / Groups" for the full list.
Project Tags
Refine the search based on tags attached to the project.
- All: Any tags
- Tags: Select from tags created. Click "Show All Tags" for the full list.
You can also check "Show Detailed Search Results" to highlight your search term(s) in the results, and / or "Show Hidden Projects" to include any hidden projects in the results.
4: Sorting Surveys
If desired, you can also sort your surveys by a variety of preset specifications. To sort your surveys, or to further filter search results, click the "Sort By" drop-down.
The following options are available in the Sort By menu:
- Accessed by Me
- Accessed by Anyone
- Edited Date
- First Respondent
- Last Respondent
- Survey Path
- Directory
Then select the desired sort order, "Newer First" or "Older First", and click "Apply".
You can also sort by clicking on any of the column headers.
- Name: Click to sort alphabetically (A-Z or Z-A).
- State: Click to select a project state by which to sort (e.g., Dev, Draft, Live, etc.).
- Sort By: Click to select sorting criteria (e.g., user access, edited date, respondent activity, etc.) and whether to display results in ascending or descending order.
- Responses: Click to sort by the total number of qualified survey completes in either ascending or descending order.
5: Viewing Survey Filters
The portal also offers predefined search filters that allow you to quickly filter your projects.
To apply a new filter, click "All Surveys" to open the survey list menu and select the desired filter option from the "View" section. Then click "Apply".
The following options are available:
- Search Results: When search parameters have been applied, the "Search Results" view is shown
- Favorites: View only the projects you have marked as favorites (i.e., starred)
- Active Projects: View only projects with recent activity
- Respondents collected in the past 72 hours
- Project has been edited in the Survey Editor, XML, testing environment, Response Summary, or project settings
- Simulated data has been run
- Survey has been launched or closed
- Email campaign created or sent
- Created saved report, data layout or table set
- Project description edited
- Project renamed
- Recent Projects: View only projects that have been edited recently
- Project has been edited in the Survey Editor, XML, testing environment, Response Summary, or project settings
- Simulated data has been run
- Survey has been launched or closed
- Email campaign created or sent
- Created saved report, data layout or table set
- Accessed project page, survey, Response Summary, Crosstabs, saved report, data downloads, dashboard
- Added/removed users or user groups (excluding mass editing)
- Added/removed tags (excluding mass editing)
- Project description edited
- Survey exported
- All Projects: View all projects without any filters applied.
- Saved Searches: View results from searches you've saved
- Show Hidden Projects: View projects that have been hidden.
6: Using Advanced Search Syntax
The search engine also allows you to enter your own search string parsers in the search field. The following limitations and requirements apply when using advanced search syntax:
- Simple boolean expressions such as AND, OR and NOT can be used against filters (case-sensitive, must be all caps).
- Nested expressions are not supported.
- Use commas to separate OR conditions. Use spaces to separate AND conditions.
For example:- type:live OR has:campaign
- NOT type:live OR NOT has:campaign
- has:(campaign AND report) is same as has:(campaign report)
- type:(live OR testing) is same as type:(live,testing)
- Quotes should be used to search for phrases. Individual words are usually used to match results. For example:
- “What is your age?” within:survey will look for an exact match and return only if “What is your age” is found
- What is your age within:survey will return if any of these words are found (“what”, “is”, “your”, “age”)
Below is a list of the available search keys and descriptions of how they can be used.
| Search Key | Description | Type |
|---|---|---|
| survey |
Searches against the survey path.
|
String |
| type |
Searches against the type value of a project.
|
Single/Enclosed enum(s) |
| title | Searches against the title/name value of a project. | String |
| description | Searches against the description value of a project. | String |
| tags |
Searches against the tags associated with a project. Values can be a single string, or multiple strings separated by spaces enclosed in parentheses.
Alternatively, hash tags can be used.
|
Single/Enclosed string(s) |
| within |
Searches against survey name, tags, file names, description, and survey content. Values: (name (default), description (default), tag (default), filename, survey)
|
Single/Enclosed enum(s) |
| company | Searches projects associated with matching companies. | String |
| user |
Searches projects associated with matching users.
|
String |
| start_date |
Searches for projects with an active date greater than this value. Must be in ISO 8601 format.
|
Date |
| end_date |
Searches for projects with an active date less than this value. Must be in ISO 8601 format.
|
Date |
| has |
Searches across the survey’s peripheral elements. Values can be a single string, or multiple strings separated by spaces enclosed in parentheses. Values: (any, campaign, report, dashboard, files, mls)
Examples:
|
Single/Enclosed enum(s) |
| my |
Searches across projects relative to the user based on criteria. Values: (any, favorite, edited, accessed)
|
Single/Enclosed enum(s) |
| hidden |
Searches projects with hidden status as follows. Values: (true, false)
|
Boolean |
| archived |
Searches projects with archived status as follows. Values: (true, false) Examples:
|
Boolean |