Getting Started with Custom Scripting

To add a custom script action to your survey, click the Action button at the bottom of any page in your survey.

Give your action a name. It's a good idea to describe what the action is doing in the name, for example, "Disable after answering." Select Custom Script from the menu and click Save Action and Edit.

Next, write or paste in the script you'd like to run.

Using Logic in Custom Script Actions

On the Logic tab you can set up conditions for when you want your script action to run.

Change the Script Editor Look & Feel

If you want to change the look of the script editor, you can choose a different color scheme on the Advanced tab of your action. 

Important Info to Get Started Scripting

• Custom Scripting actions are processed in order (with questions) from the top of the page to the bottom when the page is rendered. To affect a question on the same page as the script it will need to precede the question on the page.
• All variables begin with %% rather than $.
• Instead of echo, we use %%output to print to the page. To use this, just store anything you want to print in this variable. When the script runs, all the contents of %%output will be written to the page.
• The following control structures are available: for, foreach, if, elseif, else, while, and switch.
• You cannot define classes and any functions you create must start with 'sgapi.'
• Array elements in Custom Scripts must be accessed using curly brace notation if you are using a variable as the key. String or numeric keys can be accessed with either square bracket or curly brace notation as normal.

Example:

%%myArray = array("foo" => "bar", "this" => "that");
%%arrayKey = "foo";

%%output .= sgapiPrint_R( %%myArray[%%arrayKey] ); // DO NOT USE! prints the whole array
%%output .= sgapiPrint_R( %%myArray{%%arrayKey} ); // print "bar"

What Can I Do With Custom Scripting?

The possibilities are vast. Choose your own adventure! Check out our Working Examples of Custom Scripting.