Webcasting with surveys |
By combining a set of frames, JavaScript, new API commands, and new Web Survey options, it is now possible to conduct live polls or surveys while an online audio or video presentation is presented at the same time.
1. Create a place. Use the WebcastSurveyPage poll style template. In
option 6, choose "Use unique poll names". Create and use a multipage
survey template with the history parameter set to redirect to a standby page
after each vote, such as:
<input type="hidden" name="history" value="1,WebcastCookie,[/spotname],http://www.yourco.com/ViewsFlash/webcast/standby.html">
Set option 5 to write files to the webcast/events directory.
2. Create a multi-page survey. Each page of the survey will be available for presentation separately during the webcast.
In Security #3, you must use an Authentication method; if you have no preference, choose "Use a servlet session value".
It is also recommended to turn on duplicate checking, using the "User Authentication method specified below".
In the Save page, make sure all fields you are interested in are saved, including if appropriate, the unique user id.
Publish the survey, including appropriate Start and End times; the surveys are not available until the Start time.
3. Become familiar with the files in /ViewsFlash/webcast. Copy all these files to a working directory and customize them to suit your needs. SurveyPresentation.html is frame set configured for presentation of a survey during a webcast. The left frame uses other.html, which you should customize to show a video stream, for example. The right frame uses SurveyFrame.html, which is a frameset for presenting a survey in synchronization with the webcast moderator.
Once you have tested your modifications and you're ready for the webcast, give participants the URL to SurveyPresentation.html.
4. In Actions, click on Webcast. On this page you have the following options:
| Start | Click on this shortly before the start of the webcast. This clears the question display and marks the beginning of the webcast. |
| Blank | Click on this anytime during the presentation to remove the question display. |
| Show Page Show Page » Show Page |
Click on one of these links to advance the presentation to that page. The question currently shown is marked » and the question text is listed. |
| End | Click on this to clear the question display and mark the end of the webcast. |
Webcast Participants should open a browser window go to the survey presentation you just created. Its URL is:
/ViewsFlash/webcast/SurveyPresentation.html?eventid=SSSS&surveyspot=PPPP
where SSSS is the name of the survey and PPPP is the name of the place. Note: surveyspot=PPPP is optional. If omitted, the default place of 'WebcastSurveys' will be used.
In this window, you will see the results of clicking on each of the options above.
5. For best results, create an introductory and and ending poll that say "Welcome" and "Thank you" (use the 'Just HTML' question type).