Feature Update – checkbox questions, *maintain update

Here’s what’s new:

Checkbox Questions

Now you can ask your users checkbox-style questions.

Simply write and indent “*type: checkbox” beneath your *question to allow your users to select as many responses as they wish.

As we’ve done in our example, you can still use the *save keyword with checkbox questions. When saved answers are recalled, all of the answers the user selected in the question will be displayed.

For example, if a user selected “dog” and “cat” in our example, then they would see “dog, cat” in the following:

Using the *save keyword with checkbox questions is especially useful if you’d like to provide follow-up questions or text to users who select specific responses. Since points are the only content you can indent beneath checkbox responses, the *save keyword will help you add more advanced follow-up.

Customizing responses for specific items in collections

Answers to checkbox questions are stored in what’s called a “collection.” You may recall that collections are also used for chart data.

Let’s return to the pet checkbox question. If a user selected “Dog,” “Cat,” and “Hamster/other small furry thing” then the collection of their answers would be stored as this in GuidedTrack language:

[“Dog”, “Cat”, “Hamster/other small furry thing”]

Because we’ve also used the *save keyword, this collection will be saved by the variable/codename “pets.”

Later, if you wish to target only cat people with follow-up questions, you would use the following code to test whether the “Cat” answer is “in” their “pets” collection:

Note: Capitalization is important. We couldn’t write “cat” here because our exact answer option read “Cat”

Changes to the *maintain Keyword

Just like the *clear keyword, the *maintain keyword will no longer provide a mandatory page break.

A *maintain keyword provides text that is held constant at the top of the page. Previously, whenever a *maintain keyword was used, there was also some sort of page break, and the maintained text occurred on the new screen. For example, when there was a question preceding the *maintain keyword, the question caused a page break and the new screen contained the maintained text. When there was text preceding a *maintain keyword, then the *maintain keyword also created a button that said “Next.” The button produced a page break and the very next screen contained the maintained text.

Now, the *maintain keyword NO LONGER produces a button that says “Next” when preceded by text. Program writers now have to manually create a “Next” button by adding the code: “*button: Next” before any *maintain keywords that are preceded by text. This code is not necessary for *maintain keywords preceded by questions. In other words, the *maintain keyword no longer forces a button to occur (neither does the *clear keyword).

The New GuidedTrack Website

GuidedTrack’s editor keeps getting snazzier.

New quick reference toolbar

A new toolbar on the left-hand side of the Edit page gives you handy reminders of how to use GuidedTrack keywords.

More ways to share your program

Now you can grab the share link, get a link for your website, or get a code to directly embed your program on the web. Click the “Share” button to see all the options.

Better onboarding for new users

New users can now get familiar with GuidedTrack fast. New account holders are walked through a brief tour of GuidedTrack and are given sample programs to start with in their program list. If you know anyone who might be interested in GuidedTrack for their own projects, now may be a great time to invite them on board.

In addition, you can try out our new tour yourself by clicking the “Tour” button at any time from the top of the screen.