Designer Overview

Designer is used to create and edit the panel database. It is divided into two main areas:

• The Toolbox column –the toolboxes that appear in the left column in the Designer page provide an overview of the panel database and the objects available for use while creating or editing it. The toolboxes are displayed and available throughout the process. The toolbox is divided into three sections:
• The Panel Variables toolbox – shows the layout of the current database. Edit the database here, adding, deleting and/or moving objects as necessary. After any changes are made, the database must be re-generated (go to Database Generation for more information). Note that each “question” in the Panel Variables toolbox will become a column in the database.
• The New Objects toolbox – lists the objects you can use in the database. Drag and drop objects from here to the Panel Variables toolbox.
• The Secondary Project toolbox - you have the possibility to copy questions from other panels into the current panel. This can be done in the Secondary Project toolbox. Projects in this toolbox will be displayed in Read Only mode.
• The Question Details area – double-click on a question in the Panel Variables toolbox to show the details of that question in the Question Details area. Use the tabs and data fields in this area to set up each question in the database.

Figure 1 - Example of the Professional Designer page

For further information, refer to the separate Professional Authoring documentation.

New Objects

This toolbox contains the templates for the objects that can be used in the database - . Note that the range of options available here is much reduced from that available in the standard Professional Authoring toolbox.

Figure 2 - The objects available in the New Objects toolbox

Secondary Project

In Professional Designer you have the possibility to copy questions from other projects into the current project. This can be done in the Secondary Project toolbox - . Projects in this toolbox will be displayed in Read Only mode.

Figure 3 - The Secondary Project toolbox

To find the panel you wish to add, open in this toolbox and click the Project, B.P. (Basic Panel) or P.P. (Professional Panel) button as appropriate. To remove a questionnaire tree/project from the toolbox, click the Clear button.

When you click the Project, B.P. or C.P. buttons, a Panel List overlay displaying all projects or panels is displayed - .

Figure 4 - Example of the Project List pop-up

In this pop-up window, search for and select the panel from which you want to reuse questions, and click OK. The Panel Variables tree opens in the Secondary Project toolbox - .

Figure 5 - Example of the Secondary Project questionnaire tree

Now you can copy questions into the current panel by dragging them from the secondary project toolbox and dropping them into the tree. Before copying, you can view the Secondary Project objects in Edit mode - double-click on the object.