Plugins

SoSci Survey supports several plugins for use in survey projects or for server management. This chapter describes how to install plugins onto a server.

A captcha can be used in the questionnaire to check if the participant is a real person or just a computer. SoSci Survey is able to insert the reCaptcha module from Google in order to display captchas in the questionnaire. Therefore you need a private and public key to access reCaptcha. This can be obtained from Google on the reCaptcha homepage.

Afterwards, the relative path for the reCaptcha plugin (e.g. plugins/reCaptcha) has to be entered in Server Management in Plugins, as well as both of the keys. The captcha question can then be used in the questionnaire just like every other question.

The pair of keys must be entered in the Server administration under Extensions.After that, the captcha question can be used like any other question in the questionnaire.

SoSci Survey actively supports questionnaires being translated in Language Versions → Translation Assistant. The text elements are forwarded to Google Translate to be translated automatically. The project manager can then check, correct and use these translations.

An API key is required to use the Google fee-based translation service. A Google account is needed to generate the key, which is used to login to the Google API Console. The “Translate API” function has to be enabled for the (new) API key. The API key is then entered in SoSci Survey's server settings.

Note: The API key entered is saved in SoSci Survey's configuration unencrypted. Only use this key for Google Translate, and a different key for other services.

Note: When texts are translated automatically, they are transmitted to Google's API (Application Programming Interface), processed and, if need be, saved and analyzed.

If certain email addresses or domains should be blocked upon registering, lists of these can be saved, e.g. in the plugins/trashmail/ directory. The directory (not the list) has to be entered in Server Settings → Plugins.

SoSci Survey loads all data into the directory during the registration process. The lines can either be…

• an email address (e.g. john.doe@example.com),
• a domain (z.B. exampledomain.com) or
• contain a comment beginning with a sharp symbol (#)(e.g. # list from 24.12.2010)

If something follows the email address or domain (e.g. a tab, semi-colon, comment), this will be ignored.