URL variables in activity links

ENGAGE HELP CENTER

This guide will help you explore the option of adding URL variables in the publicly shareable links for distributing Engage activities.

What are the benefits of this feature?

A tool for organizing Engage activity responses

URL variables enable the administrators to create additional input right into the publicly shareable link of an activity. This additional information will be saved in the participant response export files as a separate value together with the participants' answers submitted via the adjusted link.

For example, this functionality can be a valuable tool to better navigate and group the submissions to surveys that don't require registration without compromising the anonymity of the respondents.
Clear and uncomplicated rules of variable building

The variables are governed by a couple of easy to follow rules. They are quick to build and add to the activity link.

The Engage platform now supports adding one or several URL variables that, upon submitting the activity response, are saved together with the participants' answers. This is a useful way how to sort the received responses.

Set up URL variables

To set up the URL variables, the link obtained in the section Public sharing has to be modified before sharing it with the participants.

1. Obtain the link of the activity from the section Public sharing:
https//:engage.longenesis.com/survey/[survey code]

2. At the end of the obtained link, add a question mark (?) and the variable right after it.
Each variable consists of key and value elements that can contain letters and the symbols -._―.

If it is planned to apply more than one variable, they have to be separated by the ampersand symbol "&".

https//:engage.longenesis.com/survey/[survey code]?key1=value1&key2=value2

If other symbols are used in the URL variable setup, they must be coded.

Coding must be done for such non-supported symbols in order for them not to conflict with the functionality of the link. E.g., such symbols as :/?#[]@!$&'()*+,;= must be coded.

Review the URL variables in exported report files

After receiving the participants' responses initiated by an activity link with encoded URL variables, they will appear in the exported participant response report files. For example, the JSON file format export files will display these variables in the following way.

{
  [
      {
        "question1": {...},
        "question2": {...},
        "question3": {...},
        "person": "anonymous user",
        "created_at": "2021-11-08T16:03:11.811998Z",
        "key1": "value1",
        "key2": "value2",
    }
  ]
}

Our team is ready to provide you assistance in any of the steps and would gladly guide you through the process.

Do not hesitate to contact us via support@longenesis.com if you have any questions or any help is required.