Using a clickable map to create a star rating scale

Step 1: Display the rating question as a Map Control

This example will use the same rating questions as those in the snSatisfaction survey.

1. Create the questions as shown below.

   (Full instructions on creating these questions are supplied in "Step 5: Adding your second question" in the section "Creating a survey in seven easy steps" of the Quick Start guide or Snap online help.)

   

2. Select all the questions.
3. Choose Show in the toolbar topic.

   

4. Select As Map Control in the next drop-down list and check the Show box.

   The rating questions change to grey boxes and the [Map control] button becomes active.

   If you are working with a question that has previously had a Map Control, the previous control will be displayed.

Step 2: Load the Map Control style

1. Click the [Map control] button or double-click the grey Map Control area to open the Map Control Editor.
2. Select File|Load map control. By default the folder containing the Map Control template files will be opened.

   

3. Select the 5Stars-Medium.Map Control style file. (If you wish, you can select one of the other sizes.)

   The 5Stars-Medium map is loaded into the Map Control Editor. It consists of a grayscale image of five stars, together with five defined areas, one for each of the rating codes.

   

4. Check how it works by clicking the Preview tab at the bottom of the pane.

   

   When you click on one of the stars, it changes to yellow, as do the stars on its left.

Step 3: Make changes to the Map Control definition

The default settings for this Map Control make all the stars 49% yellow with a yellow outline when they are selected. Because they are simple shapes, there is little point in applying the complex effects such as Blur which are best applied to photographs. This example changes the fill color and intensity.

1. Click the Designer tab to leave the preview.
2. Click the first star on the left to select it.
3. Click the Fill button to open the Fill dialog.
4. Click the color bar to display a color palette and select a red.

   

5. Type 20 in the Intensity scale and click [Close].

   

   The left-hand star will have changed to red.

   

   You can preview it to see the effect of the change.

   

6. Repeat for the other stars, giving them the same colour but intensity values of 40, 60, 80 and 100.

   

7. Preview the Map Control again. The stars still have a yellow outline when they are selected.

   

8. Select all the area definitions, by clicking on the first and then holding the [Ctrl] key down while you click on the others.
9. Click the button to change the outline. You can change the color or width. For this example, uncheck the Include outline in output setting

   

10. Preview the Map Control again. You should now have plain stars that become a more intense red depending which one you select.

    

You can also change the order that the stars are highlighted in.

1. Select Tools|Options to open the Options dialog.
2. Check the Reverse scale box and click [OK].

   

3. Preview the result.

   

If you were using this effect, you would probably want to change the intensity order to match the highlighting order. Clear the Reverse scale box if you do not want to do this.

Step 4: Save your new Map Control

If you wish to re-use these settings, you need to save them as a new file.

1. Select File|Save map control and browse for the folder where you store your analysis styles.
2. Save it under the name 5star_red. It will be saved as an .isf file, and you will get a message saying the settings have been saved.
3. Click [OK] on the Map Control Editor window to return to the questionnaire.
4. When you publish your questionnaire, the rating scales will look much like this.