Uploading Your Survey to Your Internet Server
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Overview

Surveys are created using the SSI Web authoring interface on a local PC. The SSI Web authoring program saves various files that store the study setup, passwords, and questionnaire settings (these files are listed below). These study-related files, together with SSI Web's Perl script files (programs that run the survey), are uploaded to a remote web server. The data stored on the web server can be managed and retrieved using SSI Web's Online Administrative Module, which is made available by installing the files listed below.

The documentation in this section assumes Linux/Unix based servers. Our website includes full web server documentation including instructions for Microsoft IIS servers at http://www.sawtoothsoftware.com/support/issues/ssiweb/server_setup/latest/.


Create Files to Upload to Server

After you have finished composing an SSI Web survey, click Field | Prepare for Web Upload (from the SSI Web interface).

Prepare for Web Upload assembles the files required to run the web survey, placing them in a Web Upload folder inside the study folder on your hard drive. These are the files you should upload to the web server. These files are shown below, in the Setting Permissions section.


Uploading Files and Folders

The files and folders created in the Web Upload folder must be copied to and configured on your web server. By default, we expect you can set up a cgi-bin folder for each study. Some ISPs do not allow this. For configurations other than the default, see the Alternate Configuration section below.

The contents of the Web Upload folder are usually uploaded to the web server via FTP (File Transfer Protocol). FTP is a method for transferring (uploading) files from your local PC to the web server on the Internet. To FTP your files, you need an FTP program. One popular program is WS_FTP (http://www.ipswitch.com)

When uploading files to the web server, it is essential to upload in binary mode. Binary mode ensures that the file is not changed in any way during the upload process. The size (number of bytes) of all files should be the same on the web server as they are on your local PC.


Setting Permissions

Certain permissions must be set for SSI Web to work properly on your web server. Perl needs to be installed on the server and the Perl scripts (ciwweb.pl and admin.pl) need permission to execute. Other permissions also need to be set so that these scripts are able to read, write, and delete files in the admin and data directories. Unix file permissions can be set through an FTP program. In WS_FTP, right-click the file, select FTP Commands, and then select CHMOD.


Security

If you choose to host your own SSI Web surveys, you are responsible for securing your web server so that unauthorized people cannot access your data.

Here are a few items to consider:
 
·Make sure that *.cgi files (including password and data files) are not visible to the world. The server needs to be configured so that it will not permit a browser to display the contents of *.cgi files. One way to do this is to configure your server such that *.cgi files are treated as cgi-scripts. Make sure that you cannot use a browser to open the file containing your Admin Module passwords (STUDYNAMEpacc.cgi). For example, you should not be able to view the contents of the STUDYNAMEpacc.cgi file if you paste an address similar to the one below (using the URL specific to your study) into your browser's address bar:  
 
      http://www.yoursite.com/yourstudy/admin/STUDYNAMEpacc.cgi  
 
If attempting to access the *.cgi file causes an error to be posted to the screen, then this lets you know that the *.cgi files are configured correctly.  
 
 
·The server needs to be configured so that server directory listings are not visible to the world. Make sure that if you paste the URL to your "admin" folder into your browser's address bar, you are not able to see any file names. For example (using the URL specific to your study):  
 
      http://www.yoursite.com/yourstudy/admin/  
Files and Folders for Upload

The table below shows all files and folders necessary for SSI Web to run (SSI Web automatically assembles these for you in the Web Upload folder on your hard drive when you click Field | Prepare for Web Upload). The required Unix permissions are also shown. "STUDYNAME" is used to represent the name of your study.

File / Directory
Description
Unix Permissions
(* See notation help)
 STUDYNAMElogn.htm
Login page. Entry point for respondents.    
 404    r _ _ | _ _ _ | r _ _

 STUDYNAMEadmn.htm
Admin Module login page. Entry point for study administrators.
 404    r _ _ | _ _ _ | r _ _
/admin
Folder or directory.
 703    r w x | _ _ _ | _ w x
 STUDYNAMEqst.cgi
Main web questionnaire file.
 404    r _ _ | _ _ _ | r _ _
 STUDYNAMEpath.cgi
Contains server path information.
 404    r _ _ | _ _ _ | r _ _
 STUDYNAMEpacc.cgi
Contains Admin Module passwords.
 404    r _ _ | _ _ _ | r _ _
 STUDYNAMEpwds.cgi
Contains passwords and merged data info. File doesn't exist if no passwords implemented.
 404    r _ _ | _ _ _ | r _ _
 **STUDYNAME_CBC
  [exerciseID]_
  [designID].cgi
Design file for CBC/Web studies.
 404    r _ _ | _ _ _ | r _ _
**STUDYNAME_CVA
  [exerciseID]_
  [designID].cgi
Design file for CVA/Web studies.
 404    r _ _ | _ _ _ | r _ _
 ****STUDYNAME_MXD
  [exerciseID]_
  [designID].cgi
Design file for MaxDiff/Web studies.
 404    r _ _ | _ _ _ | r _ _

/cgi-bin

Folder or directory that contains all of the Perl files.
 101    _ _ x | _ _ _ | _ _ x

 ciwweb.pl

 755    r w x | r _ x | r _ x
 admin.pl

 755    r w x | r _ x | r _ x
 ciwlibX_X_X.pl

 404    r _ _ | _ _ _ | r _ _
 authlibX_X_X.pl

 404    r _ _ | _ _ _ | r _ _
 pverlibX_X_X.pl

 404    r _ _ | _ _ _ | r _ _
 grdlibX_X_X.pl

 404    r _ _ | _ _ _ | r _ _
 enterlibX_X_X.pl

 404    r _ _ | _ _ _ | r _ _
 acalibX_X_X.pl

 404    r _ _ | _ _ _ | r _ _
 cbclibX_X_X.pl

 404    r _ _ | _ _ _ | r _ _
 cvalibX_X_X.pl

 404    r _ _ | _ _ _ | r _ _
/graphics
Folder or directory that contains all the graphics in your study.
 707    r w x | _ _ _ | r w x
/data
Folder or directory that will contain respondent data.
 707    r w x | _ _ _ | r w x


* Unix Permission Notation - The notation consists of three sets of the letters r, w, and x. The letter "r" stands for "read," "w" for "Write," and "x" for "Execute." The first set of letters is for the Unix group "Owner," the second for "Group," and the third for "Other." Full permissions r w x | r w x | r w x or 777 give "read," "write," and "execute" permissions to "Owner," "Group," and "Other."

** Only for CBC/Web studies

**** Only for MaxDiff/Web studies

After uploading these files and folders, and setting correct permissions, your survey should be working. Go to STUDYNAMElogn.htm on your web site and test your survey, making sure the study behaves as expected and that it is saving data properly. Remember to log into the Administrative Module through STUDYNAMEadmn.htm to see your results and download your data.

If you are receiving errors, see Troubleshooting - Common Mistakes


Alternate Configuration - Common cgi-bin for all Studies

The default configuration of SSI Web has a separate cgi-bin directory inside each study root directory. Some web server configurations and ISPs do not allow this. They have a specific location where all CGI scripts must reside in order to execute. The following steps outline how to make SSI Web work with this alternate configuration:

Upload all of the SSI Web Perl files (*.pl) to the location where they have permission to execute (the "common cgi-bin").

In the authoring interface of SSI Web, choose File | Study Settings | Advanced Settings. Modify the default paths to account for the new location of the Perl scripts. The following list describes the Server Directory Paths that need to be modified:

·Administrative Directory: Path from the Perl scripts to the admin directory.  
·CGI Scripts Directory: Path from STUDYNAMElogn.htm to the Perl scripts.  
·Data Directory: Path from the Perl scripts to the data directory.  
·Relative Path from CGI Scripts to Graphics: Path from the Perl scripts to the graphics directory.  
·Relative Path from logn.htm to Graphics: Path from STUDYNAMElogn.htm to the graphics directory.  

These changes are stored in the STUDYNAMEpath.cgi, STUDYNAMElogn.htm, and STUDYNAMEadmn.htm files. The notation "../" means go up one directory.

For example, given the directory structure:
     
\cgi-bin  
    ciwweb.pl  
    admin.pl  
    (etc.)  
\htdocs  
    \study1  
           \admin  
           \data  
           \graphics  
           STUDYNAMElogn.htm  
           STUDYNAMEadmn.htm  
 
the alternate paths are:

·Administrative Directory: ../htdocs/study1/admin/  
·CGI Scripts Directory: ../../cgi-bin/  
·Data Directory: ../htdocs/study1/data/  
·Relative Path from CGI Scripts to Graphics: ../htdocs/study1/graphics/  
·Relative Path from logn.htm to Graphics: graphics/  

Remove STUDYNAMEpath.cgi from the admin directory. Upload the STUDYNAMEpath.cgi with the modified path information to the "common cgi-bin" directory next to the Perl scripts.