Roadmap

Ultimate feature set

This list indicates the set of features Chloroform will have when complete.

• Creation & editing of templates via browser-based editor
  • Question templates, which define the text of questions, with one or more customizable slots.
  • Question group templates, which define a sequence of question templates or subordinate group templates.
  • Form flow-control & validation rules, including:
    • Special answer validation rules (minimum length of response, e.g.)
    • Mandatory/optional questions within a group template
    • "Locking" questions in group-templates, so that they cannot be removed during form editing.
    • Questions/sections which are hidden or revealed based on responses to earlier questions.
  • Version tracking for all template objects.
• Form creation using templates:
  • browser-based semi-WYSIWYG editing
  • customization of templates by:
    • Adding or removing questions from groups.
    • Selecting terms to fill into question templates.
  • On-the-fly creation of fill-in terms.
• Preview/test mode: a preview of the form that allows responses to be filled in and implements the flow-control rules defined.
• One or more form 'exporters' (possibilities include: stand-alone HTML file, fill-able PDF, etc.). Exported forms will contain & submit rich metadata including the templates used, the versions of those templates, the fill-in terms used, and so forth. Exporters will be provided by a plug-in interface.
• Pluggable Ingestion interface, which will accept & store form responses submitted by each exported format, including all versioning metadata.
• Pluggable reporting export interface. Chloroform will not attempt to provide a reporting system. Instead it will export responses in a structured format (multiple options may be provided), containing metadata describing the form (as described under 'exporters' above). The intention is to enable users to develop 'Chloroform aware' reports which can automatically adapt to any form, based on the templates used, etc.

Roadmap

Development will take place in phases.

Phase I

• Creation of initial database schema to support templates and forms, excluding flow-control and validation rules.
• REST API for reading templates and fill-in values and full CRUD for forms, form groups, and questions.
• Form editor:
  • enter form-level metadata
  • add ad-hoc groups to forms
  • select and add group templates to forms via preliminary interface (search not required -- by ID or list)
  • remove groups from forms
  • select fill-in terms for each question

Phase II

• REST endpoints for keyword search of templates and fill-in terms (simple, no fuzzy-string capabilities)
• Form editor to use incremental search for templates
• Preview mode in form editor; doesn't need to submit responses.
• Schema for storage of form responses.

Phase III

• Response-ingestion interface; simple ingestion plugin without validation.
• Export of responses with metadata
• Preview mode in editor

Phase IV

• Schema for validation & flow-control rules
• REST API for CRUD of templates
• Template editor
• Form-exporter interface, including first exporter