What Are the Mapping Rules for Dynamic Images?

Mapping rules connect the images with the data by setting the specific conditions for images to appear in report. The mapping is based on the file name. The file name is matched against the answer alternative name or the answer alternative ID in the selected variable. To set up mapping rules follow this process:

Step by step

1. In the Mapping rules tab press ”Add new rule” button.
2. In a new dialog window, write the Mapping name for the new definition.
3. From the dropdown menu, select the variable to bind against.
4. Select the Value type for binding the rule (value or text).
5. Select the value delimiter and value position.
6. Press Save and the new window will appear containing mapping details you have set.
7. In the new window check the Mapping rule you want to run, as you may have more than one.
8. From the Select batch dropdown menu select the batch of files you uploaded to bind the rules with.
9. Press Run Selected rules and once mapping completed you will see the message: ”Selected mappings have completed successfully.”

• The files that are uploaded in the .zip file in the first step are named: Chicago_A;  Toronto_B.jpg, etc. In this example we used Answer text as a value type for binding rule. In case you have named your files differently and didn’t mapped the images successfully, you can rename the files correctly by using Edit files (image 10).
• If a file should be mapped against multiple variables, delimiter logic is used to separate the different parts in the file name. An example of a file name can be: Sweden_Round 2_photo33.png – which makes it possible to connect the image against Sweden in the country variable and Round 2 in the wave variable.
• When selecting delimiter used for image naming of Dynamic images we DO NOT recommend using Reserved characters such as: #, or &. Reserved characters are those characters that sometimes have special meaning. For example, forward slash characters are used to separate different parts of a URL.

Additional options

The images must be in one of the following formats: Png, Jpeg, Gif and be placed in a zipped folder (the zipped folder can contain any number of sub folders). Due to the number of files that can be uploaded to the project no back-ups are taken of the uploaded images. The list under Batch Name shows the name and number of files, the size and the upload date per batch. Batches that not are in use should be deleted. To delete a batch select it in the grid and click “Delete selected batch” below the grid once the checkbox ticked for the batch(es) you want to delete.

The Dynamic images can be connected to Hierarchical filter. They may not appear if the batch doesn’t contain an image for a specific Hierarchical filter combination. There can be many image batches uploaded to the Dynamic image module.

Answer text/ID should be placed to the LEFT of the delimiter and the “position” selection in setup is used for that. For example in the file name “Sweden_Round 2_photo33” Sweden is in position 1 and Round 2 in position 2.

The default response date is the upload date. The date can be changed by clicking Edit batch and then changing the response date as shown in the image below. Click Save to save the new date. The image below shows the calendar function that can be used for changing response date.

The names of all uploaded images can be updated in the Edit section. As the mapping against variables is done by the image name it must be correct. In the Edit mode the following can be done: Manual name update, Automatic name update by using the “find and replace” function in all or selected file, Automatically adding a prefix to all or selected files.  

To edit the images click the ”Edit” button shown in the image below. In the popup window all files are listed. To update a single image name simply update the file name in the text field. In uploaded batches when, for instance, all the images should be connected to a specific answer alternative, the name (or the ID) must be included in all the file names. Instead of doing that manually outside the system the most efficient way is to upload the batch and then insert a prefix to the image names with a few clicks.

To use the find and replace function or to add a prefix to multiple images use the options in the top of the screen. Either the changes are applied to all images or to the selected ones. Select images by checking the boxes in the most left column as shown in the image below.

A mapping rule maps an image against one variable. If an image should be mapped to multiple variables, multiple mapping rules needs to be created. Unused mapping rules should be deleted. To delete a mapping rule select the one (or several) to delete by checking the check boxes in each row and click.

It is possible to review which images were mapped and not mapped by clicking ”Edit files.” In the popup window the most right column indicates whether an image has been mapped or not. The filter selection box can be used to only show unmapped images. For instance, if a mapping rule was run in the wrong image batch, the image mapping can be disconnected. To disconnect a mapping select the mapping rule and the batch to disconnect and click ”Disconnect selected rule.”