Quick Poll

   Version 3.0 (Released 2/7/2000)
   Copyright (C) 1999 Taro Sato, All Rights Reserved

   Information: http://ethereal.virtualave.net/soft/qpoll/home.html
                qpoll@ethereal.virtualave.net

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              Quick Poll README (for version 3.0, 2/7/2000) 
----------------------------------------------------------------------
TABLE OF CONTENTS

   1.  Disclaimer
   2.  Description
   3.  Updates History
   4.  Requirements
   5.  Setup Instructions
   6.  Using Quick Poll
   7.  Known Issues
   8.  Contact and Support Information
   9.  Appendix
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1. DISCLAIMER

   Quick Poll is a freeware Perl CGI package. It may be redistributed
   freely without any consent of Taro Sato, the developer of the script,
   only if the following conditions are met:
     (1) The original form of the archive (qpoll30.zip) is maintained.
     (2) The purpose of distribution is noncommercial.
   Commercial distributions of this product without permissions from 
   Taro Sato is strictly prohibited.  

   Any portion of the script can be modified at your own risk to suit your
   personal needs.  The script is provided as is and Taro Sato will not
   be responsible for any damage caused by the use of this package.  There
   is absolutely no warranties of any sort.


2. DESCRIPTION

   Quick Poll is a web polling CGI script that requires only a single line
   of HTML tag to put a poll in a place you want.  Through an easy-to-
   use admin program, the look of polling interface can be configured to
   suit your various tastes, including drop down menus and checkbox 
   selection.  User tracking by cookies prevents multiple votes from a 
   single user.

   Quick Poll main features:

      * Highly configurable look
      * A single HTML page can have as many voting tables as needed
      * Drop down menus and checkbox selection
      * Provides as many available choices for answers as you need
      * A visitor can only vote once (tracking by cookies)
      * View all the results at once in a single page
      * An interactive admin program helps creation of poll data
      * Suited for a nonscientific poll with an available, random sample


3. UPDATES HISTORY

   Version 3.0 released (2/7/2000)
      * Newly added features include viewing the results of a single 
        poll, "View Results" link support, checkbox selection, and 
        various enhancements of control over the appearance of the poll.
      * No choice is selected before a voter actually makes his or her
        own selection.
      * Quick Poll Administrator is now an integral part of Quick
        Poll.  Creating poll data is no longer a pain!

   Version 2.0 released (10/2/1999)
      * Newly added features include drop down menu support, multiple
        voting tables in a single page, and redirection to a new page
        after voting.
      * Improved the identification of cookies.
      * Now a different expiration date can be set for each poll.

   Version 1.0b released (9/16/1999)
      * The first beta release of the script.


4. REQUIREMENTS

   This version of Quick Poll is intended to work with Perl 5.  In 
   order to use the script, your web server must enable server-side 
   includes (SSI).  Contact your local system administrator for the
   availability of this feature on your server.  This script assumes
   that voters use cookie-enabled browsers, and thus does not process
   votes from users who do not enable cookies.

   When properly installed, Quick Poll should work both in Unix and 
   Windows NT.  However, due to the way Windows NT handles access 
   permissions of files, scripts may not set access permissions
   correctly.  If you intend to use Quick Poll on Windows NT, be aware
   of this potential problem, and the individual user (i.e., you) will
   be responsible for setting the right permissions.


5. SETUP INSTRUCTIONS

    .

   1)   , qpoll30.zip, .

         qpoll30.pl      - 
         qpadmin30.pl    -  
         qpshared30.lib  -  
         qpoll30.conf    -  
         readme.txt      -  
         qpoll30.dat     -   

   2)   qpoll30.conf   .

      a. "   "
             ,     qpoll30.pl.

      b. "URL qpadmin30.pl"
          URL  qpadmin30.pl.

      c. "   "
                 .
	          FAQ   
          .


   3)           perl
        
         #!/usr/local/bin/perl

 perl 5  .

   4)    .

   5)    cgi-bin   
         :

                         
         ------------------------------
         qpoll30.pl          755
         qpadmin30.pl        755 
         qpshared30.lib      644
         qpoll30.conf        644

         ASCII .

   6)    qpoll30.dat,    
       qpoll30.conf.

                         
         ------------------------------
         qpoll30.dat         666       (   )

   7)   ,    .


6. USING QUICK POLL

   A.    

      IMPORTANT: Quick Poll data files created for earlier versions
                 are not compatible with the version 3.0.  If you are
                 a version 2.0 user, there is a data file conversion
                 utility that you can download at Quick Poll home page.

      .
        
   .

            qpoll30.dat, 
       qpoll30.conf.

        qpoll30.dat

            

      i.   

              

            http://www.domain.com/cgi-bin/qpadmin30.pl

              .

      ii.  

                  
           .         .

      iii.  

   .      .



      iv.      

             .qpadmin30
      

      :        
      
    !


   B.     

               .

           <HEAD>...</HEAD>  
     :

        <META HTTP-EQUIV="Set-Cookie" CONTENT="cookie=set; path=/">

        
 n      :

        <!--#include virtual="/cgi-bin/qpoll30.pl?poll_id=n&action=xxx"-->

              qpoll30.pl
      

      "n  ?poll_id="
       -  

      "xxx  &action=" 
       -   :

         "replace"
          -       
                    cookie .
              .
         "view"
          -    .

         "http:// ...  URL ... "
          -    URL      .

      ,

        <!--#include virtual="/cgi-bin/qpoll30.pl?poll_id=3&action=replace"-->

      

   C.  

        :

         http://www.domain.com/cgi-bin/qpoll30.pl?poll_id=all&action=view

       .

         <!--#include virtual="/cgi-bin/qpoll30.pl?poll_id=all&action=view"-->


7. KNOWN ISSUES

   A. The implementation of redirecting voters to another page after
      casting a vote has been changed.  As a result, the field in poll
      data file named "redirection URL" is deprecated.  The new way of
      redirecting voters leaves you with more flexibility.

   B. User tracking by cookies is far from perfect.  Deleting or
      disabling cookies is rather easy to do on users' side, and as
      there is no way to prevent it from the server side, you will not
      be able to achieve total prevention of multiple votes from
      a single user.  Therefore, you should not use this script 
      when the results are very important to you or if you cannot just
      laugh at those who do cheat.


8. CONTACT AND SUPPORT INFORMATION

   As Quick Poll is freeware, the developer does not intend to provide
   much user support.  Please do make an effort to find a solution to
   your problem by yourself before seeking a help from the developer.
   There will be a dedicated FAQ section in the Quick Poll web page, 
   and most problems can be solved if you read it carefully.  But if
   you cannot find the answer to your problem after doing all that,
   you should definitely count on the developer, though he can reply
   only on the time available basis.

   If you have any suggestion or bug report, please send it to the 
   following email address.  Thanks for trying Quick Poll!

   Developer: Taro Sato
   Home page: http://ethereal.virtualave.net/soft/qpoll/home.html
       Email: qpoll@ethereal.virtualave.net


9. APPENDIX

      This section describes the format of Quick Poll data file, and
      also works as the reference for those who want to get detailed
      information of Quick Poll Administrator inputs.

      A single line in the file corresponds to a poll in a web page.
      Some text editors may wrap long lines, but as long as you do not
      type "return," a wrapped line should be considered as one line
      of record.

      Each field is divided by a character "|" (note this is not
      "I" or "l" or "1") and no extra spaces should be inserted.
      Create a line that contains data fields in the following order.

      "*" denotes the new fields added for the version 3.0.

         * Quick Poll data file version
            - Set to "QP30" for the version 3.0.
         Poll identification number
            - Give a unique number to a poll.
         Question text (HTML)
         Cookie expiration days
            - After the specified days have passed, a voter can vote
              again for the same topic.  In effect, you can prevent
              a voter from casting additional votes for the length of
              time specified here.
         * Table box width (pixel)
         * Table border (pixel)
         * Table cell spacing (pixel)
         * Table cell padding (pixel)
         Voting table style
            - "0" for radio buttons at left
              "1" for drop down menu
              "2" for radio buttons at right
              "3" for checkbox at left
              "4" for checkbox at right
         * Submit button text (text)
            - A text used for the submit button.
         * Submit button image (URL)
            - Give a URL to an image if you want to use an image
              button.  Give nothing otherwise.
         * View results link (HTML)
            - If you want to have a link "View Results" placed in your
              voting table, give an HTML code like this:
                <A HREF="/cgi-bin/qpoll30.pl?poll_id=1&action=view">
                View Results
                </A>
              This is just an example, and how you use this field 
              actually depends on you.  You may want to invoke a 
              JavaScript function here to open a child window;
              This is why this field does not take predefined input.
         * Base font face
         * Base font size
            - Give a relative size, such as "+2," "-1," and so on.
         * Decimal places in percent
            - A number of decimal places for the percentage display.
         * Votes prefix (HTML)
            - Added before a number of votes display
         * Votes suffix (HTML)
            - Added after a number of votes display
         * Total votes text (HTML)
            - Added before the total number of votes
         * Bar width
            - Give the size of bars in relative format, such as "+2."
              It does not reflect if a size smaller than the overall
              default font size is specified.  A larger one is okay.
         * Bar maximum length (pixel)
            - Size of the bar length when it is 100%.
         * Results display format
            - This is a string that contains the info about which
              column displays which info in a result table.  It is a
              combination of the following three letter codes:
                "C00" - Put choices
                "Bab" - Put bars.  a specifies what to put next to a
                        bar, and b specifies what to put below a bar.
                        "0" is nothing, "1" is percentage, and "2" is
                        number of votes.                        
                "P00" - Put percentages
                "N00" - Put number of votes
              Put together a string in order you want the above info
              to appear in a result table, e.g., "C00B10N00"
         Text color
            - Specify the color of the text in the same way you do
              with HTML.  (e.g., "#FFFFFF" for white, or just simply
              "white")  This can be overridden if <FONT COLOR=...> 
              tags within text fields are used.
         Question background color
         * Bar background color
         Choices background color
         1st choice text (HTML)
         1st choice bar chart color
         1st choice votes (give a number, e.g., 14)
         2nd choice text (HTML)
         2nd choice bar chart color
         2nd choice votes
                .
                .
                .
         nth choice text (HTML)
         nth choice bar chart color
         nth choice votes

      Tip: When using drop down menues, you should not use HTML tags
           for "choice text" fields, but otherwise make them look as
           you want with your HTML skills.  For example, you can wrap
           a long line of text by inserting <BR> tag.


END OF README.TXT