qscript is a language to help script questionnaires for market research for data entry. The project is open source, released under the GNU GPL version 2 license.

Currently, qscript is good for scripting Pen and Paper Interview (PAPI) questionnaires. The language supports routing of questions using conditional logic, simple looping, masking of codes and mutually exclusive codes.

Here is a small script to give you a feel for the language

Example Script

inp_simple_example {
	q1 "Q1. This is question 1" sp int32_t (5-8, 1-2, 9-10, 11, 16);

	stubs agree5 = 
			" strongly disagree" 1
			" disagree " 2
			" neutral " 3
			" agree " 4
			"strongly agree" 5;
	if (q1 in (1) ) {
		q2_1 "Q2.1 This is question 2_1" sp int32_t agree5;
	} else {
		q2_2 "Q2.2 This is question 2_2" sp int32_t agree5;
	}

	stubs stuff = 
		"USB pen drive" 1
		"Keys" 2
		"Wallet" 3
		"Watch" 4
		"Pen" 5;

	q3 "Q3. This is question 3" mp(3) int32_t stuff;
}

Compiling a script

Compiling the above script. Suppose the file is named inp_simple_example. It can be compiled to an exe with the following commands

Compilation on GNU/Linux

	$ qscript -n  -m -o -f inp_simple_example

Compilation on Windows - you must pass the -s option to generate a static binary

	$ qscript -s -n  -m -o -f inp_simple_example

The -n flag is for a curses binary, the -m option creates a nice mapfile layout, the -o option is a optimization for save/restore jumps.

You can run the generated executable like this.

	$ .\inp_simple_example.exe

Here is a screenshot of what the running exe looks like:

System Requirements

Runs on Windows/GNU Linux and should probably work on any UNIX like OS
Needs GNU g++ compiler on linux or MinGW on Windows
Needs ncurses library on linux or pdcurses library on Windows