Before I submit this as a bug, I wanted to be sure I'm not doing something wrong.

I have a page that collects information, creates a user, then sends that user to the survey I created. The link looks like this: On the survey, I created an optional longtext question that is hidden, then used Panel Integration to capture userid.
On the Panel Integration section, when I save userid, mapped to the userid question, the page refreshes and there is text that indicates all has been saved, but when I return to the Panel Integration pane, it is blank (see screenshot).

For the end URL, I provided this link, but {PASSTHRU:userid} is blank, nothing shows up at all: The result for the link above was: I looked up the field name in the database (to be sure data was actually getting there) and changed the end url to: That code works, but only after trying several revisions, there are 4 null entries for the first attempts.

I've attached the lss survey I'm using to test this out before deploying to a much larger instrument. Greatly appreciate some advice here.

...but when I return to the Panel Integration pane, it is blank (see screenshot).

I have no problem with the latest version (2.56.1). Please update and retest before filing a bug report.

For the end URL, I provided this link, but {PASSTHRU:userid} is blank, nothing shows up at all:

If you've saved to a question with code "userid", I'm not sure you need the "PASSTHRU:" bit. Try:

I did update: Version 2.56.1+161118, but I didn't clear my cache. Rookie mistake. Once I cleared the cache, the Panel Integration section shows up correctly. I'll test to verify, but I suspect that was the issue.

I'm interested in your second statement. If I supply a variable on the querystring that matches a question code, does this added to the survey response?

My second statement refers to the end URL, not the survey URL. I made the assumption that in Panel Integration, you mapped a "userid" parameter to a "userid" question.

Yes indeed, I mapped it to the userid question and it was working even though it didn't show up in the Panel Integration section. I added it back now (after clearing cache) and it now shows up as {PASSTHRU:userid} as well as {INSERTANS:996399X60X2868}.

It appears that I can populate question answers with query vars. I didn't know that was feature. Is this a valid assumption?

To test, I added {PASSTHRU:username} and it shows up on the end URL as expected. That's good, but can I display {PASSTHRU:username} on the welcome screen?

I tried that and EM marks it in red and, of course, it doesn't work as a result. I also tried to see {userid} and {PASSTHRU:userid}, but those don't appear on the welcome screen either.

For what it's worth, I've been reading: www.limesurvey.org/manual/URL_fields#Pre...d_hidding_the_answer to find the answer.

It appears that I should be able to see {userid} within the survey since it's included as a question code and a Panel Integration param by adding {userid.shown}, but this userid does not appear...which makes me believe {username.shown} will not work as well, even when i map it to the longText question field.

I guess I should stop adding to this thread since my question is now, how do I show Panel Integration vars within the survey.

...how do I show Panel Integration vars within the survey.

You can simply use the Expression Manager variable for the question that the parameter is stored in (in this case, "userid").

See the attached survey. It has the panel integration we have discussed. If you append ?userid=12345 to the survey URL, it will:
1) be recorded in the "userid" question
2) be shown in an text-display question
3) be appended to the end URL.

Thanks for the details. I see how it works and I'll be able to implement it appropriately.

The only place this doesn't work is on the Welcome screen. This is odd to me, but I can change my workflow to hide the welcome screen and create a text question with the welcome info. I'll also create text questions for each parameter to allow me to show the username.

It doesn't work on the welcome screen because the param has not been loaded into a question yet (no questions exist at that point).

I've been working for hours on this seemingly simple issue. Still no joy.
Here is the process. Please tell me what I'm doing wrong.
I imported your Test 1 survey and changed it from Group By Group to Question By Question. That's the only change. Activate the survey, create dummy user, modify the token, run the test and everything works fine.
I modified the survey to add a username, hide the group, added a results group to simulate the survey (attached)
Activate the survey, create dummy user, etc., run the test an nothing works. No userid, no username.
hgctools.com/limesurvey/index.php/969829...name=Dave%20Phillips

Really need to know what I'm doing wrong here. I have two instruments in beta today because I thought this was straight-forward. One works, the other doesn't.

I think that by hiding the group with relevance == 0, you have basically rendered all questions in the group irrelevant.

I would run the survey in group-by-group and hide the panel questions with the "Always hide this question" advance setting or CSS instead of with relevance.

Thanks tpartner for your quick response.

I have to run in Question by Question mode, but Hiding the question appears to be the secret answer. In another forum thread (some weeks ago), I read about skipping the group by changing the relevance to 0. I thought this was a clever way of hiding a group of demographic data I was collecting on the form that launches the survey. So...apparently, that is a very BAD idea for production (while good for testing).

I set relevance to 1 on the group, then set Hide This Question to true on all of the group's items. When I load the URL with parameters, it works!

Now to recover the last 5 hours. Learning more each day. Thanks again.

In general, I usually use Group by Group mode, even if I want to show question by question. Why? Because you can use hidden questions and equations on the same page as some questions and if there are smaller questions e.g. demographics you can also show them on the same page.

It is a little bit more work, but well worth it in many cases. Unfortunately you then can't really use question groups for logical grouping anymore, as you use it more as a "page" construct, which does not exist in Limesurvey at the moment.

Would be great to have "groups" and "pages" at the same time in Limesurvey one day.

Am I to understand your recommendation is to have a group for each question?

One survey I'm releasing has 20 questions, so that would be manageable, but most have closer to 100 questions. I'm not sure I appreciate the advantage. Can you help me understand? A few examples, perhaps?

I'm planning to offer 10 to 20 surveys in 2017 for individuals or organizations, the latter will have premium support for reporting, etc. I'd really like to be smart on LimeSurvey.

If you always and ever want to show ONLY question by question, then my recommendation might not be necessary. But often it happens that you want to have more than one question on one "page", e.g. one is hidden and only appears when a certain response is given (for further comments, or more detailed probing). If you use question by question, you can't do this.

As there is no real "page" concept, you can only simulate this by using a group for each "page" you want. So it might happen that you have many groups that actually have just 1 question, just to be able to have some "pages"/groups where you can show more than one question.

It also helps with expressions sometimes. If you plan on only having 1 question per page for your questionnaire, then my suggestion might not be interesting.

Example:

I often ask things like gender, age, etc. on one page, because it feels like a waste to have this on various pages. Sometimes it is also benefitial to have on two questions on one page for methodological reasons. E.g. one text display to explain something or show a text, then a rating question and then an importance question and then maybe some comments. If you do this page by page, people might not remember the text, or a picture, etc. And of course it is quicker when you don't have to load a page for each question (for users). So I think it is important to plan ahead with your questionnaire and decide how to structure it.