Questionnaire Player Gen 2
| Warning | Work in progress! We are in the process of updating the information on this page. Subject to change. |
Questionnaire Player is a Resco component that is responsible for displaying questionnaires to users. We are preparing the second generation of the questionnaire player that overcomes some of the shortcomings of the older player and opens new integration opportunities. Gen 2 brings modern user interface with accessibility features baked in.
Why a new generation?
- Woodford dependency
- The gen 1 questionnaire player requires Woodford (or, more precisely, access to a mobile app project in Woodford) in order to display. By decoupling the player from Woodford, you can go beyond Resco Mobile CRM or Power Platform/Dynamics, you can display the player almost anywhere.
- Technology limitation
- The first generation of the player is based on the forms used in Resco Mobile CRM. Any questionnaire changes require custom development effort for each of the affected platforms (iOS, Android, Windows, web). Gen 2 brings a modern, platform-agnostic, and future-proof technology stack and allows for much faster development cycles.
- Outdated design
- Given the constraints of the gen 1 player, some features were impractical to implement. For example, a frequently desired feature, nested groups, is almost impossible for gen 1.
Feature highlights
Gen 2 questionnaires bring new features. The feature list below is not complete. Also, not all features are available in the first preview.
- Cover page
- Previously, questionnaires had a title and optionally a logo. Now you can design a full cover page with information about the questionnaire.
- Improved navigation
- Thanks to a new, automatically generated table of contents, you can jump straight to the question group that’s relevant for you. There’s also a new search function that allows you to find the question you need directly.
- Better descriptions
- You can now use formatted text to provide clear instructions to your inspector. Edit the text in the industry-standard Markdown format.
- Better questionnaire structure
- Take advantage of nested groups that add hierarchy and organization to extensive questionnaires. Or organize questions into tables.
- New question types
- New question types, such as slider or rating, allow you to collect data faster.
- Semantic colors and global styles
Data model, answer storage, template format
Gen 2 questionnaires use only three tables:
- Resco_questionnaire for templates
- Resco_questionnaireanswer for answers
- Resco_questionnairefolder to keep templates organized in the Questionnaire Designer
If you are familiar with the generation 1 data model, you may notice that the resco_question and resco_questiongroup tables are not listed. We’re doing away with them, even in templates; all questions are now serialized (in gen 2 templates). Do not remove resco_question and resco_questiongroup tables from your server: they are needed in the Questionnaire Designer to support gen 1 questionnaires.
If you are already using the latest gen 1 answer storage options, nothing changes. Gen 2 supports only the latest data model:
- latest JSON schema (minimal JSON and flexible JSON)
- Resco_questionnaireanswer as the storage table
- Full template dependency
Preliminary release plan
May change without notice. Last updated: May 19, 2025.
| May 23, 2025 | 18.2 preview 1 |
| June 30 | 18.2 preview 2 |
| July 28 | 18.2 preview 3 |
| August 25 | 18.2 preview 4 |
| TBD | |
| Late 2025 | GA release |
In the early preview, some standard features are not yet available:
- Data mapping
- JavaScript
- Localization
- Tagged images
- Rules (partial support is already included, full support coming later)
We will periodically release new previews. For information about new features included in preview releases, check the preview documentation for release 18.2.
Apply for limited preview
In May 2025, we are starting a limited preview (closed beta) of the gen 2 player. Reach out to us on Resco web and fill out the registration form.
| Note | In the first phase, the number of previewers is limited. If you didn’t make it to the first phase of the preview, don’t worry. Another preview initiative, available to all interested parties, is planned to start in September. We will have more information about it later. |
If you are selected for the limited preview, we will contact you with further information. Resco will enable the new features in your test organization. In this process, we will ask you to send us your Organization ID.
Get started with gen 2
The preview is available for the following platforms:
- Power Platform (with or without Dynamics features)
- Resco Cloud
The new player is available in two forms:
- Part of Resco Mobile CRM
- A PCF component you can add to your model-driven app
Prepare your test environment on Power Platform
- Download the preview version of Resco Suite from the Preview page. The earliest supported version is 18.2.
- Download the preview version of the questionnaire PCF from Resco web.
- Go to make.powerapps.com and install both solutions to a test environment. Make sure that this organization has the new features enabled as described above.
- Wait until the installation concludes, then Publish all customizations.
Power Platform: Add questionnaire component to your forms
If you want to try out the gen 2 player as a PCF in a model-driven app, add the component to your forms.
- In make.powerapps.com, edit the form for the questionnaire table.
- Using the form editor, add a new form tab. Name and order the form tabs as desired.
- Select the section included in the new tab and hide its label.
- In the list of components, scroll down to More components and add Questionnaire. (If you don't see the questionnaire, click Get more components to add it.)
- Select any text field as the component binding placeholder. If you are not familiar with PCF, check out also Resco Power Components documentation or Microsoft documentation about PCF.
- Select the added component and hide its label, then save all changes.
- Repeat the same steps for the Questionnaire Answer table.
Prepare your test environment on Resco Cloud
You can create a new preview organization or use your existing preview organization.
- Log in to your organization at https://preview.resco.net. Make sure that this organization has the new features enabled as described above.
- Start Woodford.
- Create a new app project. Select Inspections as your initial template.
- Go to the Questionnaire entity. Edit its view and add the field Feature Version.
- Go to the QuestionnaireAnswer entity. Edit its view and the field: resco_questionnaire.resco_featureversion. Ensure you are adding the correct field: for the answer entity, you must add the parent template's feature version.
- Save all changes and publish the app project.
Design a new questionnaire
- Start Questionnaire Designer (18.2 or later).
- Click New and verify that you are using Gen 2 technology. If not, go to Settings and switch to Gen 2.
- Click Create or use any of the methods for faster questionnaire creation, for example, Generate by AI.
- Add some questions and groups to your questionnaire.
- Save all changes and publish the questionnaire.
Alternatively, you can convert existing questionnaires. Edit the questionnaire, click Options and on the Features tab, click Upgrade (Beta). then save all changes. Keep in mind that some features are not yet enabled for gen 2 questionnaires and they might be lost in the conversion process. We recommend publishing the template before conversion to ensure you have a version to return to if you are unhappy with the conversion.
Play the new questionnaire
You can play (display and answer) gen 2 questionnaires either in Resco Mobile CRM or in the questionnaire component in model-driven apps.
Prerequisites:
- One of: Questionnaire component by Resco or Resco Mobile CRM 18.2 or later
- Preview feature enabled in your organization
- Published gen 2 questionnaire
In the case of Resco Mobile CRM, the app will autodetect gen 2 questionnaires and launch the correct player. In the questionnaire component for PowerApps, you need to switch to the proper form tab.
How to provide feedback?
You have several options for how you can leave feedback, report problems, or suggest improvements:
- Use the Resco support portal. Select the Preview Feedback option. See How to report requests for more information about the portal.
- Use the Send Feedback button directly from the Gen 2 player.
How to migrate?
Gen 2 is currently in preview and not supported in production. We will have more information about how to migrate later.