Hello, new to BT. I have a question about using the quiz plug in. I understand from the forums that I can load the questions into a separate file on dropbox or similar rather than enter them in the plug in itself. I plan on 1000-1500 questions as my app is a comprehensive review for a licensing exam so this seems the way to go so my app isn't bogged down by all the questions internally. I cannot seem to find in the forums or how-to's how exactly (step by step) to set this up...put the questions in an excel file? I am hoping to start with Android and then Apple as well if that makes any difference. I am not a coder so hopefully there is a solution that does not involve writing the code myself! Thanks so much for your help.

Hi @cath, Welcome to buzztouch! In order to do what you want to do, you need to create the JSON for each quiz question, and then point your app's configuration file to grab the info from that file when it generates the quizzes. Sounds more complicated than it is, and fortunately, @stobe has created an awesome tool that can help out! http://idevdepot.com/quiz-maker-tool/ One thing to consider though...if you have all the questions reside online somewhere, as opposed to in the app itself, a network connection will be required to take the quiz. If you have the questions in the app itself, response time will be quicker, and no network connection will be required. And, finally, since the questions are just text, it won't increase the size of your app as much as you think. Just some things to consider! Let us know what direction you take, and we can help out! Mark

Hi Cath, Have you had a look at @stobe's Quiz generation tool? http://idevdepot.com/quiz-maker-tool/ It's well worth the ten dollars if you have that many questions. I used it to generate about 100 questions and output them as json data so I could just put the resulting quizdata.txt file online. Hope this helps.

@GoNorthWest ... bugger you're quick! LOL :)

Thank you so much and holy smokes, so fast! Great point about users being able to use the app without a network connection. I have looked at the quiz maker tool but was under the impression it would not work for an Android app? Given @GoNorthwest's response re: file size of text questions, I lean now towards entering the questions within the BT plugin. Follow up question then, could I enter say 300 questions, and then swap out a certain amount every few weeks to keep the questions fresh for users? I assume that those updates would work if I am hosted on BT servers, but what if I decide to self-host?

Hello Again, The Quiz Maker Tool works for Android too. See it in action here (free) https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cfctriviaandroid From memory I did have to either add or subtract the commas between the quiz questions for Android (ask me again if you decide to use the Quiz Tool and get this far - I'll help if I can). I divided my quiz up into four sections as I thought if there were a hundred questions in one quiz, the user may get bored not seeing a result and exit before the end - just a thought! Swapping out questions is not an issue, you just change the data URL of where the question live. You could have them all done ready to swap and then just make the change on the control panel. It doesn't matter whether it's Buzztouch or your own server. Cheers

Either way you decide, Stobes plug-in (or a serious text editor with lots of regex find/replace) will work wonders for your app setup. Even if you want to include the questions in the binary (which would make sense), manually entering that many would take you until November. His tool creates the JSON data you'll need (regardless of online/offline use). Read up on it, and contact him if you need to (he's a good guy, and very happy to help), and you'll be on the app store in no time. The difference between self-hosting and BT hosting is merely a matter of which you prefer, until you reach 50 apps. Then you might want to seriously consider self hosting. Otherwise, they're identical. I'm self hosting. I get the update notification just as I did while on the BT servers. And although I don't have 50 apps, I'm an 'under the hood' kind of guy. I like working on the nitty gritty as well as the polished surface. I found the BT Self Hosting Package to be a breeze to install and configure. If you've ever loaded a CMS (content management system, like Joomla, Drupal, Wordpress) then it's VERY similar. It won't hurt to play around, have fun! And I use the Quiz on my app; both Android and iPhone work great! One other plug in you may want to make use of Stobe's "JSON Snippet Keeper"; It sounds like the perfect tool for when you change out sets of questions. Not a simple tool, but perfect for your use. And again, Stobe has written a million 'how to' guides for his, and other stuff. If you have questions, he has answers. Cheers! -- Smug

@ictguy - we must have been typing at the same time! My computer is closer to Monterrey, so hitting Submit probably travels faster! ;-) @cath - If you want to update questions periodically, you have two options: (1) provide an update to the app through the store, where you make the changes in your control panel, and then create a new binary, or (2) link to the questions at a URL somewhere, and then just change out that file. Doing #2 is by far the easiest and fastest. It's probably very likely that your users will have a network or cellular access most of the time, so you can always just make that a prerequisite, and then use method #2. If you're concerned about that, #1 is still super valid, just requires a bit more work. Mark

Cath, Welcome to buzztouch! And as stated above, if you have any questions about the QuizMaker or the JSON Snippet Tool, feel free to contact me directly via PM, or you can continue this thread in the forums. I'll be more than happy to help you get going in the best direction for you! -Stobe

Been poking around BT looking into this very question myself! the answers are super useful! Good luck Cath!

Been poking around BT looking into this very question myself! the answers are super useful! Good luck Cath!

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