Foodle Add-On for Democracy Poll

Provides a seamless and flexible, interactive display option for online polls with Democracy Poll with a lot of parameters to be controlled for various display possibilities.
To be used as a shortcode alongside the poll for an interactive results display or separately just for result display purposes.
It provides and will further provide enhancements for Democracy Poll, like e.g. mixed polls (checkboxes plus radiobuttons in one poll). User fields (poll categories) can be defined and maintained in the users’ profiles to provide enhanced result statistics (e.g. showing a choir’s voices representation on proposed concert or rehearsal dates being polled in order to judge the ability to sing) – this was the author’s initial motivation.
Fields can as well be automatized in input based on regular expressions applied on the main user’s field (poll category).
Email reminders to users that didn’t vote, yet. Flexible sorting options and much more. Of course: the main shortcode is made for registered users only. Give it a try!

Inspired by and enhancing: Tkama’s Democracy Poll plugin.

Latest important updates:

• New from version 2.5.12.0: Comments are now part of the Excel download.
• New from version 2.5.10.0: Individuals can be excluded from being considered as voters – regardless their role(s) – by the tab ‘Special Roles & Users’. From version 2.5.9.0, the bar graph text can be edited in the Foodle settings.
• New from version 2.5.8.0: The visibility of the bar graph tooltip with users who did not vote yet can now be controlled by roles.
• New from version 2.5.7.0: Added a dynamic icon (2.5.6.0) in the Democracy poll list and edit pages to visualize the following: a) everyone voted already, b) not everyone voted so far, c) the numer of users to vote is zero or d) an unexpected voter did vote or the participation rate exceeds 100%. In version 2.5.7.0, the following visualization was added: e) NOT all (maybe the brandnew) Foodle poll parameters have been saved so far, so they are still in their programmed default state.
• New from version 2.5.5.0: A table with a list of users who did not vote so far for a poll is being displayed interactively as a tooltip when hovering with the mouse over the related bar graph (also available on touch screens: just touch the bar graph). Can be limited to administrators for each poll individually (= default). This is also available in the back end poll list an in each poll edit page (icon).
• New from version 2.5.4.0: Only voters asigned for a poll are able to vote. For each poll, entering new comments can be controlled by roles and administrators’ vote option is controllable as well (since 2.5.3.0).
• New from version 2.5.1.0: A comments table preview is being displayed interactively as a tooltip when hovering with the mouse over the related green icon, which indicates that comments are available for a poll, or when touching the green icon on touch screens (since 2.5.2.0).
• New from version 2.5.1.0: A comment’s preview is being displayed interactively as a tooltip when hovering with the mouse over the related green icon (or when touching it on touch screens), which indicates that comments are available for a poll.
• New from version 2.5.0.0: A new shortcode to display the participation rate of individual polls by means of a bar graph.
• New from version 2.4.0.0: Visibility Management: In each Democracy Poll edit page, the poll-related visibility of Democracy Poll, Foodle and the poll’s comments can be tailored in detail depending on the users’ roles.
• New from version 2.3.0.0: A new shortcode was introduced for logged-in users to collect and display user comments related to individual polls. And from version 2.3.7.0 onward, a user template for automated use in the Democracy Poll textarea is available.
• New from version 2.2.0.0: Selection of roles is now possible for polls in order to easier control reminder emails and statistics.
• New from version 2.1.0.0: A new back end tab was introduced to display the usage of the Democracy shortcode and the Foodle main shortcode.
• New from version 2.0.0.0: Major release with a number of improvements and enhancements.

Some General Considerations and more details:

The basic idea for this plugin was developed when the need for polls arrived for the choir I have the pleasure to be part of: Voices Unlimited.
This plugin can be used by any organization, association, union, society, club or group of people when polls shall be executed and results be displayed in a structured way, e.g.:

• For this or that choir rehearsal or planned public event to be scheduled, would sufficient Sopranos 1 or Tenors 2 be available?
• Or do the choir members support this or that idea and from which sub-group do they come from?
• Or what could be winning ideas for the next concert stage dress (Democracy Poll with answers to be brought by the voters and be displayed for everyone easy to understand) and would this spread nicely in color on stage, considering the choir’s stage order?

You will surely translate all this into your own environment and your own needs…

Main feature is the Foodle shortcode, which allows to display poll results in a configurable table format. Alongside the Democracy Poll shortcode, it will display the results interactively by use of AJAX communication.
However, it can as well be used independently to just display poll results.
Together with the WordPress comments function in pages or posts, this can be considered a good tool for online interaction with your registered (!) users.

Warning! Democracy Poll’s logging and IP storing option must be activated in order for Foodle to work. By this, all votes are stored in the database for Foodle to work with. You may select to avoid IP storage in each individual poll in order to avoid failures when voters share the same IP address, e.g. when voting in the same WLAN environment.

The list of Foodle features comprises:

• The interactive poll results table (shortcode [foodle-democracy-poll-list-log])
• This shortcode only makes sense and therefore only works for registered users (else: no display) and registered voters (else: message)
• All other functions work regardless this necessary restriction
• A shortcode for logged-in users ([foodle-comments]) to collect and display user comments related to individuall polls (hint: in the back end Democracy poll list and each poll edit page, when hovering with the mouse over the related icon or touching it on a touch screen, a tooltip with a comments table preview is being displayed)
• A shortcode for logged-in users ([foodle-poll-bar-graph]) to display the participation rate of individual polls by means of a bar graph (hint: when hovering with the mouse over the bar graph or touching it on touch screens, a tooltip with a list of users that did not vote yet is being displayed – the same is true in the back end Democracy poll list and each poll edit page by use of the related icon)
• Several Democracy Poll shortcodes on one page/post (like before)
• Full shortcode flexibility: Several Foodle shortcodes – even for the same Democracy Poll id with differing parameters – on one page/post
• Email reminders for users who are late to vote
• An unlimited number of user metafields to be defined and used (in user profile – can be switched off in Foodle settings)
• In the user profile, for already existing metafields as well used by Foodle, these can be deactiviated elsewhere in the user profile in order to just be filled in the user profile’s Foodle area
• A shortcode for a front end interface to these extra user metafields
• Recovery of orphaned metafield field names, which still have data in the database (user meta)
• Deletion of data in the database (user meta) for metafield field names, which are orphaned
• Manual drag-n-drop fields sorting
• Careful (!) selection and use of existing user metafields
• Manual entry or drop-down entry in the user profile
• Automated filling of user metafields by use of Regular Expressions
• Easy overview and control over past user entries (normalization)
• Flexible sorting definitions
• Definition of role & user plugin-internal capabilities
• Dashboard widget (and shortcode) to provide statistics and check for logical errors in democracy_q, democracy_a and democracy_log databases
• A shortcode to link to the Foodle page/post
• A shortcode to display content based on roles
• A free name/title definition for Foodle, e.g. for the user profile and the email
• Changeable highlighting of Foodle & Democracy Poll in the admin menu and admin toolbar
• You can define a list of page/post IDs where the AJAX interactivitiy is switched off.
• Switchable interactive explanations for all functions (‘Help-Tooltips’)
• Warning-Tooltips can be disabled
• Help-Tooltips and Warning-Tooltips are available anywhere for the administrator (front end and back end)
• A smooth scrolling function is available anywhere for the administrator (front end and back end)
• A scroll up button with Foodle settings to have control over its visibility throughout front end and back end
• A number of Foodle CSS classes to have the design control
• In parallel to the ‘administrator’ role, managing Foodle can be delegated to other roles and their allowances can be tailored to your needs – some settings, however, will remain an administrator privilege (Foodle title, post exclusion, roles/allowances and vote expiry)
• Tracking of Foodle shortcode usage in pages/posts
• A user template for automated use in the textarea of Democracy Poll is available
• Download of Foodle tables to Excel format (Beta)

In addition to that, functionality is added to Democracy Poll:

• In multiple answers polls, you can combine checkboxes and radio buttons
• In each poll edit page, you may select from the available categories (user metafields) for display
• In each poll edit page, you may define the (main) category to be used for the category column
• In each poll edit page, you may define the related text of its sorting button
• In each poll edit page, you may decide whether to display an AJAX refresh button in the results displays (voted and/or not voted)
• In each poll edit page, you may decide whether to have marked users to be counted (columns sums and first-come-first-serve answers)
• In each poll edit page, you may decide whether to prevent from storing the voters’ IP adresses for this poll in order to preserve full functionality even when voters share the same IP address.
  Reminder: Democracy Poll’s logging and IP storing option must remain activated in order for Foodle to work!
• In each poll edit page, you may decide for which roles the related poll is intented. Will determine the display of shortcodes ‘foodle-democracy-poll-list-log’ and ‘foodle-comments’ as well as determine the user base for email reminders (besides the settings in tab ‘Special Roles & Users’) and statistics
• In each poll edit page, you can control the Democracy Poll textarea and the use of its user template by a few buttons.
• In each poll edit page, the visibility of Democracy Poll, Foodle, the poll’s comments, the bargraph and the bargraph tooltip can be tailored in detail depending on the users’ roles.
• In each poll edit page, you can determine whether the administrator role is allowed to vote anyway, regardless the Foodle visibility settings
• In each poll edit page and in the poll list, an icon will visualize the following: a) this poll has no comments, yet or b) this poll has received comments (hint: when hovering with the mouse over the related icon or touching it on a touch screen, a tooltip with a comments table preview is being displayed)
• In each poll edit page and in the poll list, a dynamic icon will visualize the following: a) everyone voted already, b) not everyone voted so far, c) the numer of users to vote is zero, d) an unexpected voter did vote or the participation rate exceeds 100% or e) NOT all (maybe the brandnew) Foodle poll parameters have been saved so far, so they are still in their programmed default state (hint: when hovering with the mouse over the related icon or touching it on a touch screen, a tooltip with a list of users that did not vote yet is being displayed)
• In the graphical poll results, a text will indicate the voter’s choice(s)
• You can choose to avoid the vote expiry on polls lasting longer than 12 months
• The use of shortcodes is now possible inside the Democracy Poll’s own text field located underneath the very poll
• A shortcode to disable the display of certain Foodle IDs in an archive listing (i.e. by enclosing the related Democracy Poll archive shortcode)
• A number of Democracy CSS classes to have the design control
• Corrected tracking of Democracy shortcode usage in pages/posts

You will probably – at least in the beginning – want to switch-on the ‘Help-Tooltips’ (Foodle Settings) to see explanations for every function throughout the admin page tabs.
And don’t hesitate to propose additional valuable features you might still be missing – for me to review openly.