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Last Update: May 9, 2022

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This user guide pertains to configuring optional CCCApply Supplemental Questions for the CCCApply Standard, Noncredit, and International applications.

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Looking for the Supplemental QuestionsXML Schema template? Find the latest version on theUser Guidespage.

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Getting Started with Supplemental Questions

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If you want supplemental questions to display in both or all three CCCApply applications, you must configure and import separate XML files for each application.

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Note: The Noncredit application is a workflow and subset of the CCCApply Standard applications questions that skips the residency and military questions for students who are only taking noncredit courses. See the Noncredit Application section of the CCCApply Standard & Noncredit Application Data Dictionary for more details.

When you have your XML file ready, you import your XML supplemental questions in the CCCApply Administrator and then activate and deactivate question set(s) as you wish.

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If Page ID 9 and Page ID 10 had the exact same Effective Date, then Page ID 9 would take precedence as the set with the lowest Page ID number is used in this scenario.

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Note: If you have used supplemental questions in the past, you may notice that the <SupplementalQuestions> element contains an EffectiveDate attribute. This attribute has no effect on your supplemental questions. The system simply ignores it.

Note

Note: When you upload a set of questions, there is a potential 25-minute delay before they appear on the student application. In the live environment, you won't notice this delay, as you will have uploaded your questions well in advance. But it will be noticeable during your testing phase in your Pilot environment. After you upload your test questions, wait 25 minutes before attempting to see them on your student application.

Working with XML

Although working with computer languages can be daunting, you don't need to be an expert to create supplemental questions for your college's student application, and you don't need any sophisticated tools. A simple text editor and a rudimentary understanding of XML hierarchy will be helpful.

If you are comfortable writing computer software, you can of course use the tools that best suit you. Otherwise, create your XML files using your operating system's built-in text editor. On Windows, the text editor is called Notepad, and on OSX, it is called TextEdit.

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Note: These applications can work with file formats other than plain text. Be sure to save your files in plain text format.

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Important: Unless you have experience working with text editors and XML, do not use XMLNotepad to edit your files. It adds extra characters to the beginning of the file that will prevent your XML from uploading. If you do have experience in this area, use XMLNotepad to edit your XML (to take advantage of the schema), then use a plain text editor or some other suitable tool to remove the extra characters (the BOM) before uploading.

Most of the contents of your XML file will depend on the questions you want to ask and the responses you expect to receive. For details on creating questions and guiding the student through the application process see Supplemental Questions: Layout And User Experience and Supplemental Questions: Response Elements.

Setting up Your XML File

  1. Copy and paste the example starter XML file structure below into your XML editor before you begin creating questions. This text will serve as your XML base and you can use it over and over again for each new supplemental question XML file set.

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Note

Important: It is very important that your uploaded XML file be error-free. If there are errors in your supplemental questions XML file, you will likely see an error message in the Administrator when you attempt to upload it.

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It is strongly recommended that before uploading, you validate your XML with a free, online validator tool such as

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Free Formatter. This site allows you to copy and paste your XML or XSD for syntax checking. *The maximum size limit for file upload is 2 megabytes.

After you paste your XML and click validate, the site will ask you to copy and paste a second file. In industry jargon, the file it is requesting is called a schema. You can copy the schema from here and paste it into the validator. The validator then tells you if there are problems with your XML. Although the error messages may still be somewhat intimidating, this particular validator will at least show you in a friendly way where the error is in your XML.

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Looking for the Supplemental QuestionsXML Schema template? Find the latest version on theUser Guidespage.

Supplemental Questions: Layout And User Experience

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Both <Label> and <HoverHelp> are used only as child elements of the response elements. The <Label> element can be thought of as the question being asked for a response element, while the <HoverHelp> element can be used to provide further explanatory text when the applicant clicks the Help icon next to the related input field. Multiple <HoverHelp> children are allowed, one for each language your student application supports. The optional <Translations> element allows you to specify English or Spanish language (internationalize) for your questions. You must include at least two <Locale> elements, one with a <lang> attribute of "es" and one without, as well as a message block.

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 <Checkbox id="8"><Label>Underpaid</Label></Checkbox>

</Section>

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Note

To avoid unnecessary errors, do not embed html tags inside text, such as <br>, and do not place text outside an element <>.

The <HoverHelp> Element

The application will use the <HoverHelp> tag that applies to the currently-selected language. Only English (lang=”en”) and Spanish (lang=”es”, for Español) are supported. The hover help appears when the applicant hovers the mouse over the checkbox.

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Warning

Warning: You must specify a language (using the lang attribute as in the examples above) for your hover help or your Supplemental Questions tab will fail and the applicant will see an error message rather than your supplemental questions.

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The

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<Translations> Element

The <Translations> element allows you to specify English or Spanish language (internationalize) for your questions. You must include at least two <Locale> elements, one with a <lang> attribute of "es" and one without, as well as a message block.

To ensure your page(s) display in Spanish correctly when the Cambiar A Espanol button is selected, even if the end-user’s browser language is set to Spanish, the college must configure the <Translations> element within their XML code and provide the translated text for each question, label, hover help, and response option.

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IMPORTANT: If your college chooses not to internationalize your supplemental questions, they will display in the default language (English) even if the user has implemented the Cambiar a Espanol button in the application OR if the user’s browser’s language setting is configured for Spanish or another language.

If your college has already provided both an English and a Spanish version of supplemental questions manually in the XML, you can continue to leave your XML code as is and both language versions of the question(s) will continue to display.

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To internationalize your custom supplemental questions:

  • Add the optional <Translations> element.

  • Within the <Translations> element, add at least two <Locale> elements, one without any "lang" attribute and one with a lang attribute of "es".

  • Add <Message> element blocks for each code into both of the <Locale> elements.

    • Each <Message> element must have a <code> and <message> attribute with values.

    • The <code> attribute value must match the question's <Label> value.

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...each has a corresponding <Message code="" message=""/> in the <Translations> element's <Locale> element; the first in English and the second in Spanish:="" message=""/> in the <Translations> element's <Locale> element; the first in English and the second in Spanish:

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Reminder: Do not include formatting in the <Translations> element.

<Translations>

 <Locale>

 <Message code="main.header" message="Here are some questions"/>

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 </Locale>

 </Translations>


Response Element: The

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default Attribute

Depending on your specific circumstances, you can allow the applicant to ignore a given question, or you can require the applicant to provide a response. If you allow a question to be ignored, the system will store a system-default value for the question. The legal default values depend on the response element you specified. When you add a default attribute to a response element, the system auto-answers the question with the default value you specify. When the page appears, the question displays as already answered:

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Image 2: Supplemental Questions Summary Table with Export Action Icon

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Version Change Log

Change Date

Application Version

Change Description

Additional Notes

October 2022

CCCApply 6.11.1

Updated the <Translations> element section for displaying and implementing language translation to the XML code.

See: Configuring Spanish-Language Translation Text to Supplemental Questions