Categories

Getting started with Categories

Topics covered here include:-

Categories are a way of grouping your posts based on their content within a Survey.

To access the Categories configuration page,

  • On the left hand menu bar, click on Settings

  • Then, click on Categories.

  • You’ll be redirected to a page where you can manage categories on your deployment

Adding and Configuring Categories

Unlike Ushahidi v2.x, your deployment DOES NOT come with pre installed/set-up categories. You will need to create this on your new Ushahidi deployment. Categories are now treated as custom fields within a Survey. This gives you the flexibility to add certain categories to some surveys, but not others.

There are two ways to create new categories. First, navigate to Settings → Categories

  • Click on the Add Category icon as shown below

  • Add the following details
    • Category Name: Give your category a name that will appear on your homepage and when users are creating new posts.
    • Description: You can provide a brief description of what kind of information you will fall under this category
    • Roles: You can opt to set your category as visible to specific user roles on your deployment here. This list is populated based on custom roles created. More on Roles in Chapter 4 of this manual
    • Child / parent settings: You can choose to set any category as a “child” to another, creating a hierarchy within the categories themselves, and will reflect this in their positioning on the sidebar.
  • Click on Save to create the category. You can now choose to add this category to any of your Surveys.

You can also create categories on the fly within the survey form itself

  • Navigate to a Survey form that already has a categories field
  • Under the categories field, you will see an option to Add new category. Click this.
  • Type the name of the new category you’d like to add
  • Click the yellow check mark to save your new category, or click the trash can icon to cancel the new category creation
  • To edit or manage your category and its settings, navigate to Settings → Categories

Add categories as custom fields as you build and edit Surveys. First, navigate to Settings → Surveys, and either select the already existing Survey you’d like to edit, or create a new Survey.

  • Click on Add field at the bottom of the survey builder and select Categories from the list of field options

  • Configure the following:
    • Name: Name or prompt for your survey field
    • Show field description: Turn this on if you’d like to add a short description or help text to the field
    • Which labels should be available: Select which categories you’d like to add to the field as options

Screen Shot 2017-05-31 at 12.14.56 PM.png

  • Click Add & Close to save your new categories field
  • It will now appear as a custom field with the appropriate categories on your Survey form

The categories you selected will also appear in the left side context modal as filtering options

Editing Categories

To edit a category,

  • Click on the desired category from the category list page
  • You’ll get redirected to the Edit Category page, where you should be able to add/edit details as described in the Add category section above.

When done, click on Save, and your changes will reflect shortly.

Deleting Categories

You can delete one or multiple categories at a time.

To delete a category,

  • From the category list page,
    • To delete a single category, select the trash icon adjacent to the category
    • To delete multiple categories,
      • Tick the checkbox on the left, adjacent to the category/categories you would like to delete from the category list page
      • This action will activate the previously inactive Delete button on top left hand corner of the page. Click on this button to initiate deletion.
  • From the category edit page,
    • Click on the Delete Category button
  • A pop up box will appear on the top of the page, prompting you to confirm whether you would like to delete the category/categories
    • Click on Delete to delete your category/categories
    • If you’d like to cancel the category deletion process, click on Cancel