About answerSpaces

Owned by Ray Pearce (Unlicensed)
Last updated: Jan 11, 2015
3 min read

answerSpaces are containers for Interactions. Within the answerSpace, Interactions can be reused, and exist in different areas within the answerSpace.

Because of this, users can have a highly customised experience, with different groups of users seeing different Interactions and experiencing a unique look and feel.

Loading the answerSpace

This is a brief overview of what happens when an answerSpace boots up in Advanced mode

If you are using a native app or application mode, then the splash screen will be visible whilst the initial HTML for the BIC is downloaded, this splash screen will disappear once the HTML is available.

This HTML draws progress dots on a white (default) background, which are animated as several components are loaded in separately:

Each progress dot starts out black, and will turn either green (for success) or red (for failure).

For certain errors, a message may be displayed beneath the dots.

If you never see the dots at all then it's likely a problem generating the initial HTML or connecting to the server in the first place.

  • The first dot is for device-specific JavaScript, including special handling for CSS Fixed Position, scroll events and animations.
  • The second dot is general code necessary for BICv2, this is responsible for basically everything.
  • The third dot is for poly-fills: these are small chunks of JavaScript necessary to compensate for missing features in browsers.
  • The fourth dot signals that the code from the 2nd dot has executed and is ready to go.
  • The fifth dot signals that the code from the 1st dot has executed and is ready to go.

    Note:      This dot only appears in the native app, and it signals that the native app's JavaScript is ready to go.

  • The sixth (or seventh, when native) dot signals that the BIC has prepared the browser (hooked into History & navigation systems).
  • The seventh (or eighth, when native) dot signals that persistent storage has been opened (if available) and any existing answerSpace configuration data is ready to be used.

All 7 (or 8) dots should be green at this point.

The BIC then requests the latest answerSpace configuration (includes the site map, and Interaction Manager settings for the entire answerSpace), but only if online.

Once the answerSpace configuration has been processed, the white screen with the loading dots goes away and the first useable screen of the answerSpace appears, so now any Interaction that doesn't use Forms or Data Suitcases is available for use right away.

In the background, the site map is opened, and the list of Forms and Data Suitcases needed for the answerSpace is processed (these are sometimes big, so they are downloaded in the background so that the rest of the answerSpace can be used in the meantime)

Also in the background, the JavaScript for Forms is downloaded in parallel to the actual Forms. This means that answerSpaces with zero Forms don't waste time downloading code for Forms.

All types of Interactions available for use.

Manage Answerspace

AnswerSpace Options

Once you’ve logged into your answerSpace, you can control how your answerSpace looks and behaves via the option ‘answerSpace setup’. This is the main area where you manage your answerSpace. In this window, you can set a number of default options that control how your answerSpace looks and behaves.

Note: All options set here will affect the equivalent options set at the Category and Interaction levels, unless the ‘Inherit’ option has been specifically turned off at that level.