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Web Services
The Forsta Plus Web Services provide application programming interfaces for allowing customers to attach custom applications to a set of APIs provided with the Web Services. The web services are available as an add-on component for server customers.
Translator
The Translator module can be acquired as an add-on to Forsta Plus. When enabled, it allows for questionnaire translation to be out-sourced to external users working within a GUI limited to translation, with access only to the projects the project manager has enabled. Dedicated translators will typically not require standard Forsta Plus training.
BitStream Service
The BitStream service acts as an optimized buffer between Rapid Results / Reportal and the SQL Server databases. The service optimizes queries for large and complex reports, and effectively improves the I/O performance on database servers in environments with heavy report usage. The service generates BitStream files, a proprietary binary file format that supports incremental updates and provides faster access to report data.
Agent Controller Service
The Forsta Agent Controller service manages the agent processes related to Rabbit MQ queues. The service runs on servers assigned with the ‘Task System’ role. Certain events triggered by user interaction in Forsta Plus are added to the RabbitMQ queue. Agents (in memory processes) monitor these queues for events and perform a task depending on the event request. This could be for example updates to SQL data or triggering a request from an internal web service.
Multimode
Forsta Plus not only supports surveys over the web, but also provides options for offline personal interviewing (CAPI) and telephone-assisted interviewing (CATI). These features require a separate installation of the Multimode module.
Flex Extensions
An extension is a computer program designed to be incorporated into and run by another "parent" application to provide additional functionality for the parent application - effectively a type of add-on.
Extensions can be used to modify the behavior of existing Forsta Plus features or add entirely new features. The Flex Extension feature is a separate installation and is documented here.
URL
This service provides the means to create short URLs for survey invitations. This is similar to other URL shorteners.
Search Service
This is a service to facilitate the search for questions and nodes across all projects the users has access to. The service uses a Lucene search index to deliver fast results.
SmartHub
A centralized area for data management and optimization, allowing multiple data sources of different types to be brought together. This feature is built on Columnstore indexing provided by SQL Server.
Identity Service
The Identity Service provides authentication of users and applications for accessing Forsta applications and services. It can also be utilized to provide Single-Sign-On integration with other systems, using OAuth2 and OpenIdConnect standards, which it fully supports.
This service is deployed as a dedicated Octopus role “IdentityService”, which can be assigned any number of servers and shared with other roles depending on the setup. Variables (Octopus and System Configuration) are defined in Appendix C.
Hosting the site using HTTPS is highly recommended, however this can be disabled if required.
Add-ons
Several other features can be unlocked by purchasing Forsta add-ons. For a full list of available add-ons, consult the installation part of this documentation.