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All CollectionsIntegration: Using Zapier with WoodpeckerWoodpecker as Zapier Trigger
Creating a Zapier Trigger from Questionnaire Submissions
Creating a Zapier Trigger from Questionnaire Submissions

Automate tasks when users submit a questionnaire

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Written by Shawn Moore
Updated over 6 months ago

Zapier is a powerful web platform that allows non-developers to easily connect web services, enabling the creation of custom data workflows. This article will walk you through the basics of how to set up a Zapier "trigger" based on Woodpecker questionnaire submissions. Before you start, make sure you have the prerequisites set up to ensure you are ready to use Zapier.

After signing into your Zapier account, click the "Create Zap" button.

You'll then be prompted to specify the "Trigger" for your Zap. Search for "Woodpecker" in the search box and select the Woodpecker app. Please make sure to select the correct Woodpecker app (the one with the blue bird icon).

For the "Trigger Event", there is currently only one option: "New Questionnaire Submitted". Please select this option and click "Continue". Your screen should look similar to the below image.

In the next step, you will be prompted to sign in to your Woodpecker account, to verify you have access to the application. To do this, you will need to access your API Key.

After verification, you can test the trigger. This step is recommended so that you can more easily connect the output of the trigger in subsequent "Action" steps. Please keep in mind that only questionnaires submitted in the last hour will be returned, so it is recommended that you submit a test questionnaire on your own account shortly before setting up the Zap.

After testing, just click "Continue" and that is it! Your trigger is now ready to use.

Sample Trigger Response

Please note that many template files (templateFile[1-n]) may be returned from the Zap trigger. These files are simply the underlying templates that are populated after a user submits a questionnaire. To facilitate easier use, these files are returned individually instead of in a single zip file, so that you can handle each file separately.

{  "id": "the id of the submission",  "questionnaireId": id of the questionnaire,   "questionnaireName": name of the questionnaire,   "submitterEmail": email address of the questionnaire submitter,  "responseFile": "CSV file containing the questionnaire responses",  "templateFile1": "the first populated template",  "templateFile2": "the second populated template"}

Use Case: Custom Query Parameters

The Zapier trigger also returns any query parameters in the response, if they were specified in the questionnaire url. You can read more about how query parameters work here, as well as their use cases.

Use Case: Populating with Questionnaire Responses

Previously, you would need to follow the steps outlined in the next use case ("Parsing CSV Data to Use Elsewhere") to access the responses to your questionnaires. We've since updated our app in Zapier to give you direct access to those responses!

  1. After you've set up and tested the Questionnaire Submission Trigger, add a new Woodpecker step to your Zap:

  2. Select "Populate Documents" as your action event:

  3. Select the document you'd like to populate. For each field you'd like to populate in that document, you'll need to select the corresponding response as shown below:

The available fields will be listed by name, and display the response Zapier found for your test submission. Simply match the fields up and you're ready to populate, no additional formatting is necessary!

Note: The formatting steps outlined below are no longer needed if you wish to access the direct responses to your questionnaire. However, the steps can serve as an example for using Zapier's formatting utilities with Woodpecker and can be utilized in other cases.

Use Case: Parsing CSV Data to Use Elsewhere

  1. After setting up and testing the Questionnaire Submission trigger, we can add a new action to utilize that CSV data we’re receiving! First, create a new Action step and select the “Format” option:

  2. For the first Action, you’ll want to select “Utilities”. This option will allow us to parse the data we’re getting from the submitted questionnaire!

  3. After selecting utilities, we’ll want to let Zapier know that we’re getting our data from a CSV file. To do this, select “Import CSV File” in the Transform dropdown:

  4. The last piece for the Utilities step is to select which part of the incoming data you’re using as the CSV file. We’ll want to select “Questionnaire response CSV” from the list of options. Since there are a few items listed, it may be easier to search for the CSV option:

  5. Once you’ve done all of the above, click “Continue” and then look for the “Test & Continue” option. As long as the test runs successfully, you’re ready to move on to the next Action! First, add a new Action, select Format, and select Utilities again (as we did in steps 1 and 2 above!)

  6. Since we’re already importing our CSV data in the second action, this is where we’ll want to turn it into something usable! Once again under the Transform dropdown, find and select the “Line-item to Text” option.

  7. For our values, we’ll want to select “Output Line Items Response” to get the response data for each field in the questionnaire. There are also quite a few options listed here, so it may help to search for this option when prompted with the option to do so.

  8. As with before, we’ll want to hit “Test & Continue” to make sure that our new Action step is working.

Once the test for that Action step runs successfully, that’s all there is to it! From here, you can create a new step in this Zap to use that data however and wherever you like!
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Read more about specific integrations between Woodpecker and other apps here.
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