Like many things open source (my boss calls them open sores) anyways, the tech is there but sometimes it takes a bit to understand it.

So I was looking at a way to make a scantron’esque type system, and I figured there was an open source project out there somewhere to do it (that when I learned about the acronymn OMR) . Thats where QueXF comes in

They have a handy dandy XAMPP easy install, which got me up and running but now what?

Through much trial and error, i went to queXS Administrative interface, there I clicked on create an instrument in Limesurvey

I made a new survey, (i was confused that you have to make a question group first and then you can make a question) the docs for limesurvey are out there though, so eventually I was able to create a survey

Then I used the QueXML export (which is awesome) because it exports something called banding (basically tells the computer where to look for the marks otherwise you have to do it by hand which would be lame)

Then under queXF Administrative interface, click the import a new form from a PDF file, select your PDF and the banding and give it a description. Assign forms to operators and add the admin user

Next I print out a copy of the PDF (this was exported during the QueXML export portion) then I make marks on it. Then I scan it in, and put the PDF in the C:\xampp\htdocs\quexf\doc\filled folder, then I press the Process directory button. (I tried the watch this directory in the background button but it didn’t appear to work ? maybe a windows/xampp thing)

Now the hardest part for me was figuring out what to do next. So, you click on the queXF for operators (verifiers) and then you click verify, if all is working well then you should see your form…. but then what.

Well, if you look closely the first answer should have a yellow square around all the boxes, and a blue square in the are that is checked. If you want to correct where the system detected the checkmark then you can click where it should have been. But now what? well of course you should hit the enter key, and that will progress to the next answer so on and so forth until you have verified the whole thing, then you can click to submit it to the database. whew… that was easy