How to create a data request

In this article, we'll discuss how to create a data request in the platform. We also discuss what types of validation rules you can set for the participants' data.

Creating a data request

You can follow the video tutorial here:

1. Log in to your account and navigate to the 'Request' section on the navigation bar and make sure that you are in the 'Sent' section of the sub-menu.  

2. Click on the '+ Data request' button to initiate the data request process.

3. You will be taken into the 'Create data request' flow. Start by providing a name for your data request. Optionally, you can enter a description and submit by date. Then click 'Choose participants'. 

4. Select which users you want to send your request to. You can either select a group or select participants individually. Once you have selected the participants, click the 'Edit specifications' button. 

5. Finally, create specification rules for the data you will be receiving. This ensures that the data received from the participants all have the same column names, data types and that the data conforms to the specifications you set. 

The specification rules that you can set are dependent on the data type of the column (with the exception of 'Allow empty cells' which lets you determine if the imported data can contain missing values). 

• Equal to
• Not equal to
• Character length range
• BSN (Dutch ID validation)
• Regular Expression (see below)

• Equal to
• Not equal to
• Between/Range
• Minimum
• Maximum

• Equal to
• Not equal to
• Between/Range
• Before
• After

• Equal to True/False

Once you have added the columns and their respective specifications, you can click the 'Send request' button at the bottom of the page. The participants selected will receive an email inviting them to import their data. 

6. This will show you a confirmation pop up summarizing the request that you are sending. Click the 'Send' button and your request will be sent out to all the selected participants. 

Using regular expressions:

To set up a validation rule using a regular expression in the data request functionality, ensure the column is a string data type. Start by adding a Descriptive name to guide users on the expected input format, which could include an example, such as 'Email address (e.g. johndoe@gmail.com)'. 

In the Regular expression field, enter the pattern for validation. Regular expressions are patterns used to match specific string formats. For example, to validate an email address, you could use ^[\w\.-]+@[a-zA-Z\d\.-]+\.[a-zA-Z]{2,6}$. This pattern ensures the email contains letters, numbers, dots, or hyphens, followed by an '@', a domain, and a valid extension.

You can also select Use case-sensitive matching if your regular expression requires sensitivity to uppercase and lowercase letters. This option is generally unchecked for common validations like emails, phone numbers, or postal codes, but it may be useful for more specific cases.

Use the Test field to try out your expression by entering sample data to see if it matches, as this is what users will be validating against.

Here are some common patterns for reference:

• Dutch Mobile Phone Number: ^\+31\s?6\s?\d{8}$ (e.g. "+31 6 12345678")
• Dutch Postal Code: ^\d{4}\s?[A-Z]{2}$ (e.g. "1234 AB")
• Email Address: ^(([^<>()\[\]\\.,;:\s@"]+(\.[^<>()\[\]\\.,;:\s@"]+)*)|(".+"))@((\[[0-9]{1,3}\.[0-9]{1,3}\.[0-9]{1,3}\.[0-9]{1,3}])|(([a-zA-Z\-0-9]+\.)+[a-zA-Z]{2,}))$ (e.g. "example@example.com")
• IBAN: ^[A-Z]{2}\d{2}[A-Z\d]{4}\d{7}([A-Z\d]?){0,16}$ (e.g. "NL91ABNA0417164300")

Thank you for taking the time to read this article. If you have feedback or need more information on specific topics, feel free to leave your comments below or reach out to support@rosemanlabs.com.