README

FunForms - Serverless surveys through function-based web forms
Josef Spillner <josef.spillner@zhaw.ch>
Zurich University of Applied Sciences

FunForms is a simple framework to build and (no-)operate simple
form-based surveys. It currently relies on Google Cloud Functions.
Simply create a form file following the syntax below, and then run
'funforms activate <file>' followed anytime by 'funforms stats'. You can
also run 'formforms activatelocal <file>' for testing. Any activated
survey can be terminated with 'funforms deactivate'.

This is presumably a higher form of FaaSification...

----- 8< -----

input	Name
text	Your opinion?
1-5	Your rating?

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The cost for cloud functions is negligible.
The cost for MySQL is around 9 US$ per month on db-f1-micro.
Support for campaigns could reduce that significantly.

Usage:

https://europe-west6-funforms-xxxx.cloudfunctions.net/funforms
https://europe-west6-funforms-xxxx.cloudfunctions.net/funforms?stats

Limitations:

* No support for campaigns. A campaign would have a defined time limit,
  send survey results by the end of the survey, and tear down at least
  the expensive component, the database (potentially backing up data to
  cloud storage before). Currently, surveys need to be deactivated
  manually.

* No advanced privacy support. Through stealth coding, HE/OPE etc.
  certain analytics would remain possible while not having any data at
  rest in the clear.

* No advanced analytics, both on numerical and textual inputs, such as
  word frequency, choices ranking and origin tracking.

* No support for resource pooling. To drive cost down, database
  instances could be shared between surveys, or -- as a more general
  framework -- even between multiple different function-based
  applications.

* Limited to a single cloud provider, with non-automated setup of gcloud
  tooling as well as assumption about local mysql client.

* Code quality - OOP, fault tolerance, bailouts etc.

* Database credentials are generated in the clear within the survey
  function.