05. Using the Free Text Question Type

Introduction

Free Text questions are ideal for open questions or questions that you can expect a great variety of answer (such as names). TaroWorks allows the user to collect both short text (up to 255 characters) and long text answers (up to 32,768 characters).

This document will detail how to add a Free Text Question to your form and how to answer it in the device.

 

How to Add a Free Text Question

1. Edit an existing draft form or start a new one. Go to the Question Builder tab.
2. On the left margin, click Free Text (red arrow) to add the question to the bottom, or click and drag it to insert into your form.
3. You may choose from short text or long text by using the Type dropdown (red box).
   
4. Enter a Caption. Add Supporting text and check Required as desired.
5. Click Save to save the section.

Scoring

• Scoring is not available for Free Text questions.

Logic

• You can set show/hide logic for a Free Text question as normal.
• A Free Text question can be used as condition for other questions. Your options are:
• Answered / not answered; and,
• Does the entered value exactly match / not match your given string of text.

Field Mapping

• For Short Free Text, the compatible field types for mapping are: 
• Text;
• Text Area;
• Long Text Area;
• Rich Text Area; and,
• Autonumber
• Phone Number
• Record Type
• For Long Free Text, the compatible field types for mapping are: 
• Text Area;
• Long Text Area; and, 
• Rich Text Area
• If the text field you mapped to have a character limit (eg. 140 characters), then the published forms will also restrict you to 140 characters. However, note that if you change the limit after publishing the form, the restriction will still stay the same as when you published the form.
• For more, please refer to the Question-Field Mapping Compatibility Table.

Passing Values through Hierarchy Drill Down

• You may pass values from fields in the Hierarchy Drill Down into a Free Text question.
• Please refer to Building New Jobs for more information.

How to Answer a Free Text Question in the Device

1. When you reach a free text question, tap the box to bring up the on-screen keyboard.
2. Type your text into the box. When finished, swipe to continue to the next question.
   

Tips and Tricks

• You can use any keyboards (eg. voice, stylus, etc.) that you have installed in your Android device to enter the text. Please refer to Android documentation on how to do this.