Question Types

9 minutes

Form Design

These blocks help you to build out the structure of your form e.g. adding nested forms

The Text block

The text block is not a question block as such, but a means for you to provide instructions or context about elements of your form to the users of the app. It comes with the text formatting options you would expect with any text editor.

The Page Divider

The page divider is not a question block but a means to divide your survey into distinct sections. Some questions, such as the ‘Add Location/Geometry‘ question come with mandatory dividers attached.

Child Forms

This question type enables you to nest forms within your current form. This child form is built in exactly the same way as your main form with some additional settings included.

This is useful in a number of situations, such as reducing the repetition of data entry if you are collecting many records which all contain the same general information. For example, if you are collecting records of the cars you see from a fixed location on a particular day you might have one form (we’ll call it a ‘parent’ form) collecting Date, Start time, Stop time and Location. This data is input only once. It links to a second form (we’ll call this a ‘child’ form) which collects data on the cars themselves. Data on many cars can be added, as required. This data is then linked within Coreo.

The ‘Build a child form’ question includes a setting allowing you to specify the number of repeat entries allowed.

Basic Answers

These question blocks include simple data, such as text and number input as well as a date selector question

Text Answer

The ‘Text answer’ question types allows you to enter any text (characters). You can choose between using a single line format or a multiple line format. This allows for short or long answers, respectively.

‘Use previous answers’

This option is only available when input type is ‘single line’. When toggled, autocomplete displays previously recorded answers for you to select from. This is useful in situations where you wish to enter codes, job numbers, names etc whilst out in the field and have the option to select them in future surveys. For fixed lists of items, collections are the better option for creating ‘select’ lists. However, autocomplete allows you to dynamically create lists.

‘Use an exact answer’

A regular expression can be placed here to validate the entered text. If a user’s answer does not meet this regular expression, they will not be able to submit their answer. This could be used to enforce the entry of text in a specific format, for example, in uppercase and always comprising two letters and a number.

Numeric Answer

The Numeric Answer question type allows the user to input numbers by input directly from the keypad. No minimum or maximum number is required.

Whole numbers only?

Specifies whether the answer is an integer or not.

Minimum possible value / Maximum possible value

These options can be used to set constraints on the values entered into the question. If a user’s answer does not meet these constraints, a message is displayed relating to the required range and the answer will not be submitted.

Date/Time Answer

This question type adds date and time to the record You can use the ‘Include time picker’ toggle to either add the date only or add both date and time.

Autocomplete

This will populate the question with the current date and time using the system clock (i.e. settings from the device). This is useful if the user is generally interested in recording the current time. This setting can be adjusted as required.

Choices

These question types allow users to select one or multiple answers from a list of choices either set within the question or taken from a Collection.

Yes/No Answer

The Yes/No question type simply allows a user to select either ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ in response.

Check Box

Presents the user with a single check box.

Choose from a list

This question type lets user select answers from a list. This list is taken form a collection which can either be picked from your existing collection or you can build a collection from scratch for this question. There are two options for the user to interact with the list

Multiple Choice

Multiple Choice presents your answer set as a complete list. Each item in the list has a radio button select.

Searchable List

Searchable lists are presented as a scrollable (where needed) list of searchable items. The list has a search box at the top.

You can limit your choice to one answer or enable multiple selection using the toggle. You can also enable the collection tooltip, this will show additional information associated with the item in your collection (e.g descriptions)

Items may be presented in one of two ways; list and card view. The default can be set within Coreo.

  • List view. This is an economic way to view longer lists. Where collection items have images associated with them they will appear as a thumbnail to the left of the item’s label.
  • Card view. This is a good option for collections where items have images associated with them and/or where making it easy to select options is of paramount importance.

Slider

The Slider question type allows the user to input a number. With this option the user is required to input their answer via a slider and the question always has a range (a minimum and maximum possible value).

Whole numbers only?

Specifies whether the answer is an integer or not.

Minimum possible value / Maximum possible value

These can be used to set constraints on the values entered into the question. If a user’s answer does not meet these constraints, a message is displayed relating to the required range and the answer will not be submitted.

Steps

You can also specify a value which defines the increments between each number on your slider alongside specifying a starting value. For example you could set your starting value as 10 and steps as 10 in which case the next number on the slider would be 20, followed by 30 and so on.

Location/Geometry

This question type is used to enable the user to submit a location with their record. It has the following options:

Geometry Types

You have the ability in Coreo to record single point locations (the default), Polygons (e.g. areas) and lines (handy for mapping a ditch, pipeline or route) and the same as multi geometry, allowing you assign multiple geometries of the same type to one record.

Enforce Bounds

If you have set a project boundary (see our document on how to do this), this option allows you to restrict the addition of records to within the bounds of the project.

Geometry Picker

Coreo allows you to work with geometries in various ways. The Geometry Picker question type allows the app user to search for and/or choose a geometry visually or from a list. For example, you could upload a list of local authority boundaries and enable the app user to choose one from within your form.

Coordinate Projection

When added to your form the Coordinate Projection block takes any lat/long data and produces a transformation into one of four additional coordinate systems:

  • what3words
  • Ordnance Survey National Grid
  • British National Grid (EPSG:27700)
  • Irish Grid (EPSG:29903)

Reverse Geolocation

The Reverse Geolocation block can provide you with a variety of more human readable location identifiers based on the location coordinates provided. Examples include nearest address, postcode, country etc. You can add multiple blocks to your form to provide a combination of location identifiers.

Area Lookup

The Area Lookup block can help you to return the value of a containing geometry when a record is made. For example, if you have a Collection in Coreo which contains county or site boundaries, you can lookup the name of the county or site boundary when a record is added that falls within that boundary.

Attach

Photo

This question type allows the user to upload a photo or multiple photos from the camera or device’s photo gallery.

The ‘Single photos only’ toggle can be used to either restrict the question to one photo or allow multiple. If multiple photos are enable you can toggle ‘Set a range of photos needed‘ to set constraints on the number of images required or allowed. If no values are set, any number of images may be added to a record and no minimum is required (it is therefore not a mandatory question in this instance).

Signature

Provides a box within which the user can sign, using either a stylus or their finger.

The Calculated Field

Calculated Fields allow you to generate responses within your form based on inputs to other fields within that form. This might be as simple as summing the total number of e.g. individual animals being recorded within your survey, or providing area measurements based on length and width. Or it could provide more complex mathematical functions, return text or dates and so on. Because calculated fields run within the app, unlike cloud functions, they work offline and provide you with immediate results for use in the field.

For a more detailed explanation of how to use calculated fields, see our document on the subject here.

Link to another form

This question type is used to enable the user to refer to another record of a specified form, creating an association between the chosen record and the new record the user is entering. For example, you might initially require users to collect information on a feature, such as the location of a traffic signal, on first using the app. On subsequent uses of the application you might require users to select the traffic signal in question and create a record detailing its condition. The location of the traffic signal will never change, but multiple surveys are done on its condition.

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