Long Text Control
The Long Text control captures multiple lines of text from the user.
It consists of a multi-line text box and a label. Use it for notes, descriptions, findings, or any answer that needs more than a single line. For short, single-line answers use the Short Text control instead.
Add to the Template
The Long Text control can be added from the controls toolbar in the Template.
Once you have added the control you must set the label text that will be displayed above the text box. The label is required — it is also the name used to identify the control elsewhere in CheckFlow, such as in reports and dynamic values.
Height
Drag the handle in the bottom right corner of the text box to change its height. The height you set in the template becomes the default height of the box in every checklist created from it.
Set a taller box when you expect a long answer — it signals to the user how much detail you are looking for, and saves them scrolling inside a small box.
Required
Tick the Required checkbox if the user must enter a value before the parent task can be completed.
Populating from a Data Set
The Long Text control cannot be linked to a Data Set. Only the Dropdown, Multi-Choice, Sub-Tasks and Table controls can be.
Use in the Checklist
The user sees the label with a multi-line text box beneath it, opened at the height you set in the template. The user can drag the box taller if they need more room. Their entry is saved automatically as they type, and the control records who last changed it and when.
Validation
When a Long Text control is marked as required, validation is performed when the user completes the task. The task cannot be completed until a value has been entered.
Validation error messages are shown below the text box.
If you try to complete a task outside of the checklist (e.g. from the Dashboard) and it fails validation we will notify you of the validation failure via a pop-up message.
Conditional Logic
A Long Text control can be used to drive Conditional Logic. The available conditions are is, is not, has no value and has any value.
In practice has any value and has no value are the most useful here — matching a long free-text answer with is requires an exact match of the whole entry.
A Long Text control can also be the target of a rule, so it can be shown or hidden by a condition driven by another control.
Dynamic Values and Parameters
The answer given in a Long Text control can be reused elsewhere in the checklist as a Dynamic Value — for example inside a Text control or the body of a Mail-To email.
The control can also receive a dynamic value, through a Dynamic Value Binding set from the control's Content Settings cog. Long Text accepts all of the standard global dynamic values, as well as the value of another control in the same checklist. See Dynamic Values.
The control can also be bound to a Template Parameter of type String, so it is pre-filled when the checklist is created.
Linked Checklists
A Long Text control can be either side of a Linked Checklist control mapping, so a value captured in a parent checklist can be carried into the child checklist it creates.
Reporting
Long Text answers are available in Reports and can be added as a column.
Control columns are only available in a report when a single template is selected. Add the column from the Columns dropdown, under Tasks & Fields. See Report Columns.
Limits
| Limit | Value |
|---|---|
| Height | Set in the template by dragging the resize handle. The user can drag the box taller in the checklist. |
| Maximum length | No limit |
Related Pages
- Short Text — for a single-line answer, and the only text control that supports RegEx validation.
- Dynamic Values — how to reuse the answer elsewhere, and how to pre-fill this control.
- Task Comments and Attachments — for discussion about a task rather than an answer recorded against it.
- Control Types — the capability matrix for every control.