Multi-Choice Control
The Multi-Choice control presents a list of values and captures any number of values the user selects.
It consists of a searchable multi-select list and a label. Use it where more than one answer can legitimately apply — the services a customer has taken, the faults found during an inspection, the departments a request affects.
To restrict the user to a single answer, use the Dropdown control instead.
Add to the Template
The Multi-Choice 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 list. The label is required — it is also the name used to identify the control elsewhere in CheckFlow, such as in reports and dynamic values.
Building the Item List
When the Multi-Choice control is first added it has no items, and a blank text box is shown. Enter the text for your first item in this box.
- To add an item, press
Enterwhile an existing item is selected. The new item is created below the current one. - To delete an item, clear all the text in its box and then press
BackspaceorDelete.
You can create an unlimited number of items.
Required
Tick the Required checkbox if the user must select at least one item before the parent task can be completed.
Populating from a Data Set
Instead of typing the items yourself, you can link the Multi-Choice control to a Data Set so that its options come from a maintained table of reference data.
Click Link to Data Set beneath the item list (or choose it from the control's settings cog) and pick a Data Set, a View and the field to display. The manual item list is replaced by the Data Set's records.
Linked options are read live, so changes to the Data Set are reflected in checklists that are already running. Fields of the selected records can be surfaced elsewhere with Data Set Dynamic Values — where several records are selected, the values are shown as a comma-separated list.
See Linking a Data Set to a Control for the full walkthrough.
Use in the Checklist
The user sees the label with the multi-select list beneath it. The list includes a search box for filtering long option lists, and Select All / Deselect All actions. Selections are saved automatically, and the control records who last changed them and when.
Validation
When a Multi-Choice control is marked as required, validation is performed when the user completes the task. The task cannot be completed until at least one item has been selected.
Validation error messages are shown below the control.
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 Multi-Choice control can be used to drive Conditional Logic. The available conditions are is, is not, has no value and has any value, and the value to compare against is presented as a dropdown of the control's items.
If the Multi-Choice control is linked to a Data Set, the value list in the Conditions dialog is populated from the linked View.
A Multi-Choice 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 selected items can be reused elsewhere in the checklist as a Dynamic Value. Where several items are selected they are rendered as a comma-separated list.
The control cannot receive a dynamic value — unlike Dropdown, it does not support Dynamic Value Bindings.
The control can also be bound to a Template Parameter of type String, so selections are made automatically when the checklist is created. A parameter can either select existing items, using a comma-delimited list, or supply the item list itself.
Linked Checklists
A Multi-Choice control can be either side of a Linked Checklist control mapping, so selections made in a parent checklist can be carried into the child checklist it creates.
Reporting
Multi-Choice answers are available in Reports and can be added as a column, shown as a comma-separated list of the selected items.
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 |
|---|---|
| Number of items | Unlimited |
| Selections | Unrestricted — any number of items can be selected |
| Records from a linked Data Set View | No cap on the View itself. Bounded by the 10,000 record limit per Data Set. |
| Maximum item length | 500 characters |
This is a storage limit rather than a validation rule. Nothing in the interface stops you entering more, and no warning is shown as you type — a longer value fails when it is saved.
Related Pages
- Dropdown — when exactly one option should be selected.
- Sub-Tasks — looks similar, but reads its Data Set once at creation rather than live.
- Linking a Data Set to a Control — the full walkthrough for taking the options from managed data.
- Control Types — the capability matrix for every control.