Question Types¶

text
note
integer
decimal
bearing
barcode
nfc
date, time and datetime
select
image
Acknowledge / Trigger
Printer widget
range
Chart
Child Form / Parent Form
Locations
Matrix
Other ODK Question types

text ¶

Use for questions that require a text response. It can also be used with the numbers appearance to get integer responses that are longer than the 9 character limit of the integer type.

Type: text

Parameters:

rows: Set the number of rows of text shown in the form

Appearances:

numbers: Shows the numeric keyboard
thousands-sep: Inserts a separator between thousands when “numbers” is also used
url: Allows the user to open a URL. Specify the url in the default column
hidden: Hide the widget in fieldTask

Availability:

FieldTask: yes
Webforms: yes

Example

Survey Worksheet¶
type	name	label	parameters
text	comment	Any comments?	rows=5

Text widget in fieldTask with 5 rows

Text widget in webforms with 5 rows

Note

There is a limit of 4,000 characters on the amount of text that can be entered into a text question in webforms. However there is no corresponding limit in fieldTask.

note ¶

Type: note

A read only note to the user.

Notes can be used to provide guidance to the user. This could some simple text that is specified in the survey template. For example:

The following questions are about health

However they can also be dynamically constructed to provide context sensitive help. To do this use the ${question_name} syntax within the label of the note. The question referred to can be a calculate that creates the text by combining answers from multiple questions.

Survey Worksheet¶
type	name	label	calculation
text	name	What is your name?
calculate	calculate_guidance		concat(‘Tell ‘, ${name}, ‘ that they are doing well’)
note	guidance	${calculate_guidance}

integer ¶

Number questions that don’t allow a decimal point and are not longer than 9 digits.

Type: integer

Appearances:

thousands-sep: Inserts a separator between thousands
hidden: Hide the widget in fieldTask

Availability:

FieldTask: yes
Webforms: yes

Example

Survey Worksheet¶
type	name	label
integer	age	What is your age?

decimal ¶

Number question with a decimal point. Decimal questions are limited to 14 digits plus the decimal point. You can use a text question with the numbers appearance if you need more.

Type: decimal

Appearances:

thousands-sep: (Optional) Inserts a separator between thousands

Availability:

FieldTask: yes
Webforms: yes

Example

Survey Worksheet¶
type	name	label
decimal	cost	How much did it cost?

bearing ¶

A bearing widget captures the compass reading and stores it as a decimal type.

Type: decimal

Required Appearance:

bearing

Availability:

FieldTask: yes
Webforms: no

Example

Survey Worksheet¶
type	name	label	appearance
decimal	orientation	Record the orientation	bearing

Bearing

barcode ¶

Type: barcode

Appearances:

front: (Optional) Use the front facing camera

Reads a barcode using the camera.

The following barcode formats are supported:

UPC-A
UPC-E
EAN-8
EAN-13
Code 39
Code 93
Code 128
Codabar
ITF
RSS-14
RSS-Expanded
QR Code
Data Matrix
Aztec (beta)
PDF 417 (beta)
MaxiCode

The flash can be used as a light source when scanning barcodes in a poorly lit environment.

survey¶
type	name	label
barcode	product	Scan the products barcode

barcode

nfc ¶

Type: barcode

Required Appearances: nfc

Reads the id on an NFC chip

survey¶
type	name	label	appearance
barcode	product	Scan the products NFC chip	nfc

nfc

date, time and datetime ¶

default date type
date widget with spinner input
month and year only
year only
date widgets with non-Gregorian calendars
time
datetime

default date type ¶

Type: date
Availability:: FieldTask: yes Webforms: yes

Example

Survey Worksheet¶
type	name	label
date	birthdate	When were you born?

Default date type

date widget with spinner input ¶

A more compact date widget that makes it easy to select dates that are far from the current (or default) date.

Type: date
Appearance:: no-calendar

Survey Worksheet¶
type	name	label	appearance
date	birthdate	When were you born?	no-calendar

Default Date type

month and year only ¶

Only records the month and the year.

Type: date
Appearance:: month-year

Survey Worksheet¶
type	name	label	appearance
date	birth_month	What month were you born?	month-year

year only ¶

Only records the year.

Type: date
Appearance:: year

Survey Worksheet¶
type	name	label	appearance
date	birth_year	What year were you born?	year

date widgets with non-Gregorian calendars ¶

Note

The non-Gregorian calendar is used only on input. The dates are then converted and stored as standard Gregorian dates

Availability:

FieldTask: yes
Webforms: no

Bikram Sambat calendar ¶

Type: date
Appearance:: bikram-sambat

Coptic calendar ¶

Type: date
Appearance:: coptic

Ethiopian calendar ¶

Type: date
Appearance:: ethiopian

Islamic calendar ¶

Type: date
Appearance:: islamic

Myanmar calendar ¶

Type: date
Appearance:: myanmar

Persian calendar ¶

Type: date
Appearance:: persian

time ¶

Records the time of day.

Note

The time is stored along with the time zone. Hence a point in time is recorded. If you record a time of 10:00 am in London then the value is the same as 8pm in Sydney. If someone in Sydney generates a report using their local timezone then they will see the result as 8pm.

If you want to record a local time then you can use an integer type or decimal type or a select_one type that has a list of valid times. A question like “What time did the parcel arrive?” could be recorded with or without timezone depending on how you want to analyse the data.

Type: time

Survey Worksheet¶
type	name	label
time	arrived	What time did the parcel arrive?

datetime ¶

Records the date and time

Type: dateTime
Appearance:: no-calendar: Shows a spinner rather than the full calendar

Survey Worksheet¶
type	name	label
dateTime	started	When did you start the project?

single select ¶

Type: select_one

Appearance:

minimal: Shows a modal dropdown that expands when selected by the user. Useful when showing multiple questions on one page.
autoadvance: Immediately go to the next page after a choice is selected. Only use this appearance if it is immediately obvious to the user that the correct selection was made
autocomplete: Adds a text box above the choices. If you type into this text box the choices are filtered. Use with large lists.
likert: Show the choices in a likert scale
compact: shows the choices in a compact grid. This is particularly useful when you have only images for the choices rather than text labels.
compact-{x}: As per compact however replace {x} with the number of columns that you want.
quickcompact: Combines compact and auto advance
quickcompact-{x}: Combines compact with columns and auto advance

Parameters:

randomize=true (Will randomly sort the choices each time the question is shown)
seed={an integer} (Use this with random so that the same initially random order will be shown each time the question is shown in a given form)

Survey Worksheet¶
type	name	label
select_one countries	country	Select a country

Choices Worksheet¶
list_name	name	label
countries	mali	Mali
countries	png	Papua New Guinea
countries	australia	Australia
countries	vanuatu	Vanuatu

multi select ¶

Allows the user to select multiple answers from a choice list.

Type: select

Appearance:

minimal: Shows a modal dropdown that expands when selected by the user. Useful when showing multiple questions on one page.
autocomplete: Adds a text box above the choices. If you type into this text box the choices are filtered. Use with large lists.
compact: shows the choices in a compact grid. This is particularly useful when you have only images for the choices rather than text labels.
compact-{x}: As per compact however replace {x} with the number of columns that you want.

Parameters:

randomize=true (Will randomly sort the choices each time the question is shown)
seed={an integer} (Use this with random so that the same initially random order will be shown each time the question is shown in a given form)

Survey Worksheet¶
type	name	label
select countries	country	Select some countries

Choices Worksheet¶
list_name	name	label
countries	mali	Mali
countries	png	Papua New Guinea
countries	australia	Australia
countries	vanuatu	Vanuatu

rank ¶

This widget allows you to rank choices in order.

Type: rank

Parameters:

randomize=true (Will randomly sort the choices each time the question is shown)
seed={an integer} (Use this with random so that the same initially random order will be shown each time the question is shown in a given form)

Survey Worksheet¶
type	name	label
rank importance	importance	Rank the issues in order of importance

Choices Worksheet¶
list_name	name	label
importance	food	Food
importance	shelter	Shelter
importance	water	Water
importance	security	Security

The rank widget opened showing the choices that can be re-ordered

rank widget before re-ordering

The rank widget opened showing the choices after they have been re-ordered

rank widget after re-ordering

Viewing Recorded Rankings ¶

When results are exported in the default spreadsheet format they qill be shown in multiple columns. One for each choice. The column headings will be take from the question name with the addition of “1”, “2”, “3” etc. The first column will contain the choice that was ranked first and so on.

Spreadsheet report of rankings

In other view of the collected data, such as in the console, the rankings will be shown in compressed format where they are all placed in a single column, in rank order, with a space between each value.

image map select ¶

image ¶

Taking a Picture
image with annotation
image as a drawing
image as a signature
Other Image appearances and parameters

Taking a Picture ¶

Type: image

Captures an image either using the camera or by selecting from the device gallery.

Survey Worksheet¶
type	name	label
image	picture_of_tree	Take a picture of the tree

image with annotation ¶

Draw on an image after it has been captured. An additional button labelled “Markup Image” is shown that is enabled after the image is captured.

Type: image
Appearance:: annotate

Survey Worksheet¶
type	name	label
image	damage	Take a photo and circle the damage

An image after the user has annotated it by circling an item of interest

Annotate Type

image as a drawing ¶

Type: image
Appearance:: draw

This is similar to annotate except the user draws on a blank canvas.

Survey Worksheet¶
type	name	label	appearance
image	draw_farm_layout	Draw a plan of the farm

image as a signature ¶

Type: image
Appearance:: signature

Allows the user to draw a signature of their name.

table¶
type	name	label	appearance
image	hh_signature	Ask houeholder to sign the screen	signature

Other Image appearances and parameters ¶

Require a new image ¶

The default behavour is to include a button that allows the user to select an existing image rather than taking a new one. However by adding the appearance “new” the user is requried to capture a new image.

Self portrait (selfie) image ¶

The back camera on the phone is used by default (although the user can change this). However by setting the appearance “new-front” the front camera is used by default to capture a selfie.

Note

selfie can also be used as the appearance.

Reducing the size of images ¶

The size can be reduced by specifying the maximum length of the longest side of the image using max-pixels. For example if the default picture size is 1,000 by 500 and you specify the max-pixels to be 200, then the image will be resized to 200 by 100 pixels.

In the parameters column add max-pixels= followed by the maximum length of the long edge in pixels.

Note

The proportions of the image are maintained and if the length of the longest side was less than max-pixels the image will not be changed.

Acknowledge / Trigger ¶

Type: trigger or acknowledge

You can use a type of either trigger or acknowlwdge, they work the same way. A single checkbox is shwown which the user can “acknowledge” by checking it. If they do this then the answer stored for the question is “OK”.

You can use the above answer in relevance for following questions. For example:

${ack} = 'OK'

Commonly select_one questions with yes/no choices are used instead of Acknowledge

Survey Sheet¶
type	name	label	relevance
acknowledge	ack	Select to confirm participation
text	name	What is your name?	${ack} = ‘OK’

The trigger widget shown in fieldTask after the checkbox has been selected

Acknowledge widget in fieldTask

In WebForms a radio button is used instead of a checkbox.

The trigger widget shown in WebForms after the checkbox has been selected

Acknowledge widget in WebForms

Printer widget ¶

Type: text
Required appearance: printer:org.opendatakit.sensors.ZebraPrinter

Connects to an external label printer, and prints labels that can contain a barcode, a QR code, or text.

Survey Sheet¶
type	name	label	appearance	calculation
text	printer_widget	Printer widget	printer:org.opendatakit.sensors.ZebraPrinter	concat(‘123456789’,’<br>’,’QR CODE’,’<br>’,’Text’)

range ¶

These widgets allow the user to select a numeric value within a range of numbers shown on a line.

Type: range

Parameters

start: The starting number end: The last number step: The increment between numbers

Range widget with integers
Range widget with decimals
Vertical range widget
Range widget with picker
Range widget with rating

Range widget with integers ¶

If all three parameter values are integers then input will also be stored as an integer.

Survey Worksheet¶
type	name	label	parameters
range	eggs	number_of_eggs	How many eggs are there?	start=0;end=48;step=12

A range widget shown in fieldTask with a start point of 0, end of 48 and step of 12. 36 has been selected as the answer

Integer Range widget in fieldTask

A range widget shown in Webforms with a start point of 0, end of 48 and step of 12

Integer Range widget in WebForms

Range widget with rating ¶

Appearance: rating

When rating is specified as the appearance then the range is shown as stars which the user can select. The number of stars is equal to the value of the end parameter. The start and step parameters are ignored. Hence the value set is equal to the number of the start selected counting from the left.

Survey Worksheet¶
type	name	label	appearance	parameters
range	rating	Rate your experience	rating	end=5

Rating Range widget in fieldTask

Chart ¶

Type: chart

Shows a chart in the survey. Settings for the graph are specified in the question parameters. More details are available in Charts

Availability:

FieldTask: yes
Webforms: no

Child Form / Parent Form ¶

Type: child_form, parent_form

Launches another survey from within the current survey. The difference between these is in how the data from the two surveys are linked in the results database. If you don’t care about linking the data between the two surveys then either type will do. Detailed information on using these question types is available in Launch a Survey from inside a Survey.

Availability:

FieldTask: yes
Webforms: no

Locations ¶

Location widgets capture one or more points as latitude, longitude, altitude in meters, and accuracy radius in meters. These data items are space separated. For example the following reading represents a lattitude of -18.27, a longitude of 27.32, an altitude of 25 meters and an accuracy of 5.6 meters: -18.27 27.32 25 5.6

Multiple points that form lines or shapes are separated by semicolons.

Availability:

FieldTask: yes
Webforms: yes

Multiple Locations in one Form
geopoint
- Geopoint with a background map
- Geopoint with a user selected location
geotrace
geoshape

Multiple Locations in one Form ¶

Prior to Smap server version 20.10 you could only put one location widget in each form of a survey. The reasoning behind this was that in GIS shape files the same restriction applies where each shape file consists of a single location and all the attributes associated with that location. Also the name of each location question was automatically set to “the_geom”. I’m afraid to say this was just done to make the coding easier!

In version 20.10 this restriction has been lifted:

You can add multiple location questions in any form as well as the location prelaod in the top level form.
Location questions keep the name that you give them.
When you export a survey as a shape file you can select the location to use. All other questions are assumed to be attributes of that location.
When viewing a map of a survey on the analysis page you can select the question to use as the location.
When creating a task from existing data the location of the task is determined automatically. Firstly it tries to get the first geopoint question in the source survey. If that does not exist it tries to use the location preload that might have been collected automatically. If that is not set then it will use the first geotrace or geoshape question that it finds.
The map in the console currently uses the first location it finds in the survey. This will be fixed in a later release.

Warning

You may have an existing survey that you created using a spreadsheet and perhaps you have a geopoint question in that survey which you called “pump_location”. Once your server is updated to 20.10 and you use the “replace” button to update the existing survey then a new column will be created in the database called “pump_location” to hold that location data. However any previously collected data will be stored in a column called “the_geom” and will no longer be accessible. You will see a warning in red if this happens when you do the replace.

In this circumstance, if you still need to access the old location data, then edit your survey in excel and change the name of the geopoint to “the_geom” Then replace the survey again.

geopoint ¶

records a single point

Type: geopoint

survey¶
type	name	label
geopoint	the_geom	Record Location

Results presented after a geopoint button has been pressed showing location and accuracy

Results after requesting a geopoint

Geopoint with a background map ¶

Type: geopoint
Appearance: maps

Geopoint with a user selected location ¶

Type: geopoint
Appearance: placement-map

geotrace ¶

Records a line

Type: geotrace

geoshape ¶

Records a shape.

Type: geoshape

Matrix ¶

The begin matrix type is a convenient way to show questions in a matrix structure using webforms.

Matrix Widget

To create the matrix, group the questions that will appear horizontally, however instead of using begin group/end group use begin matrix/end matrix. Because these questions are appearing horizontally there will be a limit to how many you can fit on the screen comfortably.

Then specify the rows of the matrix in a choice list in the choices worksheet. Put the name of the choice list used by the matrix in the “list name” column of the survey worsheet. As these choices create the rows of the matrix you can add as many as you like and the matrix will simply extend down the page.

Finally in the settings sheet, under “style” add “theme-grid”.

When you load the survey onto the server additional questions will be created in groups. One group for each of the choices and a group for the header. Hence the matrix type is not a real type as it is converted into multiple other questions on upload.

Type: begin matrix, end matrix

Example

Survey Sheet:¶
type	name	label	list name
begin matrix	nutrition	items	food_groups
select_one yn	available	Available
integer	quantity	Quantity
text	comment	Comment
end matrix

Choices Sheet:¶
list_name	name	label
food_groups	vegetables	Vegetables
food_groups	protein	Protein
food_groups	fruit	Fruit
food_groups	dairy	Dairy
food_groups	sugar	Fats and sugar

yn	yes	yes
yn	no	no

Example Form

Availability:

FieldTask: no
Webforms: yes
XLSForm: yes
Online Editor: no