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Using a hidden field in the choice for a multiple choice question


Userlevel 1

I’m building a dynamic question that you can pass in the choices in the url.  But when i try to reference a hidden field in the one of the choices, it doesn’t pull up the hidden field menu.

This is in the new builder

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Best answer by malcolmcd 1 November 2021, 21:58

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Userlevel 7
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Hi @t.heb. Welcome to the Typeform Community! 🤩

 

This is expected because the hidden fields can only be passed in questions and/or descriptions, not in the choices of the questions. Would you mind sharing how this feature would help you? We'd love to understand the use case. :)

Userlevel 1

I’m asking people to choose which things belong in a group.  So I’m using multiple choice and allowing unlimited selections.   This works fine when i type all the things as choices in typeform.

However, I want to be able to pass the “things” in as hidden fields - so the same typeform can be used to test different groups.

Hi there!

Thanks for sharing your issue @t.heb and for replying @Mariana :smile:

I would also like to be able to use hidden fields as choices in the form.

To add some detail, this is my situation as of now:

  1. I run ads on Facebook and Instagram that direct users to my Typeform
  2. To achieve better ad performance, each ad is specific to a set of neighbourhoods
  3. In the form, I ask the respondents which neighbourhoods they are most likely to visit
  4. Thus, I have to create one typeform for each subset of neighbourhoods
  5. (Bonus) I also integrate my Typeforms to a Trello workflow (which is painful by itself, because each Trello board can only be connected to one Typeform, so I need to use Trello’s buttler to consolidate them all)

Using the approach described above, I must have N ads + N Typeforms + N Trello boards for N subsets of neighbourhoods. However, using hidden fields, I would only need N ads + 1 Typeform + 1 Trello board!

As of now, N = 14. But my startup is scaling, and we hope to reach ~300 in the upcoming months. It will become insane to manage it all!

Moreover, I believe having N different typeforms hampers the optimization brought by the integration with Facebook Pixel

@Mariana My love for typeform would increase enourmously if this functionality were to become available :grin:

Userlevel 7
Badge +6

@frantz @t.heb 

as a fellow user, i totally agree with you both that being able to populate the multiple choice ‘options’ dynamically would be fantastic and I know that this has been raised with product development. 

it is on their list, this i know, but at the moment i believe their top priority is dealing with the Facebook pixel and subdomain registration issues that is being reviewed on all sides .. i hate to counsel patience but i have to look in the mirror and say the same thing to myself. 

it will come.. 

des

I’d like to add my vote to this request - the ability to pass hidden fields into question options would take Typeform to the next level!

My use case is a Typeform that respondents use to reflect and identify their greatest achievements over their lifetime - you can see the Typeform here: https://www.strategyactivator.com/pages/finding-your-path

Then, I send respondents a second Typeform, where they get to identify their top 7 achievements, in order of priority. Then follows a guided reflection on career choices.

Currently, for the second Typeform, I use a group of open text questions and they need to retype their top achievements from their previous feedback. Inevitably, a lot of the richness of their initial responses is lost, as they just resubmit shorthand descriptors.

It would be great if I could pass in the responses from the first Typeform as hidden fields in the second Typeform, then recall the hidden fields as options in a ranking question, and users would just need drag and drop, without losing any of the value of their initial responses.

Holding thumbs! :thumbsup::thumbsup:
Malcolm

Userlevel 7
Badge +6

@t.heb - well done on the typeform and a very interesting topic … i did give the first form a test run (sorry for a bunch of cut and paste data in there) as i wanted to see how you worked into the second form but am waiting on the email to arrive. 

Passing long text answers from one form into another form is relatively simple to to do - which i am sure you have done/tried - as hidden fields in the redirect upon completion of the first form. What I have done in the past to try and make it easier in the user case you mention for follow on form and ranking, is to

  • paste the ‘past’ response below the question about the future and add a message about copying some of the previous answer as input to the future question. 
  • paste items from previous question(s) in the description, in a numbered list, and then ask the user to rank the corresponding label (ie labels 1-5) - see the example below 

 

I totally agree with your wish to be able to pass choices from prior questions in as labels and i know it is on the product parking lot list for ‘someday’ - i think one challenge for the developers to overcome/address is how to pass the items: some answers are numbers, some are text, some are picture items - if they can reduce the ‘option’ of what is passed to a ‘text string’ (ie picture choices must have text label associated wit them) then we can always parse the date and transform as necessary in the logic rules or in a back end integration.  (i also want this functionality for matrix questions!!!!! at least the ability to use the choices in logic rules for both ranking and and matrix responses.)

 

des

Thanks, John and I appreciate your considered response.

I’m actually busy refactoring the background process that supports the typeforms - so your response will follow shortly!

Your suggestion has definitely got me thinking - I realise I would need a 2-step process (both of which require passing hidden fields in as question options):

 

  1. Use a multi-select multiple choice question for the respondent to choose their top 7 achievements a list from all their lifetime achievements submitted.
  2. Rank the top 7 achievements in order of priority.

Thanks again,

Malcolm

 

@t.heb - well done on the typeform and a very interesting topic … i did give the first form a test run (sorry for a bunch of cut and paste data in there) as i wanted to see how you worked into the second form but am waiting on the email to arrive. 

Passing long text answers from one form into another form is relatively simple to to do - which i am sure you have done/tried - as hidden fields in the redirect upon completion of the first form. What I have done in the past to try and make it easier in the user case you mention for follow on form and ranking, is to

  • paste the ‘past’ response below the question about the future and add a message about copying some of the previous answer as input to the future question. 
  • paste items from previous question(s) in the description, in a numbered list, and then ask the user to rank the corresponding label (ie labels 1-5) - see the example below 

 

I totally agree with your wish to be able to pass choices from prior questions in as labels and i know it is on the product parking lot list for ‘someday’ - i think one challenge for the developers to overcome/address is how to pass the items: some answers are numbers, some are text, some are picture items - if they can reduce the ‘option’ of what is passed to a ‘text string’ (ie picture choices must have text label associated wit them) then we can always parse the date and transform as necessary in the logic rules or in a back end integration.  (i also want this functionality for matrix questions!!!!! at least the ability to use the choices in logic rules for both ranking and and matrix responses.)

 

des

 

Userlevel 7
Badge +6

@malcolmcd - your follow-up email from the original post arrived in the wee hours of my morning so i will look at how you currently do the follow up. 

One of the ‘potential’ workarounds that might work, there is one opportunity cost i will cover in a second, is that somehow you might be able to use the AirTable or Google Sheets-to-Forms type approach of the following:

  • take the data from the first form and load it into an AirTable Block
  • use the Typeform App in AirTable to ‘create’ the second form with the data inputs from the first form pushed out as question options …
    • now this would require some work in AirTable (not my area of expertise) but conceptually, you could have a block in AT that would accept the input, and another which would pull the ‘label data’ from the other block into the appropriate fields. then it would push the ‘new form’ out to typeform 
    • it would have to be published in typeform - i can’t see a way to do in an automated fashion within typeform natively - but if you work off a semi-automated/manually assisted process supported by an automation tool, you could have the completion of each first form start the automation described and create a task and reminder for someone to go into typeform and hit the publish button on the form …..
  • you might also be able to make this work with google sheet integration from the first typeform that feeds into a google Form process which in turn pushes out a Typeform - still needs some manual work to publish

Caveats - these are hypothetical workarounds that are being developed by the 7 other voices in my head with only two coffees on this rainy sunday mornng.. don’t take them at their word that this is possible. 

the opportunity cost that i mentioned - this type of workaround would create a separate typeform for each individual responding - my data is different than your data than bob’s etc… - so in each case it would generate an individual form. not a great work around BUT depending on the volume…. 

 

Given the state of the Typeform tool at the moment, when i did up my initial site for selling coffee-slogan’d t-shirts, I had to take the 200 slogans/quotes that i had, select a bunch of them to present to folks, ask them to select their two faves from each ‘set’ (10 pic questions of 20 images each), capture the labels (not displayed below image of shirt) and then put them into the ‘ok you selected these 20 - now rank them in your order’ - captured that from everyone and then did a follow up with the overall top 20, select 5 and then rank… as per the image.. That worked at the time .. but now i have over 500 images that i want to present to folks and have them do the same thing.. - it would be so much more elegant to have the choices presented as response choices in a question further into the same typeform… 100 percent.. 

“typeform lobbyists unite!”

keep up the great work on  your forms and process!

 

des

Thanks Des - some really creative workarounds there!

Unfortunately neither creating a new type form for each user, nor a semi-manual approach are options for me, so I’ll just have to wait until this crawls to the top of the feature list.

That said, I really appreciate your interest and suggestions,

Malcolm

PS - your achievement profile awaits :)

Userlevel 7
Badge +6

@malcolmcd - i might give it a ‘real’ go this time.. instead of a lot of cut and paste of randomness - i do apologize for that and please delete my data responses.. I will answer true and proper in the coming days!

and, as you say, will be waiting on the eventual product update on this

cheers

 

des

Hi,

Just checking. whether the feature to show hidden fields in options is available?
Also, I have integrated the “login to Typeform” button in my application and right now after clicking on it, it takes me to the login page. is there a way using I can completely bypass the login page (maybe by sending some token) and directly go to Typeform's workspace after clicking on it?

 

Userlevel 7
Badge +5

Hi @Jyoti334 This isn't a feature we offer, I’m afraid. 

As for logging in, you will need to enter your login details in order to access your workspace. We don’t have a workaround for this due to security purposes. 

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