I would like to find out the best practice for handling Other (CIEL:5622) option when handling coded concepts, where a user needs to enter a value that is not captured on the drop downs with HTML Form Entry
Currently we have been adding a separate concept for each instance of other for which we need a separate value, but I am wondering if there is a better way to handle this.
@akanter From the concept side - any recommendations
Steven, this is typically done by using a construct set which links together the original question with the “other” answer along with a free text field to capture the other result. That’s the way to reuse the free text without creating a new one for each and every question. However, you do need to create the set construct to link the original question together with the text field. @ball, do you want to comment?
We try to use other (CIEL:5622). If it’s a checkbox we use showCommentField=“true” (or commentFieldLabel) to capture free-text other:
<obs conceptId="xxx" answerConceptId="CIEL:5622" showCommentField="true" />
There are many examples where we use more specific ‘other’ concepts, but that’s not best practice.
We don’t use many dropdowns on our forms. We try to minimize the number of user clicks. It requires an additional click to see the list and then you need to select the right options. If the list is manageable, we use radio buttons or checkboxes so the user only needs to check one answer and sees all the choices.
Ellen