NoAnswer Tag: An Opt-Out Response Option

The <noanswer> element can be added to any question to create a "not applicable" response option. Each <noanswer> element is shown as a row with a single checkbox spanning across all columns.

When a <noanswer> is selected, all other responses are cleared, disabled, and no validation logic run for the question (e.g., <validate> elements are ignored).

1:  Attributes

Attribute	Type	Description
label	string	The unique name of the <noanswer> element.
alt	string	The alternative report name for the <noanswer> element.

1.1:  label - Set the Name of the NoAnswer

The label attribute controls the name of the <noanswer> element. You can use this attribute to check if the <noanswer> element was selected. For example:

<text label="Q1" optional="0" verify="zipcode">
  <title>What is your ZIP code?</title>
  <noanswer label="r99">Prefer not to say</noanswer>
</text>
<suspend/>

<note>Show Q1 only if noanswer wasn't selected at Q1</note>
<radio label="vQ1" optional="0" cond="not Q1.r99.val">
  <exec>
vQ1.val = getRegionFromZIP(Q1.val)
  </exec>
  <title>AUTOCODE: REGION</title>
  <row label="r1">West</row>
  ...
  ...
</radio>

1.2:  alt - Set the Report Name of the NoAnswer

The alt attribute controls the name of the <noanswer> element in the report data. Use this to override the default text shown. For example:

<text label="Q1" optional="0" verify="zipcode">
  <title>What is your ZIP code?</title>
  <noanswer label="r99" alt="NO ZIP CODE">Prefer not to say</noanswer>
</text>

As shown below, instead of displaying "Prefer not to say" for the <noanswer> element above, the report will display "NO ZIP CODE":

2:  Examples

Below are some examples of the <noanswer> element applied to several different question types.

<radio label="Q1">
  <title>
    Radio
  </title>
  <comment>Please select one</comment>
  <row label="r1">Item 1</row>
  <row label="r2">Item 2</row>
  <row label="r3">Item 3</row>
  <noanswer label="r4">No Answer</noanswer>
</radio>

<checkbox label="Q2" atleast="1">
  <title>
    Checkbox
  </title>
  <comment>Please select all that apply</comment>
  <col label="c1">Item 1</col>
  <col label="c2">Item 2</col>
  <col label="c3">Item 3</col>
  <noanswer label="r4">No Answer 1</noanswer>
  <noanswer label="r5">No Answer 2</noanswer>
</checkbox>

<text label="Q3" optional="0">
  <title>
    Text/Number
  </title>
  <comment>Please be as specific as possible</comment>
  <row label="r1">Item 1</row>
  <row label="r2">Item 2</row>
  <row label="r3">Item 3</row>
  <noanswer label="r4">No Answer</noanswer>
</text>

<textarea label="Q4" optional="0">
  <title>
    Textarea
  </title>
  <comment>Please be as specific as possible</comment>
  <noanswer label="r1">No Answer</noanswer>
</textarea>

<select label="Q5" optional="0">
  <title>
    Select
  </title>
  <comment>Please select one for each selection</comment>
  <row label="r1">Item 1</row>
  <row label="r2">Item 2</row>
  <row label="r3">Item 3</row>
  <choice label="ch1">Choice 1</choice>
  <choice label="ch2">Choice 2</choice>
  <choice label="ch3">Choice 3</choice>
  <noanswer label="r4">No Answer</noanswer>
</select>

3:  Additional Considerations

• You can have multiple <noanswer> elements in a single question. They are displayed at the end in the order they are entered and are exclusive to each other.

• An additional table named "noanswer" will be created in the report data that will contain and show the selection counts for every <noanswer> element in the survey.

• <noanswer> rows cannot be dragged into row groups.