Textarea Control Settings

Add a control from which the Request participant can insert more than three lines of text.

Control Description

The Textarea control allows the Request participant to insert more than three lines of text. Though this control displays a vertical scroll bar if more than three lines are inserted, the input box can be expanded as necessary. To do this, click the lower right-hand corner of the input box of the Textarea control, hold, and then drag to enlarge or shrink the control size as necessary. Release when you have adjusted the Textarea control to your required size.

This control is only available for Form-type Screens. See Screen Types.

Permissions Required

Your user account or group membership must have the following permissions to design a Screen unless your user account has the Make this user a Super Admin setting selected:

• Screens: Edit Screens

• Screens: View Screens

See the Screens permissions or ask your Administrator for assistance.

Add the Control to a Screen

Permissions Required

Permissions are required to do this.

Design Best Practice

Avoid designing with more than 25 controls in one Screen.

Follow these steps to add this control to the Screen:

1. View the Screen page to which to add the control.

3. Drag the Textarea icon into the Screen Builder canvas. Existing controls on the Screen Builder canvas adjust positioning based on where you drag the control.

4. Place into the Screen Builder canvas where you want the control to display on the Screen.
5. Configure the Textarea control. See Settings.

6. Validate that the control is configured correctly. See Validate Your Screen.

Below is a Textarea control in Preview mode.

Move the Control on the Page

See Move a Control on the Page.

Copy the Control with its Settings

Copying a control also copies the current settings of that control. The copied control displays below other controls placed on that Screen page.

Permissions are required to do this.

Follow these steps to copy a control:

1. Select the control to be copied.

As a best practice, after copying a control, change the Variable Name setting value for the copied control to its own unique variable value. Otherwise, in-progress Requests that use this Screen read from and send data to both controls.

Delete the Control from a Screen

Permissions are required to do this.

Deleting a control also deletes configuration for that control. If you add another control, it will have default settings.

Follow these steps to delete a control from a Screen page:

1. Select the control to be deleted.

Settings

Permissions are required to do this.

The Textarea control has the following panels that contain settings:

• Variable panel

• Configuration panel

• Design panel

• Advanced panel

Variable Panel Settings

Click the control while in Design mode, and then click the Variable panel that is on the right-side of the Screen Builder canvas.

Below are settings for the Textarea control in the Variable panel:

• Variable Name

• Label

• Validation Rules

• Make Required

• Read Only

Variable Name

Use the Variable Name setting value in the following ways:

• Reference this control's value in a different Screen Builder control. To do so, use mustache syntax and reference this control's Variable Name value in the target control. Example: {{ TextareaControl }}.

• Reference this value in Visibility Rule setting expressions.

See best practices when editing a Request variable name.

Label

Validation Rules

Follow these steps to add a validation rule to this control:

1. Access the Variable panel for this control while in Design mode, and then locate the Validation Rules setting.

3. Select the rule that this control validates against.

4. Click Save. Parameters for the selected rule display. Parameter settings display which ones are required to properly configure the rule.

5. Enter the parameter settings that this control uses to validate against. See Validation Rule Settings, and then locate the validation rule for its parameters.

Follow these steps to edit a validation rule for this control:

1. Access the Variable panel for this control while in Design mode, and then locate the Validation Rules setting.

3. Edit the parameter settings that this control uses to validate against. See Validation Rule Settings, and then locate the validation rule for its parameters.

Follow these steps to delete a validation rule for this control:

1. Access the Variable panel for this control while in Design mode, and then locate the Validation Rules setting.

3. Click Delete.

Make Required

Read Only

Configuration Panel Settings

Click the control while in Design mode, and then click the Configuration panel that is on the right-side of the Screen Builder canvas.

Below are settings for the Textarea control in the Configuration panel:

• Placeholder Text

• Helper Text

• Rich Text

• Rows

Placeholder Text

Helper Text

Rich Text

Rows

Design Panel Settings

Click the control while in Design mode, and then click the Design panel that is on the right-side of the Screen Builder canvas.

Below are settings for the Textarea control in the Design panel:

• Text Color

• Background Color

Text Color

Background Color

Advanced Panel Settings

Click the control while in Design mode, and then click the Advanced panel that is on the right-side of the Screen Builder canvas.

Below are settings for the Textarea control in the Advanced panel:

• Default Value

• Visibility Rule

• Device Visibility

• CSS Selector Name

• Aria Label

• Tab Order

Default Value

Enter the default value this control displays. The default value can be assigned as a Request variable, text or JavaScript. When the Screen submits, the Request uses this control's default value unless the Request participant changes it. When using a Request variable in the Default Value setting, consider the following:

• If the Request variable is empty, the control does not display any value by default.

• When the Request variable is assigned a value for the first time, this value becomes the permanent default value of the control.

• Any further changes to the Request variable do not affect the default value of the control.

The Default Value setting supports using Request variables in mustache syntax. For example, if the Default Value setting is {{ FirstName }} {{ LastName }} from which a Request participant entered her first name and last name in separate controls (respectively) earlier in that Request, this control displays the contents of those controls by default during the Request.

There are two ways to enter the default value this control displays.

Enter the default value as text (default)

Enter the default value as JavaScript

Visibility Rule

Note the following regarding how to use visibility rules:

• To make this control hidden until another control contains a value, enter the Variable Name setting value of that control to this control's Visibility Rule setting.

• Visibility rules override custom CSS settings.

Device Visibility

Select on which device types this control displays:

• Desktop: The control displays only on desktop devices. Enable the Show for Desktop toggle key.

• Mobile: The control displays only on mobile devices. Enable the Show for Mobile toggle key.

CSS Selector Name

See the following best practices regarding custom CSS in Screens:

• Editing a CSS name to represent this control in custom CSS syntax

• Visibility rules override custom CSS settings

Aria Label

Enter the string that provides a text alternative to this control for the following purposes:

• Assistive technology, such as screen readers, read the Aria Label setting value.

• This control has a visual indication of its purpose, such as a button that uses a graphic instead of text, but still needs to clarify that purpose for anyone who cannot access the visual indication.

Tab Order

Tab order determines the sequential navigation order to navigate a Screen's controls using a keyboard interface. Assistive technology users often use a keyboard for navigation.

See best practices for setting the tab order for a Screen's controls.

Related Topics

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