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Hmmm, some interesting observations about the picklist. This is on Linux Mint.

Here a segment of the XML pertaining to two fields:

<Field id="data_month" top="335" left="332" type="ftInteger" length="2" decimals="0" entryMode="emDefault" repeat="true" showValueLabel="true" forcePickList="true" valueLabelRef="months"> <Question> <Text xml:lang="en">data for month of</Text> </Question> </Field> <Field id="division" top="383" left="332" type="ftInteger" length="2" decimals="0" entryMode="emDefault" repeat="true" showValueLabel="true" valueLabelRef="division"> <Question> <Text xml:lang="en">division</Text> </Question> </Field>

Note that data_month has forcePickList = "true". In the Manager GUI, this equates to the "always show the picklist" checkbox being checked. And note that division has nothing for forcePickList.

Now in Entry, when I tab into data_month, the prior record's value is there (repeat="true"), and no picklist appears. If I delete it, nothing else happens--still no pickList is visible. But if I then press F9, a picklist appears and can be used to select a value. Again, note that this is with forcePickList = "true".

In contrast, when I tab into division and delete the repeated value, a little yellow-boxed picklist automatically appears. This is with picklist NOT set to "true".

I have several other integer fields with legal values/labels, but no default or repeat values, and with forcePickList NOT equal to "true". In every one, the little yellow-boxed picklist appears straightaway when I tab in.

In summary, the above picklist behavior seems opposite from what I'd expect.

--Chris

EpiData support and user community wrote:

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As I recall, in Classic there was the ability for a user to enter "notes" about the data entry experience. F5? F9? I forget the exact keystrokes. At any rate it was a place for user to write things like "the scribbles on the paper survey form were hard to decipher; I took my best shot" or "the power went out while I was doing this record"

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I think you would have to add a text field big enough to take comments like this and put it at the bottom of the form. The upside is that the person doing data entry does not need to know the special key to open a note.

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I see the checkbox option in Manager to "always show" the picklist for a particular variable during data entry. Can I leave that box unchecked yet still make it possible for a user to open the list at will, i.e. once in a while they forget what allowable values are?

Thanks,

—Chris

Yes, I think so. Try it; they might show for some fields even if you don’t tick that box.

Jamie

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