🔤 All 19 Field Types And When To Use Each

ResultsAiX Forms has 19 field types. This guide explains each one: what the visitor sees, what is stored in the entry, how it is checked, and when to use it. There is no field limit, so a form can have as many fields of any mix as it needs.

Where to find it:

Open a form in the builder. The 19 types are the buttons in the Add a field palette on the left. Click one to add it to the end of the form.

Text fields:

• Single line text: one line of typing, for short answers such as a company name or a reference number. Supports Placeholder, Min length, Max length (with a live counter) and a Pattern for strict formats.
• Paragraph text: a larger box for messages and descriptions. The same length limits and pattern as single line text. A max length of 800 to 1000 suits most messages.
• Email address: checked in the browser and again on your site. The first Email address field on a form is the one that makes the entry a lead: it powers the thank you email, Reply-To, Customer insight and the hand-off to ResultsAiX Mailer and WP Sync.
• Name (first / last): two boxes, First name and Last name, stored as one name such as "Emma Carter". When it is required, the first name must be filled in.
• Phone number: opens the phone keypad on mobiles. Any format is accepted, so visitors can type numbers the way they are used to.
• Website / URL: must be a web address. The placeholder is https:// unless you write your own.
• Number: must be a number, between your Min and Max when you set them, for example years of experience between 0 and 50.

Choice fields:

• Dropdown: one choice from a list. Best when there are many options or space is tight. The placeholder is the first line, shown before a choice is made.
• Radio buttons (pick one): one choice, with every option visible. Best for two to six options, and easy to tap on a phone.
• Checkboxes (pick several): any number of choices, for questions like "What does the kitchen need?".

All three need at least two options, only accept the options you wrote, and feed the Answer breakdown charts on the AI Insights tab.

Date, time and address:

• Date picker: the browser's own calendar. Stored as year, month and day, for example 2027-01-01.
• Time picker: the browser's own time picker. Stored as hours and minutes.
• Address: five boxes in one block (Street address, City, State / Region, Postal code and Country), stored as one line with commas. When it is required, the street must be filled in.

Rating and consent:

• Star rating (1-5): five stars to click. The Answer breakdown shows the count for each score and the average.
• GDPR consent: a checkbox with your consent sentence as its label, and optional Small print under the checkbox. The entry records "Consent given". Make it required for visitors in the UK and EU.

Behind the scenes:

• Hidden field: the visitor never sees it. Its Value is either fixed text, or ?param to capture a URL parameter. With ?ref, a visitor who arrives at yoursite.com/free-quote/?ref=NEIGHBOUR has NEIGHBOUR stored on the entry. Up to 500 characters are kept.
• HTML / content block: your own text, links or simple markup between fields, for example an opening line or a link to your privacy policy. It stores no answer.
• Section break: a heading with an optional description, to split a long form into parts such as About you and Your project. It stores no answer.

File upload:

One file per field, up to 5 MB, of these types: JPG, JPEG, PNG, GIF, WEBP, PDF, Word (DOC and DOCX), TXT, CSV and ZIP. The note under the box tells visitors the same. Files are kept private: only a logged in administrator can open them, through the link on the entry and in your notification email. The visitor's own file name is kept, so you see names like kitchen-now.jpg.

What every field shares:

• Label, the question as the visitor reads it.
• Required, except for hidden fields, HTML blocks and section breaks.
• Width, Full width or Half width, except for those same three.
• A merge tag such as {field:f5} for your emails, for every field that stores an answer.
• Conditional logic, for every field except hidden fields.

A real example:

The Northfield Renovations quote form uses 15 of the 19 types: section breaks, name, email, phone, address, radio buttons, checkboxes, single line text, dropdowns, a date picker, a star rating, file upload, paragraph text, a hidden referral code and GDPR consent. The newsletter form uses just a single line text for the first name, an email, checkboxes and consent.

Field by field notes:

• Email address: visitors see a clear message if the address does not look right, such as a missing @.
• Name (first / last): both boxes have the right autofill hints, so phones and browsers can fill them in for the visitor. The Address and Email boxes have them too.
• Number: phones show the number keypad, and an answer outside your Min and Max is sent back with the allowed limit, for example "Must be at least 0."
• Date picker and Time picker: on a phone they open the phone's own date and time wheels.
• Star rating (1-5): stars light up as the visitor picks them, and screen readers hear "1 star" to "5 stars".
• GDPR consent: the consent sentence is the clickable label, so the whole line ticks the box.

What the entry shows for each type:

• Name: "Emma Carter".
• Address: "14 Oak Road, Didsbury, Manchester, M20 6AB, United Kingdom".
• Checkboxes: "New cabinets, Worktops, Electrics".
• Star rating: four stars and "(4 of 5)".
• GDPR consent: "Consent given".
• Date: "2027-01-01".
• File upload: a paperclip and the file name, for example kitchen-now.jpg, as a private link.

The newsletter example, step by step:

1. Add Single line text, label it First name, tick Required, set Half width.
2. Add Email address, tick Required, set Half width.
3. Add Checkboxes, label it "What would you like tips on?", with four options.
4. Add Hidden field, label it Signup page, and set its Value to ?ref.
5. Add GDPR consent with your sentence and small print, and tick Required.
6. In Style, tick Floating labels on text fields and set the button to Outlined, Full width.

Links to the page can now carry ?ref=footer or ?ref=blog-kitchen-ideas, and each sign up records where on the site it happened.

Tips:

• A Single line text field whose label contains the word "name" is used as the entry's name when the form has no Name field, as on the newsletter form.
• Use radio buttons rather than a dropdown when there are only a few options: they are quicker on a phone.
• Use Half width for short pairs such as email and phone. They stack again on a phone.
• See Conditional Logic: Show Or Hide Fields Based On Answers to show fields only when they apply.