Best way to do YES/NO and N/A option in a form.

[Henrique_Vieir2]

The YES/NO field type is great, but I would like to create the N/A option. I know it's possible to create three buttons using the ENUM type, but is it possible to create a third option using YES/NO?

Since YES/NO stores the data as TRUE/FALSE, it is great for logic. Sometimes I just need the user to select N/A, but with ENUM it will not internally save the data as boolean, but as text (at least not without having to create new columns for the logic).

Any tips?

[WillowMobileSys · Accepted solution]

If you require that the user explicitly indicates that a question is "n/a", then its no longer just a Yes/No type column and cannot be done with a single Yes/No column.

However, if you can allow users the option to NOT answer a question, then you could assume that anything left blank is "n/a".  OR you could default all questions to either No or Yes and instruct the user to change the answers if needed and deselect an answer for explicit indication of "n/a". 

[Henrique_Vieir2]

Thanks, that's what I suspected, but I'd like some opinions.

[MultiTech]

My solution has been to provide both spaces in the form:

• Yes/No
• Enum (for other options)

This has the added benefit of allowing for other answers as well.

A client of mine is a researcher, and we were working on a survey taking app; he needed this exact ability, and the following is how we solved it.

• We provided a Yes/No column for the True/False aspect of things
• We also provided an "Other" space; this was an Enum, which gave us the following options:
  • We could always include a "Refuse" option
  • We could dynamically add other options into the mix, based on the question being asked
  • We could pull answers from previous questions, and use them as options in this "other" space

In short, a ton of functionalities were opened up because we included this secondary column; many we were never intending on including, but now serve as part of the backbone functionality of the system.