Groups

Groups are used to organize related questions in your form. A group is defined using the begin_group and end_group types. You can control how a group behaves using the appearance column.

📄 Group with appearance: field-list

When you use field-list as the appearance of a group, all questions inside the group will appear on the same screen. This creates a page-style layout where users can answer multiple related questions at once.

Each row inside the group is treated as an individual question, and the group label (if used) may be shown as a section header depending on the platform.

Example – field-list group with mixed question types

type	name	label	appearance	required
begin_group	contact	Contact Details	field-list
text	fname	First name		yes
text	lname	Last name		yes
select_one gender	gender	Gender
select_multiple	contact_way	Preferred contact methods
end_group

Choices sheet

list_name	name	label
gender	male	Male
gender	female	Female
gender	other	Other
contact_way	email	Email
contact_way	phone	Phone
contact_way	sms	SMS

What happens: This group will be displayed as a single page with the following fields:

• First name (text)

• Last name (text)

• Gender (select one option)

• Preferred contact methods (select multiple options)

All inputs are on one page, allowing the user to enter multiple related pieces of information at once.

⁉️ Group without appearance

When no appearance is set, the group is treated more like a structured question with different answer types. The label of the group becomes the main question prompt, and each row inside the group is treated as a separate answer.

Example – no appearance

type	name	label
begin_group	contact	Provide your contact details
text	fname	First name
text	lname	Last name
text	address	Street address
integer	zip	ZIP code
end_group

As a bonus you can add a constraint to the ZIP code question to make sure it's a valid US ZIP code (5 digits):

type	name	label	constraint	constraint_message
integer	zip	ZIP code	regex(., '^\d{5}$')	Must be a 5-digit US ZIP code

What happens: The form will show a series of related questions under the prompt "Provide your contact details", with each field considered part of that single prompt.

Summary

Group behavior changes based on whether or not you use the field-list appearance:

Appearance	Behavior
field-list	Shows all questions in the group on the same screen
(none)	Treats the group as a single question with multiple parts or subfields

📰 Group with appearance: field-list containing a nested group

You can create a group with appearance: field-list and place other elements inside it, including:

• A nested group without any appearance (which behaves like a structured multi-part question)

• Other individual questions (like select_one or text)

This allows you to show a full page of related inputs while still benefiting from structured sub-sections inside that page like a page layout with a contact info block and a preferred contact method

In this example:

• The main group uses field-list, so everything appears on one page.

• Inside it, there's a nested group (with no appearance), which acts as a block of related text questions.

• After the nested group, there's a select_one question asking how the respondent prefers to be contacted.

survey sheet

type	name	label	appearance
begin_group	full_block	Contact Page	field-list
begin_group	contact	Provide your contact details
text	fname	First name
text	lname	Last name
text	address	Street address
integer	zip	ZIP code
end_group
select_one method	contact_way	Preferred contact method
end_group

choices sheet

list_name	name	label
method	email	Email
method	phone	Phone
method	sms	SMS

What happens:

• The respondent sees one one page.

• At the top, they’re prompted to fill in their contact details (first name, last name, etc.) — these appear grouped together but are treated as parts of one structured section.

• Below that, on the same screen, they can choose their preferred contact method.

This approach keeps related information neatly organized and efficient to fill out.