The Answer Option Type properties of a Question allow you configuring how the Answer Options will be presented to the end-user and what kind of product data the Question represents. 

Table of Contents:

Structure

The following image shows how the "Answer Option Type" section looks like:

Type Overview

There are 4 different Answer Option types which are described in more detail in the following subpages:

• Text
• Ordered
• Continuous Numeric
• Boolean Question

Synergy of Product Attribute Types and Answer Option Types

The following table shows the synergy of the Answer Option types and the product attributes. The product attribute types are selectable in the Data Attributes Table in the product data view.

This table reveals that not every combination is possible.

Product Attribute Type	Answer Option Type				Where Range Selectable can be used:
	Text	Ordered	Continuous Numeric	Boolean
Text					(except Ordered )
Number
Boolean

Not Possible Combinations

Some combinations of product attribute types to Answer Option types are not possible because:

1. Product attributes of the type "Text" can not be:
   • "Continuous numeric" because it needs numerical values. Text-typed attribute values are always interpreted as text even if the values are technically numbers.
     
     
2. Product attributes of the type "Boolean" can not be:
   • "Ordered" because boolean data (e.g. "yes/no") have no order.
   • "Continuous Numeric" because there is containing natural or decimal numbers.
   • "Range selectable" because boolean attributes only allow two different Answer Options ("yes" and "no") which cannot be selected at the same time.

Synergy of Answer Option Data Binding and Answer Option Types

Like the product attribute types the Answer Option Data Binding types also effects the Answer option types. The following table shows the possible and disallow combinations.

Answer Option Data Binding	Answer Option Types				Where Range Selectable can be used:
	Text	Ordered	Continuous Numeric	Boolean
Simple			Text / Boolean  Number		(except Ordered or Number )
Expression					(except Ordered )
Automatic					(except Ordered )

Not possible combinations:

• Simple + Continuous Numeric + Text/Boolean:
  • because product attribute types "Text" and "Boolean" are not compatible with "Continuous numeric" (see Synergy of Product Attribute Types and Answer Option Types)
    
    
• Expression + Continuous Numeric:
  • because the product attributes in "Expression" will be selected in the Answer Options and "Continuous numeric" do not support "normal" Answer Options 
    
    
• Automatic + Continuous Numeric:
  • because the 1:1 mapping can be very large and unclear for decimals numbers
  • furthermore no step size is configurable
    
    
• Automatic + Boolean:
  • Boolean attributes only contains two values and a 1:1 mapping is not very useful in this case.
    
    
• All Range Selectables:
  • Without and enabled "Continuous Numeric" the range selection is only allowed for "Ordered" types.

Range Selectable

Unlike the four previously mentioned Answer Option Types, the parameter "Range selectable" is not an Answer Option Type. Instead, it is an additional option for the product attribute types "Ordered" and "Continuous numeric". Remember that both types contain values that have a natural or defined order. That's why this option enables the possibility of selecting a range of values within the related product attribute. Range selectable Questions are presented with e.g. a slider in the user interface.

Usage examples

1. A price range
   • e.g. "from 100 € to 300 €" (product attribute type "number")
2. A range of user ratings
   • e.g. "from 3 to 5 stars" (product attribute type "Text" and Answer Option Type "Ordered")

Read on: Answer Option Type Text