QuestionForm

A Title element specifies a string to be rendered as a title or heading.

<Title>The Next Move</Title>

A Text element specifies a block of text to be rendered as a paragraph. Only plain text is allowed. HTML is not allowed. If HTML characters (such as angle brackets) are included in the data, they appear verbatim in the web output.

<Text>What is the best next move for "X" in this game of Tic-Tac-Toe?</Text>

A List element displays a bulleted list of items. Items are specified using one or more ListItem elements inside the List. The ListItem element is a string.

<List>
  <ListItem>It must be a valid move.</ListItem>
  <ListItem>"X" cannot resign.</ListItem>
</List>

A Binary element specifies non-textual data of some kind, such as an image, audio, or video. The elements listed in the following table are required and must be entered in the order shown here.

<Binary>
  <MimeType>
    <Type>image</Type>
    <SubType>gif</SubType>
  </MimeType>
  <DataURL>http://tictactoe.amazon.com/game/01523/board.gif</DataURL>
  <AltText>The game board, with "X" to move.</AltText>
</Binary>
    

An Application element specifies an embedded application. It contains either a JavaApplet element or a Flash element.

You can specify zero or more parameters to pass to your Java applet or Flash application when it is opened in the web page. For a HIT, in addition to the parameters you specify, Amazon Mechanical Turk includes two parameters specific to the HIT: hitId and assignmentId. The hitId parameter is equal to the ID of the HIT. The assignmentId parameter is equal to the ID of the assignment if the Worker has accepted the HIT, or equal to ASSIGNMENT_ID_NOT_AVAILABLE if the Worker is only previewing the HIT.

The JavaApplet element includes the elements described in the following table:

The Flash element includes the elements described in the following table:

<Application>
  <JavaApplet>
    <AppletPath>http://tictactoe.amazon.com/applets/</AppletPath>
    <AppletFilename>GameViewer.class</AppletFilename>
    <Width>400</Width>
    <Height>300</Height>
    <ApplicationParameter>
      <Name>game_id<Name>
      <Value>01523</Value>
    </ApplicationParameter>
  </JavaApplet>
</Application>

An EmbeddedBinary element specifies an external object of non-textual data of some kind, such as an image, audio or video, that displays in your browser. The elements listed in the following table are required and must be entered in the order shown here.

<EmbeddedBinary>
  <EmbeddedMimeType>
    <Type>image</Type>
    <SubType>gif</SubType>
  </EmbeddedMimeType>
  <DataURL>http://tictactoe.amazon.com/game/01523/board.gif</DataURL>
  <AltText>The game board, with "X" to move.</AltText>
  <Width>400</Width>
  <Height>300</Height>
  <ApplicationParameter>
    <Name>game_id<Name>
    <Value>01523</Value>
  </ApplicationParameter>
</EmbeddedBinary>

For finer control over the display of your HIT information, you can specify a FormattedContent element. Formatted content is a block of text with formatting information specified using XHTML tags. For example, you can use XHTML tags to specify that certain words appear in a boldface font or to include a table in your HIT information.

Only a limited subset of XHTML is supported. For more information on the creating and validating XHTML formatted content, see Formatted Content: XHTML.

The value of the FormattedContent element must be specified as an XML CDATA block. CDATA tells the web service that the XHTML elements are not part of the QuestionForm data schema. For example, the following describes a paragraph of formatted text:

<FormattedContent><![CDATA[
  <p>This is a paragraph with <b>bold text</b>,
  <i>italic text</i>, and <b><i>bold italic text</i></b>.</p>
]]></FormattedContent>

A FreeTextAnswer element describes a text field and constraints on its possible values. It includes the elements described in the following table:

	Note
	A Qualification test that is to be graded automatically using an answer key cannot have any free-text questions. An answer key can only match multiple-choice questions and cannot match free-text fields.

The optional Constraints element describes constraints on the allowed values for the text field. If no constraints are specified, any value is accepted for the field.

The Constraints element includes the elements described in the following table:

Name	Description	Required
IsNumeric	Specifies that the value entered must be numeric. Type: empty element Default: None Attributes: minValue— An optional integer that specifies the minimum value allowed maxValue — An optional integer that specifies the maximum value allowed	No
Length	Specifies the length range of the answer. Type: empty element Default: None Attributes: minLength— An optional non-negative integer that specifies the minimum number of characters maxLength— An optional positive integer that specifies the maximum number of characters	No
AnswerFormatRegex	Specifies that JavaScript validates the answer string against a given pattern. Note A limitation of this approach is that Workers who have disabled JavaScript on their browsers cannot validate their answers. Although this is uncommon, you might want to caution your Workers. Type: empty element Default: None Attributes: regex— A required string that specifies the regular expression that JavaScript uses to validate against the Workers' entered values errorText— An optional string that allows you to edit the content of errors displayed to the Worker on the Worker web site if the regex validation fails. If this attribute is not specified, the error displayed is "Invalid input supplied." flags— An optional string with the value i which specifies that case is ignored when matching characters	No

The Constraints element can contain multiple AnswerFormatRegex elements. All AnswerFormatRegex constraints must be satisfied before the Worker can submit the HIT. For more information about JavaScript RegExp and how to use it, go to the Core JavaScript Reference at Mozilla.org.

The following examples demonstrate how to use the FreeTextAnswer element.

If you want a 3-digit positive integer between 100 and 999, use the following:

<FreeTextAnswer>
  <Constraints>
    <IsNumeric minValue="100" maxValue="999"/>
    <Length minLength="3" maxLength="3"/>
  </Constraints>
</FreeTextAnswer>
       

If you want a 3-digit number that includes decimals, use the following:

<FreeTextAnswer>
  <Constraints>
     <IsNumeric/>
     <Length minLength="3" maxLength="3"/>
  </Constraints>
</FreeTextAnswer>
       

If you want to ensure that there is some text, use the following example. The minLength attribute includes whitespaces in the character count.

<FreeTextAnswer>
  <Constraints>
    <Length minLength="2" />
    <AnswerFormatRegex regex="\S" errorText="The content cannot be blank."/>
  </Constraints>
</FreeTextAnswer>
       

If you specify the minLength attribute, it is the same as if the IsRequired element is true. If you want to allow an optional string that must be at least two characters, use the following:

<FreeTextAnswer>
  <Constraints>
    <AnswerFormatRegex regex="(^$|\S{2,})" 
     errorText="You must enter at least two characters."/>
  </Constraints>
</FreeTextAnswer>
    

To request a US phone number in the format 1-nnn-nnn-nnnn, where "1-" is optional, use the following:

<FreeTextAnswer>
  <Constraints>
    <AnswerFormatRegex 
     regex="^(1[- ]?)?(\([2-9]\d{2}\)\s*|[2-9]\d{2}-?)[2-9]\d{2}-?\d{4}$)" 
     errorText="You must enter a US phone number in the format 
     1-555-555-1234 or 555-555-1234."/>
  </Constraints>
</FreeTextAnswer>
    

If you want an answer that contains a date formatted as yyyy-mm-dd, use the following:

<FreeTextAnswer>
  <Constraints>
    <AnswerFormatRegex regex="^[12][0-9]{3}-[01]?\d-[0-3]?\d$" 
     errorText="You must enter a date with the format yyyy-mm-dd."/>    
  </Constraints>
</FreeTextAnswer>
    

If you want an answer that contains a price formatted as $n.nn, use the following:

<FreeTextAnswer>
  <Constraints>
    <AnswerFormatRegex regex="^\$\d+\.\d\d$" 
     errorText="You must enter a price with the format $n.nn."/>    
  </Constraints>
</FreeTextAnswer>
    

If you want an answer that contains "regex" and variations including RegEx, REGex, and RegExes, use the following:

<FreeTextAnswer>
  <Constraints>
    <AnswerFormatRegex regex="regex" flags="i"
     errorText="You must enter 'regex'."/>    
  </Constraints>
</FreeTextAnswer>
    

A SelectionAnswer describes a multiple-choice question. Depending on the element defined, the Worker might be able to select zero, one, or multiple items from a set list as the answer to the question.

A SelectionAnswer element includes the elements described in the following table:

The Selections element lists the selection options available. It contains one or more Selection elements, one for each possible answer in the set. The Selection element includes the elements described in the following table:

The following example shows a SelectionAnswer element that specifies a question with four radiobuttons.

<SelectionAnswer>
  <StyleSuggestion>radiobutton</StyleSuggestion>
  <Selections>
    <Selection>
      <SelectionIdentifier>C1</SelectionIdentifier>
      <Text>C1 (northeast)</Text>
    </Selection>
    <Selection>
      <SelectionIdentifier>C2</SelectionIdentifier>
      <Text>C2 (east)</Text>
    </Selection>
    <Selection>
      <SelectionIdentifier>A3</SelectionIdentifier>
      <Text>A3 (southwest)</Text>
    </Selection>
    <Selection>
      <SelectionIdentifier>C3</SelectionIdentifier>
      <Text>C3 (southeast)</Text>
    </Selection>
  </Selections>  
</SelectionAnswer>

A FileUploadAnswer prompts the Worker to upload a file as the answer to the question. When the Worker uploads the file, Amazon Mechanical Turk stores the file separately from the answer data. Once the HIT is submitted, your application can call the GetFileUploadURL operation to get a temporary URL it can use to download the file.

The FileUploadAnswer specification contains two required elements, a MinFileSizeInBytes and a MaxFileSizeInBytes, that specify the minimum and maximum allowed file sizes respectively. If the Worker uploads a file whose size in bytes is outside of this range, the answer is rejected, and the Worker must upload a different file to complete the HIT. You can specify a maximum size up to 2000000000 (2 billion) bytes.

	Note
	A FileUploadAnswer element can only be used with HITs. It cannot be used with Qualification tests.

The following example demonstrates a FileUploadAnswer element that specifies a file with a minimum of 1000 bytes and a maximum of 3000000 bytes.

<FileUploadAnswer>
  <MaxFileSizeInBytes>3000000</MaxFileSizeInBytes>
  <MinFileSizeInBytes>1000</MinFileSizeInBytes>
</FileUploadAnswer>