Text Area

The textarea element is a field for multi-line text input, allowing users to edit multiple lines of plain text. Text areas are useful to collect or edit runs of text like messages, opinions, reviews, articles, etc.

Attributes

Attribute	Type	Required?	Description
name	String	Yes	Identifies the text area.
placeholder	String	No	Specifies a short hint that describes the expected value of the text area.
required	Boolean	No	If true, it specifies that the text area must be filled out before submitting the form. Accepted values; true and false.
pattern	String	No	Regex String to match for input validation
pattern-error-message	String	No	Error message returned to user if pattern parameter matches user input
title	It accepts a simple text and \n for line breaks	No	The description that will be displayed when clicking the tooltip icon located on top of the Masked Text Field Element. Max length: 256 characters. Available from Symphony v20.8 and above.
label	String	Not required but it is recommended if title is defined	Definition of the label that will be displayed on top of the Masked Text Field Element. Available from Symphony v20.8 and above.
rows	Number	No	Specify the number of rows (height) of the text area that will be displayed by default.
cols	Number	No	Specify the number of columns (width) of the text area that will be displayed by default.

Using Input Validation

With Symphony v20.6, bot developers can use Regex to validate text fields and text areas using the pattern and pattern-error-message attributes. For more information and examples, refer to Regular Expressions - Regex.

Rules and Limitations

• The text field must be a self-closing tag or have no children.

• You can add a default text in your text area by including it between the <textarea></textarea> tags. Note that unlike the placeholder text, the default text will be sent with the form if not edited by the user. Refer to Examples for more information.

Examples

The following example shows two textareas being used as follows:

• The first textarea (id1) shows how to display a default text ("With initial value"). Note that the default text would have been sent to the payload if it had not been deleted before submitting the form.

• The second text-field (req) shows how a placeholder text ("Required, with a placeholder, a regex, a label, and a tooltip") is displayed in the UI. Please note the placeholder text is not sent in the payload if no text has been entered in the field by the enduser. It shows as well the behaviour of a required textarea in a form, which cannot be submitted in case it is not filled; an error is displayed under the textarea in case the user submits the form with this empty field. The textarea presents how a label text ("My Label") as well as a title text ("My Tooltip/n With a second line") are displayed in the UI. Finally, it shows how users can interact with a regex pattern which does not allow the form to be submitted if the input does not follow the pattern required by the bot developer.

MessageML

<messageML>
  <form id="form_id">
    <h2>textareas</h2>
      <textarea name="id1" >With initial value</textarea>
      <textarea name="req" required="true" label="My label" title="My title\nWith second line" pattern="^[a-zA-Z]{3,3}$" pattern-error-message="My error message - must contain exactly 3 letters" placeholder="Required, with a placeholder, a regex, a label, and a tooltip"></textarea>
      <button name="textarea">Submit</button>
  </form>
</messageML>

Datafeed Payload

[
    {
        "id": "wPptaz",
        "messageId": "LI4WgwZSDcstpKjyeKvCH3___pQEQvHfbQ",
        "timestamp": 1563296599584,
        "type": "SYMPHONYELEMENTSACTION",
        "initiator": {
            "user": {
                "userId": 7078106482890,
                "firstName": "User",
                "lastName": "Bot",
                "displayName": "User",
                "email": "[e-mail]",
                "username": "user_bot"
            }
        },
        "payload": {
            "symphonyElementsAction": {
                "actionStream": {
                    "streamId": "0YeiA-neZa1PrdHy1L82jX___pQjntU-dA"
                },
                "formStream": {
                    "streamId": "YuK1c2y2yuie6+UfQnjSPX///pQEn69idA=="
                },
                "formMessageId": "1P6z5kI6OzkxTKEoKOgWZ3///pQERpkYdA==5338",
                "formId": "form_id",
                "formValues": {
                    "action": "textarea",
                    "id1": "",
                    "req": "abc"
                }
            }
        }
    }
]

Versions and Compatibility

Main features introduced	Agent needed to parse message sent by the bot	Client 2.0 release	Backward client-compatibility behavior (e.g. external rooms)
Initial release	2.55.9	Since first version	Not working
Regex	20.6	Since first version	Regex validation not enforced but field can be submitted
Label	20.7	Since first version	Label displayed and form can still be submitted
Tooltip (title)	20.7	Since first version	Tooltip not displayed but form can still be submitted
row and col	23.11	24.1	Not supported.