Markdown and HTML formatting not rendering within option labels

[kweav]

Description

I've been able to use markdown and html formatting successfully within question labels, however using such formatting within my option labels has been unsuccessful and doesn't correctly render. There are no error or warning messages that I've seen, just literal carryover of the formatting characters. From the documentation, I know it should be possible. I've checked this both in local preview and after hosting as a shiny app.

Here's an example question where formatting works within the label, but not the options.

sd_question(
  type   = 'mc',
  id     = 'engagement',
  label  = 'Have you ever engaged with <a href="https://www.itcrtraining.org/resources" target="_blank">ITN resources or activities</a>?',
  option = c(
    "**Yes**"                                                                                = "yes",
    "**No**, but I **have encouraged** a staff member or trainee to engage with ITN content" = "no_but_indirect",
    "**No, and I **have NOT encouraged** others to interact with ITN resources"              = "no_total",
    "I'm not sure"                                                                           = "not_sure",
    "I have not, but I plan to"                                                              = "not_yet"
  )
)

I did try to use just markdown or just html formatting rather than mixing them. I also tried removing the formatting within the label to see if maybe the formatting of both the label and options at the same time was the issue, but it didn't fix it. Is this a bug, or am I not using the formatting correctly? Thanks!

My surveydown version is

> utils::packageDescription('surveydown')$Version
[1] "0.13.2"

[jhelvy]

I can replicate the error. I found that the markdown formatting works with mc_buttons type questions, but not mc type questions. So there must be a missing call to run the markdown formatting for some question types.

This demo survey shows the difference:

---
format: html
echo: false
warning: false
use-cookies: false
---

```{r}
library(surveydown)
```

::: {.sd-page id=page1}

```{r}
sd_question(
  type   = "mc",
  id     = "like_apple",
  label  = "Do you like **apples**?",
  option = c(
    "**Yes**" = "yes",
    "_No_"  = "no"
  )
)

sd_question(
  type   = "mc_buttons",
  id     = "like_apple_buttons",
  label  = "Do you like **apples**?",
  option = c(
    "**Yes**" = "yes",
    "_No_"  = "no"
  )
)
```

:::

Which renders into this:

@pingfan-hu any ideas?

[kweav]

Thank you for confirming the issue. I have an mc_multiple question type with the same issue of not applying formatting.

[pingfan-hu]

Hi @kweav , the problem is now fixed. You can take a look at our updated demo survey of question types. On the first page, you can choose "Take me to the page on Question Formatting" (aka the 2nd option) to go directly to that page. In this page, you'll see all multiple choice question types now support markdown in both label and option.

The latest update is in our v0.13.4 branch. To install, use the scripts below:

pak::pak("surveydown-dev/surveydown@v0.13.4-gssencmode-fix", ask = FALSE)

I will have the branch checked and confirmed by @jhelvy , and we'll later on merge to main.

Any more problems let me know!

[pingfan-hu]

Simply write markdown scripts in label and option, like this:

sd_question(
  id     = 'markdown_1',
  type   = 'mc',
  label  = "**This** is a question *label* supporting ***markdown***:",
  option = c(
    "*Italic option*" = "italic",
    "**Bold option**" = "bold",
    "***Bold italic option***" = "bold_italic"
  )
)

This is how it looks like in the survey:

[kweav]

@pingfan-hu Sorry, I've installed from your branch but the issue is still happening. Is there some sort of cache that I need to clear for surveydown projects or a project repair process that would ensure all code is up to date?

[pingfan-hu]

Oh. That's probably because you have an existing _survey/ directory under your project, which is your old survey folder. You can delete that folder and run the app.R file again. Let me know if it solves.

[kweav]

Thank you -- That solved this issue!

[pingfan-hu]

Good to hear!
There are 2 operations by which you can have your _survey/ directory updated:

1. Completely delete it and re-run app.R (as I just told you).
2. Make any editing in survey.qmd, which is logically essential because you definitely need to see the updated survey after you update it.

Any further questions let me know!

[pingfan-hu]

Now since the problem has been solved, I'll close the discussion. @kweav if you have any further questions, feel free to open a new discussion.
Cheers~