Field types

Forms support 9 field types. Here's what each one is for, and exactly what big checks before accepting a submission.

Text and numbers

• Short text — a single-line answer, up to 5000 characters.
• Long text — a multi-line answer, also up to 5000 characters.
• Number — must be a finite number (no Infinity, no NaN).

Email

Validated against a standard email format. big checks the shape of the address, not whether it's deliverable.

Instagram handle

Validated for format only — lowercase letters, numbers, periods, and underscores, 1–30 characters ([a-z0-9._]{1,30}). big does not verify that the handle belongs to a real, existing Instagram account — there's no public API for that lookup. Treat a submitted handle as "shaped like a handle," not "confirmed to exist."

Choice fields

• Single choice — pick one option.
• Multi choice — pick one or more options.
• Dropdown — pick one option from a dropdown list; big also validates that the submitted value is one of the configured options.

All three share the same option limits: 1–50 options, each up to 200 characters.

Rating

An integer rating from 1 up to a configurable max. The max itself is configurable per field, from 2 to 10.

Identity field

You can flag exactly one field on a form as the identity field — a short text, email, or instagram field is eligible. Whatever a respondent enters there is copied to that submission's identity value, which is what big uses to recognize or de-duplicate who responded.

This is the only cross-referencing big does with form answers — no other field type is looked up or matched against anything else.