<option>

<option> is a General Operator component that defines a selection element within a <select> block. If only <math> type components are to be selected, the <option> component can be excluded and selection items can simply be listed with a space between list items. However, if multiple types or complex selections are required, the <option> component is necessary.

When varying component types are used as options, such as a <text>, <function>, or <number>, these tags are nested within the <option> tag.

Attributes and Properties

Examples

Example: <option> type math

Three options for a variable name are nested within a <select>. The type of each <option> must be specified.

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Example: <option> type text

Three options for a variable name are nested within a <select>. The type of each <option> must be specified.

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Example: <option> type vector

Three options for a variable name are nested within a <select>. The type of each <option> must be specified.

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Example: Multiple <option> types within a <select>

The <option> component is used to define multiple component types as choices within a <select> block.

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Example: Retrieving <option> selections with multiple elements

It is possible to group several components for selection within a single <option> component. In order to reference a specific component within a selected <option>, use array notation. The first index of the array notation refers to the selected <option> component, and the second index refers to the specific component within the <option> component.

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Attribute Examples

Attribute Example: selectWeight

The <option> component is used with the selectWeight attribute. This attribute takes any numerical value and defaults to 1. In the case below, the red option is twice as likely to be selected during recursive selections (note that the <select> component has attribute specification withReplacement="true") as the green or yellow options.

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Attribute Example: selectForVariants

selectForVariants pins this <option> to specific named variants of the document. Paired with variantNames on <variantControl>, it lets the author control exactly which option appears in which variant — useful when the variants need to line up with a specific story, image, or partner answer key rather than being randomly assigned. In the example, the apple variant always shows red, banana always shows yellow, and cherry always shows dark red.

A few rules to keep in mind:

• It’s all-or-nothing per <select>: either no option uses selectForVariants, or every variant name declared by <variantControl> is covered.
• Each variant name has to be listed in exactly as many options as the <select>’s numToSelect (the default is 1). For numToSelect="3", each variant name must appear in three options’ selectForVariants lists.
• Multiple variant names are space-separated, and matching is case-insensitive.

Attribute Example: selectForVariants with multiple choices per variant

When numToSelect is greater than 1, each variant name has to appear in exactly that many options’ selectForVariants lists. Here each variant name (apple, banana, cherry) appears in exactly two options, so the apple variant produces red, yellow, banana produces red, dark red, and cherry produces yellow, dark red.