Implement Multi-Select Field for Controlled Vocabularies

[bhumikaguptaa]

Current issue and workaround

Currently, in Specify 7, fields that use controlled vocabularies are generally limited to a single value per record. This presents a significant challenge when a user needs to record multiple attributes for a single field. The current workarounds are insufficient and introduce data management problems:

• Using yesNo box fields for each term: This approach is not scalable. As the number of terms in the vocabulary grows, the form becomes cluttered and difficult to use.
• Using a text field with a picklist and a separator: The picklist must be manually populated with every possible combination of values, which is impractical for large vocabularies. Users may introduce variations of the same term, leading to a messy and unreliable.

Describe the solution you'd like

The proposed solution is implementation of a multi-select combo box (or a similar multi-select field type) for fields linked to controlled vocabularies. This would allow users to select multiple, discrete, pre-defined values from the controlled vocabulary list and store them for a single record.
From the user's perspective, this could be a dropdown menu where each item has a checkbox. Alternatively, it could be an input field that, when clicked, allows the user to select multiple values from the picklist. This implementation would ensure that data remains clean, normalized, and easy to query, while providing a much more intuitive user experience.

Reported by

Nate Shoobs, The Ohio State University Museum of Biological Diversity

Link to the discourse post: https://discourse.specifysoftware.org/t/add-support-for-multi-select-combo-boxes-in-specify/2891