# Can topic templates have javascript?
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/can-topic-templates-have-javascript/146192
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [March 30, 2020, 7:49pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/can-topic-templates-have-javascript/146192 "2020-03-30T19:49:18Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@xceph](https://meta.discourse.org/u/xceph)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2020, 7:49pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/can-topic-templates-have-javascript/146192/1 "2020-03-30T19:49:18Z")
Id like to create templates which have required fields, ideally these would be via dropdown selection boxes.
For example, if a field required the user to list their favourite animal they could choose from a box containing: “Dog, Cat, or Gargoyle”, I’d really like to provide options rather than have free form entry. Is this or anything similar possible?
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### Author:  [@pfaffman](https://meta.discourse.org/u/pfaffman)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2020, 7:59pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/can-topic-templates-have-javascript/146192/2 "2020-03-30T19:59:33Z")
If you use tags you won’t have to write a plugin that will be likely to break every time templates change upstream. I recommend that you spend an hour or so trying that before starting to write a plugin.
You can have a look at [discourse-topic-previews-sidecar/plugin.rb at master · merefield/discourse-topic-previews-sidecar · GitHub](https://github.com/paviliondev/discourse-topic-previews/blob/master/plugin.rb) for an example of creating Topic Custom Fields.
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### Author:  [@Falco](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Falco)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2020, 9:22pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/can-topic-templates-have-javascript/146192/3 "2020-03-30T21:22:44Z")
> [@xceph](#):
>
> I’d really like to provide options rather than have free form entry. Is this or anything similar possible?
Discourse is, at heart, a free form discussion software.
If what you really need is a strict form, you may have better results using a more appropriate software. You could embed solutions like Google Forms and Typeform to ease the transition for your users, like this example:
https://showroom.typeform.com/to/fhFJNQ?typeform-embed=embed-widget
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### Author:  [@xceph](https://meta.discourse.org/u/xceph)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2020, 9:33pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/can-topic-templates-have-javascript/146192/4 "2020-03-30T21:33:03Z")
Thanks, I think my wording was bad, still want free form discussion but certain things are required to initiate that. I think using the tags and templates will be enough to make it work😀
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### Author:  [@Falco](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Falco)
#### Post date: [October 16, 2023, 7:22pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/can-topic-templates-have-javascript/146192/5 "2023-10-16T19:22:53Z")
This is now possible thanks to [Introducing Form Templates](https://meta.discourse.org/t/introducing-experimental-form-templates/278631)
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### Author:  [@Falco](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Falco)
#### Post date: [October 16, 2023, 7:22pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/can-topic-templates-have-javascript/146192/6 "2023-10-16T19:22:56Z")