Difference between "answerObfuscated " and " true " value for secret proper

Question

Hi Everyone,
I have a doubt what would be the difference for the property " secret " in the form field .
Can some one explain the difference for the bellow code
<Property name='secret'>
<ref>waveset.questions[$(name)].answerObfuscated</ref>
</Property>
and
<Property name='secret' value='true'>
I have read in the docs that if the value for the obfuscated is set to "true " in the systemconfiguration file then it would display all the password fields and authenticated question answers as asterisk .
<Attribute name='obfuscateAnswers'>
     <Boolean>true</Boolean>
</Attribute>
My question here is that if we have the above one is system configuration field as true and in the forms as answersobfuscated as a value then it shows as asterick if we have false in the system configuration file then in the form secret would be false then it will show the filed the regular text is that right ?

Answer 1

That's a good question. My understanding:
answerObfuscated is an actual property of the answer, so can be used to control the display of answers anywhere.
secret is a property of a web field, and can be put on any web field on any web form.
So in the first example you give, the field is obfuscated only if the user's answer is tagged as being obfuscated. This would be used mostly to conditionally allow viewing of questions. (E.g., should an admin be able to read the plain text answer on a user's account?)
And yes, you would use this so that the system config controls the display rather than having to hard code it on every page that displays answers.