diff --git a/grails-app/assets/javascripts/forms-knockout-bindings.js b/grails-app/assets/javascripts/forms-knockout-bindings.js
index 027d107..b27ffa2 100644
--- a/grails-app/assets/javascripts/forms-knockout-bindings.js
+++ b/grails-app/assets/javascripts/forms-knockout-bindings.js
@@ -1146,6 +1146,21 @@
         ecodata.forms.OutputListSupport.apply(target, [options.metadata, options.constructorFunction, options.context, options.userAddedRows, options.config]);
     };
 
+    /**
+     * The role of this extender is to provide a function the view model can use to render a list of
+     * values selected using a multi select component (select2Many / selectMany) that have also used a
+     * label/value configuration for the options.
+     * @param target the observable.
+     * @param options unused
+     */
+    ko.extenders.toReadOnlyString = function(target, options) {
+        target.toReadOnlyString = function() {
+            var values = ko.utils.unwrapObservable(target);
+            var labels = target.constraints && _.isFunction(target.constraints.label) ? _.map(values, target.constraints.label) : values;
+            return labels.join(', ');
+        }
+    }
+
     /**
      * This is kind of a hack to make the closure config object available to the any components that use the model.
      */
diff --git a/grails-app/assets/javascripts/forms.js b/grails-app/assets/javascripts/forms.js
index da771c3..1f9b4df 100644
--- a/grails-app/assets/javascripts/forms.js
+++ b/grails-app/assets/javascripts/forms.js
@@ -1050,7 +1050,7 @@ function orEmptyArray(v) {
                 if (match) {
                     return self.constraints.text(match);
                 }
-                return '';
+                return value || '';
             }
         }
 
diff --git a/grails-app/taglib/au/org/ala/ecodata/forms/ModelJSTagLib.groovy b/grails-app/taglib/au/org/ala/ecodata/forms/ModelJSTagLib.groovy
index 52ea12a..bc31395 100644
--- a/grails-app/taglib/au/org/ala/ecodata/forms/ModelJSTagLib.groovy
+++ b/grails-app/taglib/au/org/ala/ecodata/forms/ModelJSTagLib.groovy
@@ -732,7 +732,8 @@ class ModelJSTagLib {
     }
 
     def stringListViewModel(JSModelRenderContext ctx) {
-        observableArray(ctx)
+        String extender = '{toReadOnlyString:true}'
+        observableArray(ctx, [extender])
     }
 
     def setViewModel(JSModelRenderContext ctx) {
diff --git a/src/main/groovy/au/org/ala/ecodata/forms/ViewModelWidgetRenderer.groovy b/src/main/groovy/au/org/ala/ecodata/forms/ViewModelWidgetRenderer.groovy
index f8cfd00..2f7ac82 100644
--- a/src/main/groovy/au/org/ala/ecodata/forms/ViewModelWidgetRenderer.groovy
+++ b/src/main/groovy/au/org/ala/ecodata/forms/ViewModelWidgetRenderer.groovy
@@ -72,9 +72,23 @@ class ViewModelWidgetRenderer implements ModelWidgetRenderer {
         context.writer << "<span ${context.attributes.toString()} data-bind='${context.databindAttrs.toString()}'></span>"
     }
 
+    /**
+     * The binding looks for the toReadOnlyString function because there exist some misconfigurations that
+     * use a "text" data model item with a selectMany/select2Many view.  This is a workaround to prevent exceptions.
+     */
+    private static String selectManyBindingString(WidgetRenderContext context) {
+        '_.isFunction(('+context.source+' || []).toReadOnlyString) ? '+ context.source+'.toReadOnlyString() : ('+context.source+'() || []).join(", ")'
+    }
+
     @Override
     void renderSelectMany(WidgetRenderContext context) {
-        context.databindAttrs.add 'text', '('+context.source+'() || []).join(", ")'
+        context.databindAttrs.add 'text',selectManyBindingString(context)
+        context.writer << "<span ${context.attributes.toString()} data-bind='${context.databindAttrs.toString()}'></span>"
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    void renderSelect2Many(WidgetRenderContext context) {
+        context.databindAttrs.add 'text', selectManyBindingString(context)
         context.writer << "<span ${context.attributes.toString()} data-bind='${context.databindAttrs.toString()}'></span>"
     }
 
@@ -195,12 +209,6 @@ class ViewModelWidgetRenderer implements ModelWidgetRenderer {
         context.writer << """\$<span data-bind='${context.databindAttrs.toString()}'></span>.00"""
     }
 
-    @Override
-    void renderSelect2Many(WidgetRenderContext context) {
-        context.databindAttrs.add 'text', '('+context.source+'() || []).join(", ")'
-        context.writer << "<span ${context.attributes.toString()} data-bind='${context.databindAttrs.toString()}'></span>"
-    }
-
     @Override
     void renderMultiInput(WidgetRenderContext context) {
         context.databindAttrs.add 'text', '('+context.source+'() || []).join(", ")'
diff --git a/src/test/js/spec/DataModelItemSpec.js b/src/test/js/spec/DataModelItemSpec.js
index e60f0c7..c479824 100644
--- a/src/test/js/spec/DataModelItemSpec.js
+++ b/src/test/js/spec/DataModelItemSpec.js
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ describe("DataModelItem Spec", function () {
         dataItem('2');
         expect(dataItem.constraints.label()).toEqual('2')
         expect(dataItem.constraints.label('3')).toEqual('3')
-        expect(dataItem.constraints.label("does not exist")).toEqual('');
+        expect(dataItem.constraints.label("does not exist")).toEqual('does not exist'); // Support for tags and historical constraints that have been removed.
 
         var objectConstraints = [{text:'label 1', value:'1'}, {text:'label 2', value:'2'}, {text:'label 3', value:'3'}];
         metadata.constraints = {
@@ -104,7 +104,7 @@ describe("DataModelItem Spec", function () {
         dataItem('2');
         expect(dataItem.constraints.label()).toEqual('label 2')
         expect(dataItem.constraints.label('3')).toEqual('label 3')
-        expect(dataItem.constraints.label("does not exist")).toEqual('');
+        expect(dataItem.constraints.label("does not exist")).toEqual('does not exist'); // Support for tags and historical constraints that have been removed.
 
         metadata.constraints = {
             type:"pre-populated",
@@ -128,7 +128,6 @@ describe("DataModelItem Spec", function () {
         deferred.resolve(objectConstraints).then(function() {
             expect(dataItem.constraints.label()).toEqual('label 2')
             expect(dataItem.constraints.label('3')).toEqual('label 3')
-            expect(dataItem.constraints.label("does not exist")).toEqual('');
 
             done();
         });