Dropdown control Properties — General tab

Field

Description

Press the down arrow to select a property, the value of which will be set by the option selected from the dropdown list at run time.

You can configure a list of options for the dropdown in the List Source area, as well as select the caption and value for the options. Dropdown options can come from the list defined on the property or from a clipboard page, data page, or report definition.

If the set of possible values is provided by a property using the Table Type field , specify a Single Value mode property that has a Table Type other than None.

For Single Value properties in the Applies to class (or higher) of the current rule, you can drag a property name, from the list of properties visible in the Application Explorer, into the layout. If the container that holds this field has a non-blank Using Page value, you can drag a Single Value property from within that embedded page property.

Click to review a property (if the reference is to an existing property in the Applies To class of this rule or a parent of that class). If the property is not found, the New dialog box for the property form appears.

You can reference properties on any page identified on the Pages & Classes tab, using the normal notation pagename.propertyname for pages other than the page corresponding to the Applies To class of the rule.

If this field is in a cell of a section that includes parameter declarations on the Parameters tab, you can enter the notation param.NAME here, to use a parameter value for the field, where NAME identifies a string parameter. Make sure that the NAME parameter is declared on the Parameters tab, and that your application provides a non-blank value for the parameter value in all possible situations where the section appears. See Sections — Completing the Parameter tab.

Select Use property default to use the label Dropdown.

Clear the checkbox to either type a text string, or select a field value from the SmartPrompt list that contains records with Field Name key part of pyCaption.

Click to open a field value or create a one.

Optional. Enter a constant value for an expression, to be used only when the user form or flow action form appears in read-write mode rather than read-only mode.

Click to start the Expression Builder.

Choose a default value that speeds data entry. When the system renders a harness or section in read-only mode (for example because the read-write mode requires a privilege that the current user does not hold), the default value does not appear, because data entry is not permitted.

If you want to display a tooltip when the user hovers the mouse pointer over the dropdown list, type a text string such as Select to open an item, or select a field value from the SmartPrompt list that contains records with Field Name key part of pyActionPrompt.

Click to open a field value record or create a new one.

This tooltip applies to the entire dropdown list.

If the List Source Type is Data page, Clipboard page or Report definition, you can also specify a tooltip that displays when the user hovers the mouse pointer over an item within the dropdown list. To do this, specify the Property for tooltip in the List Source area on the General tab.

• Choose Always, If Not Blank, or If Not Zero to have the field appear or be hidden based on the property value at the time this area of the user form (section or flow action) is first presented or refreshed. This condition is checked only once.
• Choose Condition (when) or Condition (expression) to make the visibility depend on a when condition rule or a Java expression.

Do not make an input field invisible if your application expects user input on the field. When a user submits an HTML form, an input field that is not visible is not included in the HTTP details.

Select to disable the text input:

• Never: never disabled
• Always: always disabled
• Condition (expression): the text input is disabled under the specified condition. In the field that displays, select a condition or click to open the Condition Builder. You can define a simple expression based on the comparison of a pair of constants, properties, or both, combined by Boolean operators, such as .Color="Red". You can combine the expression with a when condition rule or another expression using the && and || operators.
• Condition (when): the text input is disabled under the specified condition. In the field that displays, select a when rule. Click to create a new when condition or review an existing when condition.

Select to display by default a hint or instructional text that helps users select a correct value.

Either enter a text string, or select a field value from the SmartPrompt list that contains records with Field Name key part of part of pyCaption.

Click to open a field value record or create a one.

Select one of the following as the source for the dropdown list:

• As defined on property
• Data page— specify the data page in the Data Page field.
• Clipboard page— specify the clipboard page in the Source field.
• Report definition— specify the class in the Applies To field and then select the Report Definition.

When the source is a clipboard page, data page, or a report definition, you can categorize items within the dropdown list. When a dropdown list is bound to a data page or report definition that accepts parameters and the parameter value uses a property reference, the dropdown list automatically refreshes with new items whenever the property value changes. No additional configuration is required. This can be used to set up cascading dropdowns or any combination of controls.

Displays when the List Source Type is Clipboard page.

Select to run a data transform prior to populating the dropdown list. Press the down arrow in the Data Transform field and select the data transform.

Displays when the List Source Type is Clipboard page.

Select to run an activity prior to populating the dropdown list. Press the down arrow in the Activity field and select the activity that you want to run.

Displays when the List Source Type is a Data page.

Press the down arrow to select the data page that you want to use as the source of the dropdown values.

If the data page has parameters, you can pass parameter values to the data page. Press the down arrow in the Value field to specify the value that you want to pass to the data page. Using parameters, you can filter the results that are returned to the dropdown from the data page. For example, if a data page contains the values of work objects W-001 to W-9999, by passing a parameter value, you can filter the results and populate the dropdown only with those work objects beginning with W-1.

Displays when the List Source Type is a Clipboard page.

Required. Press the down arrow to select the clipboard page that you want to use as the source of the dropdown values. Identify the page on the Pages & Classes tab. See How to complete a Pages & Classes tab.

Displays when the List Source Type is a Report definition.

Required. Specify the Applies To class of the report definition.

Displays when the List Source Type is a Report definition.

Required. Press the down arrow to select the report definition that is the source of values for the dropdown list.

If the report definition has parameters, you can pass parameter values to the report definition. Press the down arrow in the Value field to specify the value that you want to pass to the report definition. Using parameters, you can filter the results that are returned to the dropdown from the report definition. For example, if a report definition contains the values of work objects W-001 to W-9999, by passing a parameter value, you can filter the results and populate the dropdown only with those work objects beginning with W-1.

Displays when the List Source Type is a Data page, Clipboard page or a Report definition.

Required. Press the down arrow to select the select the value that you want to display as text in the dropdown list.

Displays when the List Source Type is a Data page, Clipboard page or a Report definition.

Press the down arrow to select the value that you want to display as the label for the dropdown values.

If you do not specify a value, the display text defaults to the specified Property for value.

Displays when the List Source Type is a Data page, Clipboard page or a Report definition.

If you want to display a tooltip when the user hovers the mouse pointer over the item in the dropdown list, press the down arrow to select the source of the tooltip text.

If you do not specify a value, then a tooltip does not appear for the item in the dropdown list.

To specify a tooltip that applies to entire dropdown list, complete the Tooltip field on the Presentation tab.

Displays when the List Source Type is Data page, Clipboard page or Report definition and you select the Group items checkbox.

Press the down arrow to select the property by which you want to categorize items in the dropdown list.

Displays when the List Source Type is Data page, Clipboard page or Report definition and you select the Group items checkbox.

Select the radio button next to how groups will be displayed in the dropdown list — either alphabetically in Ascending order or in Descending order.

Specifies when the dropdown list is loaded at runtime. Select one of the following options:

• At screen load (Default) — loads when the content of the list when the UI renders
• On user hover — defer loading the content of the list until the user hovers the mouse pointer over the list. You may want to use this option if the dropdown contains a large number of items and is not a required field.
• After screen renders — defer loading the content of the list until after all other UI elements are rendered. If the list is large, this option improves the initial rendering time of the UI.