Dependent Picklist

A Dependent Picklist provides a list of choices, where the available options are determined by some other value.

About Dependent Picklists

A Dependent Picklist can be based on a set of Radio Buttons or a standard Picklist. When the user selects a value from that list (the triggering value), or when the triggering value is already present in the record, that value determines which options are presented in the dependent picklist.

For example, suppose you have a request management system for a software application. In that application, you have two major kinds of requests: Software (coding) requests and Documentation requests. A Dependent Picklist could be used to set up a different set choices for each kind of request:

• Kind of Request: Software
  Request Types:

• Bug Fix
• Feature Request

• Kind of Request: Documentation
  Request Types:

• Bug Fix
• New Feature Writeup
• Document Enhancement (for new documents and improvements)

A single Request Type field can then be used for each kind of request, with an appropriate set of choices for each kind.

Learn more: Enumerated Fields

Adding a Dependent Picklist

This is a two-step process; first, create the triggering field (also known as the parent field). Then, for each possible selection in the triggering field, you specify which values appear in the dependent picklist.

1. Using the instructions in Fields, create a triggering field, add values to a triggering field of typpe:
   • Radio Buttons
   • Picklists

2. Create a new field of type 'Dependent Picklist

3. Fill in the basic field settings:

   Label

   The field label that will be displayed

   Display Type

   Dependent Picklist

   Parent Field

   • Select the "parent" field (created in the previous step)
   • Enter the picklist values

   Maximum Storage Length

   __TBD: Include standard size warning__

4. Click [Save]

5. In the Enumerated Values section, click [Manage Values] to specify the collection of possible values.

6. In the Dependent Picklist Associations section (at the bottom):
   • Click the [Add Associations] button.
   • Choose the Dependent Picklist Values to be associated with each Parent Value.

Considerations

• After a dependent field association is created, the Use Label for grouping option cannot be enabled for any of the parent or dependent field values. __TBD: huh?__
• A field cannot be deleted if it is the triggering value for a dependent field.
• If the triggering field for a dependent field is changed, a message appears telling you that data will be lost if the change is executed. Confirmation is required to proceed.

__TBD: Move these up:

• Values in a dependent picklist can be sorted alphabetically, but they can't be manually ordered.
• It is possible to specify that the first value in the list of values is always the default. Otherwise, there is no default.

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