Dependent field attribute types
Dependent fields are attributes whose values are constrained by another field. For example, if you want to have a field that displays all the cities for a selected state, you could make the city field dependent upon the state field. You can make an attribute dependent on another attribute only when you add it to a specific form. That is, when you create a shared attribute, you cannot make it a dependent field when you create it, only within the context of the forms you add it to.
This section presents the city/state example.
First, you need to create the lookup tables for cities and states. Here are the first few rows of these two tables.
The
lkup_state
table:
state_id (primary key)
state_name
1
Massachusetts
2
New York
The
lkup_city
table:
city_id (primary key)
city_name
state_id (foreign key pointing to primary key for lkup_state)
1
Boston
1
2
Cambridge
1
3
New York
2
4
Albany
2
Once you have these tables, you create the parent (state) and child (city) attributes.
For the state attribute, use the following values:
Field
Value
Database Column
state_id
Use values from this database table
lkup_state
Key Column
state_id
This field is dependent on the following column
Leave this box clear.
For the city attribute, use the following values:
Field
Value
Database Column
city_id
Use values from this database table
lkup_city
Key Column
city_id
This field is dependent on the following column
Check this box and select state (the Internal Name you defined for the state attribute).
Note the following:
You can have a Multiple-Select - Database attribute be dependent upon a Single-Select - Database attribute, but not the other way around. In the example above, the city field could be a Multiple-Select - Database attribute, but not the state field.
You can sort lookup values based on either the text description or the ID for the lookup value.
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