Drop-down Element Properties

A drop-down box provides users with a selection of menu items from which they can select a single item. You can add drop-down boxes to forms that pull data from data connections or you can manually configure a drop-down box with the options you want it to display to the user. You can also allow users to type their own entries into the drop-down box.

Back to Form Elements

Related topic: Element Properties


Name	Value Type	Description
Name	Text	The internal name for an element in the form.
Binding	Menu selection	The name (not the label) of the form field to which an element is bound.
Element Type	TextBox \| Text Area \| Dropdown \| ComboBox \| Date Picker \| Number \| Email \| Checkbox \| Radio Button	Lets you quickly change a basic element (such as a Text Box) to another, similar type of basic element, such as a Drop-down or Combo Box.
Required	True \| False	True: Requires input from the user and marks the form field with a red asterisk. False: Element will not require user input.
Read Only	True \| False	True: Element is read-only and cannot be modified. False: Element can be modified.
Range	Special	Enter a range of possible values manually or from a data connection that the form user can select from.
Force Option Values	True \| False	Allow users to select their own entries If set to false, allows users to append new entries to drop-down lists through Rules like Set Field Value, Copy Table Data etc. To use only values that are in the list, set the Force Option Values property to True.
Rules	Special	Click to view (or create) any Rules (logic, formulas, etc.) applied to an element.
Promote to Solution Field	Text	Name of the solution field to which this field is promoted. If the field name provided here does not exist in the solution fields, then a field with provided name will be created in the solution fields.
Default Value	Menu selection	The default value for an element.
Refresh Default Value	True \| False	True: Forces the element to re-evaluate any applicable default values when a field value changes. False: (default) - Element will not re-evaluate default values when a field changes.
Encrypt	True \| False	When the Field Encryption property is set to True for a form field, data entered into the field is stored in an encrypted format in the form XML and log files. Note: If the field is in a form view to be rendered, or the field needs to post to SAP or any 3rd party web service, the field is decrypted by the Server and sent in plain text format. In order to ensure complete security, the data transmission should occur via https.
Class Names	Text	Space separated Names of CSS classes to be used to customize the look of the element.
Propagate Changes to all Views	True \| False	When you change style or properties for common labels in a Composer form with multiple views, you will be prompted by a dialog box asking if you want to apply the changes to all views. Setting this option to True automatically propagates style or property changes to all applicable views without prompting.
Width (%)	Number (%)	The width of the element in the form, expressed as a percentage (1-100%).

Creating selections for a drop-down box (manual method)

If you don’t have any data connections configured (or an element you have inserted into a form does not require them), you must manually create items that will appear as selections in a drop-down box or other form element.

In the canvas, click the element for which you need to configure the selections.

For example, if you need to define the selections in a drop-down box, click the drop-down box element to select it.
In the Properties pane, click the Properties tab.
Next to Range, click the options button [...].
In the options editor, you can choose Enter Manually or From Data Connection or From Repeating Content

Every option you add must have an associated value (i.e., an entry in the value column). If you don’t enter a value for an option, the option won’t be saved in the form.

Enter Manually

Click Add to add an option (if necessary).
In the Label column, double-click an option Label, type a new label, and then press Enter.
In the Value column, double-click a Value for an option, type a new value, and then press Enter.
Click Move Up or Move Down to change the order of a selected option.

From Data Connection

Under Data Connection, click the drop arrow and select a data connection from the menu.
Click Add to add a new data connection.
Click Edit to edit the selected data connection.
Under Label Field, click the drop arrow and select the field from the data connection (a table for example) you want to pull from to create the label for the drop-down item.
Under Value Field, click the drop arrow and select the field from the data connection (a table for example) you want to pull from to create the value for the item in the drop-down list.
Click Show Only Unique Fields to remove any duplicated labels from the list.
Click Filter to filter data based upon conditions.
Click OK to complete the operation.

From Repeating Content

Under Data Connection, click the drop arrow and select a repeating content from the menu.
Under Label Field, click the drop arrow and select the field from the repeating content (a repeating table for example) you want to pull from to create the label for the drop-down item.
Under Value Field, click the drop arrow and select the field from the repeating content (a repeating table for example) you want to pull from to create the value for the item in the drop-down list.
Click Show Only Unique Fields to remove any duplicated labels from the list.
Click Filter to filter data based upon conditions.
Click OK to complete the operation.

Allow users to select their own entries

To allow users to append new entries (that are not in the drop-down list) to drop-down lists through Rules like Set Field Value, Copy Table Data etc, set the Force Option Values property to False.

Important: When the Force Option Values property is set to False, the new value is not validated against the list and is appended to the list. The value can be uploaded to SAP.

To use only values that are in the list, set the Force Option Values property to True.

Filtering external data or repeating content to populate drop-down options

You can use Filter Conditions to filter external data or repeating content used to populate drop-down options.

To create Filter Conditions:

In the Properties Pane, under General Settings next to click Range, click the Options button.
In the Options Editor, under Data Connections, select a data connection (if you need to) from the Drop down list. (If you need to Add a data connection, click Add. See Adding Data Connections for more information).
In the Filter Conditions box, select an option for filtering from each drop down box. Conditions consist of a Name, Operator, and a Value.

Multiple conditions can be joined together with either an AND or an OR operator. If a complex condition is needed, AND operations are evaluated first, and then OR operations are evaluated.

Note: Conditions cannot be grouped. For example, If Condition1 AND (Condition2 OR Condition3) would need to be configured as Condition1 AND Condition2 OR Condition1 and Condition3.