Filtering on a Select Box Variable

[dmullinax]

I have two select boxes variables on my Service Center form.

Facility Name

Building Name

We want to filter the latter by facility name.  For example, LSC-Montgomery would contain "Classroom Building A", "Classroom Building B", while LSCS-Kingwood would contain "Library Kingwood" etc.  So if you select LSCS-Kingwood, only those buildings that belong to LSCS-Kingwood would appear in the second drop-down.

These two variables are Select Boxes, and the options are question choices.  Right now I can't figure out how to filter off of question choices.  Is there a way to do this without having to separate the data into a custom table and pointing to that table?

Here are the variables.

Facility Name (in the Record Producer)

Building Name (in the Record Producer)

Note: I thought about setting up these variables as a reference (rather than a select box) and pointing to the delivered Location [cmn_location] and Building [cmn_building] tables.  The business owner insists that we use the data that they provided.  So pointing to these tables and using a reference qualifier is out of the question.

I am going towards setting up a custom table.  I would have a column for facility, and a column for building.  Then in the variable I would filter the building off of the facility column.

I was wondering if there is an easier way to do this using the question choices.  What is the best practice for filtering off question choices if there is one?

[Allen Andreas · Accepted solution]

Hi,

Currently, out of box, for select-box choices and the variable settings, there is no dependency capability, unfortunately.

As you've alluded to, you'd want review referencing a table that contains the choice list and then you can use a reference qualifier such as:

javascript:"field_name="+current.variables.field_a;

To then filter the selections for the other field to only show those records that have a dependency from field_a.

So only the choice in the 2nd field would need to be in another format other than select-box choices.

You could leave 1st field alone, but then you have a maintenance concern where one field is in the catalog item, then the other is in another location, so you may want to adjust both.

The benefit of all the above is that you can then access this information in other catalog items or elsewhere, when needed.

Please mark reply as Helpful/Correct, if applicable. Thanks!