Restrict Drop Down Choices Based on Assignment Group

[kevinthury]

We have a goal of restricting a new drop-down list on the Incident form based on what is selected for the Assignment group. 

In my Personal Instance, I created a field of ‘Assignment Group Detail’ (type=string) with a number of choices.  I modeled the functionality after the Category/Subcategory list in that I added set the ‘Dependent on field’ to Assignment Group and the Choice dependent value to a Group name.

This failed to offer any values.  I tried to change the Dependent value to the sys_id of the group, and that failed as well.

The only way I was able to get this to work is by creating an OnChange Client Script that would copy the value of the Assignment Group field to another string field.  I then changed the Dependency to that new field and the drop down was properly constrained by the Assignment group choice.

While this is producing the desired results, I am questioning the efficiency.  Is there a way I can get the same results by having the Dependent field be Assignment Group and bypass the need to copy the value?

[James Hammond]

Hi,

From previous experience on a client instance, You can use the Dependent Value in the way that you have set up already, but try using the Sys ID of the group rather than the Name.

The key factor is that you need to ensure that there are no empty values in your choice list; every choice needs a dependent value, no record can be empty.

[kevinthury]

Thanks James....Your noted 'key factor' was truly key.  In my testing, some of my dependent values were empty and I never considered that would cause this behavior.  After ensuring every choice had a value of  asys_id, the process worked.  

I appreciate your tip!

[Chuck Tomasi · Accepted solution]

I haven't mixed dependent field types before and don't know if it supported. I've done choice-to-choice like category and subcategory and I've done reference to reference (assigned to and assignment group). Because a choice field is effectively a string, copying your value to another string field seems to make sense.

You could try making your detail field a reference and move the choices to a new table for the bespoke choices. Then try making your detail field dependent on the assignment group field (ref-to-ref).

[kevinthury]

Thank you, Chuck!  I was able to get this to work following your advice.  

1. Created a new table
2. Added a reference field to that new table.
3. Setup dependency accordingly.

We now have a couple of options to make this work.  I very much appreciate your response.