How to choose values from a list
If you want a user to pick attribute values from a list instead of (or in addition to) entering them manually while entering or editing a form of a business object you have to do the following:
- If the contents of the list are static, i.e. the list always contains the same values, then you have to configure the attribute to have “static” choices and define the values of these choices. While defining choices you can also specify whether other values are allowed or not. See the “Common Properties” section for details.
- If the contents of the list are dynamic, i.e. you cannot define the values of the list up-front at the configuration stage, then select the “dynamic choices” radio button and define a query to run to determine choices. Alternatively, the list can represent a related business object and the attribute can be a reference to this business object. For example, if you want a user to choose the type of the car from the list on a form of the
Car
object (and you do not know all possible car types at the configuration stage), then you need to configure theCarType
object and get theCar
object to refer to theCarType
object through the reference attribute calledMyCarType
. Also when defining presentation properties of theMyCarType
attribute you have to specify that the attribute should be represented by the drop down list rather than by the relationship table (see the “Presentation Options for References” section).