Filtered Pick Lists

Filtered pick lists aid data entry by creating a parent-child relationship between two consecutive pick lists so that the selection of a value in the parent list limits the values available in the child list to only those that are relevant or suitable. This can speed up data entry and ensure consistency in the database.

There are two main reasons for using a filtered pick list:

  • It shortens a list that you would otherwise find difficult to use because of the number of items on it.
  • It prevents incorrect values from being selected—selecting the value from a first list restricts the values on a second list to only the values appropriate for the field based on the selected parent entry.

The child list can be thought of as an amalgamation of several sublists, each one relevant for a single item in the parent.

Filtered pick lists can be arranged into a hierarchy of any number of levels, such that the value selected in the first list filters the available values in the second list, and the selected value in the second list then filters the values available in the third, and so on.

Note:

A filtered pick list may be used elsewhere as an ordinary pick list, when it is not directly beneath its assigned parent list. In this case, all the values in the list will be available for selection, sorted alphabetically.

Two consecutive pick lists will not function as parent and child, if they have not been set up to behave in that way in iBase Designer. In the example above, there are several consecutive drop-down lists for fields – Vehicle Type, Make, Model, Color, Vehicle Style – but only Make and Model are set up as a parent-child pick list.

The parent-child relationship between two pick lists is defined in iBase Designer. Groups of items in a child list are then assigned to an item in the parent list. These assignments can be set up in iBase Designer but can also be created and edited in iBase by any user with sufficient permissions.

A pick list can only be assigned to a parent list in iBase Designer. Items in the child list may already have been assigned to parent items in iBase Designer, but you may have permission to do all the following: reassign items from one parent item to another, remove items altogether and add new items to both the parent and child list.