Drop-Down

Last modified: February 13, 2024

1 Introduction

A drop-down is used to display and, optionally, allow the end-user to edit the value of an attribute of data type enumeration.

A drop-down must be placed in a data widget and displays an attribute of the object(s) retrieved by that widget. The name of the attribute to be displayed is shown inside the drop-down, between square brackets, and colored blue.

For example, the following drop-down allows the end-user to see, and set, the Region to which a customer is allocated. The possible values for Region are held in an enumeration.

2 Properties

An example of drop-down properties is represented in the image below:

Drop-down properties consist of the following sections:

2.1 Common Section

For more information on properties in this section, see the Common Section section in Properties Common in the Page Editor.

2.2 Data Source Section

This selects which attribute will be used within the widget. You can only select attributes which have the correct data type(s).

For more information on selecting a data source, see the Data Source Section section in Properties Common in the Page Editor.

2.3 Design Properties Section

The Design Properties allow you to change spacing and alignment of the widget and hide it on phone, tablet, or desktop, if needed. Design properties may vary depending on the type of the widget. For example, for the text widget you can change its font weight, color, alignment, and letter case.

2.4 Editability Section

Editability determines whether an end-user can change the value in an input widget.

For more information on properties of this section, see the Editability Section section of Properties Common in the Page Editor.

2.5 Events Section

2.5.1 On Change

The on-change property specifies an action that will be executed when leaving the widget, either by using the Tab key or by clicking another widget, after the value has been changed.

For more information on properties of this section, see the Event Actions section of On Click Event & Events Section.

2.5.2 On Enter

The on-enter property specifies an action that will be executed when the widget is entered, either by using the Tab key or by clicking it with the mouse.

For more information on properties of this section, see the Event Actions section of On Click Event & Events Section.

2.5.3 On Leave

The on-leave property specifies an action that will be executed when leaving the widget, either by using the Tab key or by clicking another widget.

This differs from the On change property in that the event will always be triggered, even if the value has not been changed.

For more information on properties of this section, see the Event Actions section of On Click Event & Events Section.

2.6 General Section

2.6.1 Empty Option Caption

Empty option caption is the text that is shown for the empty option in the drop-down shown to the end-user. This is a translatable text. For more details, see Language Menu.

Adding a caption for the empty option improves the user experience of your application. It also helps end-users using a screen-reader to operate the application easily.

For example, the drop-down that allows the end-user to select the region allocated to a customer, where the possible values for Region are held in an enumeration, could have the caption Select a region.

2.7 Label Section

A label describes the purpose of a widget to the end-user.

For more information on properties of this section, see the Label Section section in Properties Common in the Page Editor.

2.8 Validation Section

Here, you can specify predefined or custom validation which must be applied to the widget value before the data can be used. You can also customize the message which the end-user will get if the data does not pass the validation.

For more information on input widget validation, see the Validation section of Properties Common in the Page Editor.

2.9 Visibility Section

Visibility determines whether a widget is displayed to the end-user as part of the page.

For more information on properties of this section, see the Visibility Section section in Properties Common in the Page Editor.

3 Read More