You can configure dropdown fields on your Aeon web forms using <#OPTION> tags. The <#OPTION> tag is typically configured with a "name" parameter specifying one of the default Aeon fields compatible with this feature. Some of these fields derive their dropdown option values from the default groups configured in the Aeon Customization Manager's CustomDropDown table and some do not.
You can also create a new group in the CustomDropDown table and use this to configure a dropdown field on your web forms that will store the user's selected dropdown value in a default Aeon field, such as one of the five UserInfo, ItemInfo, or ActivityInfo fields, or into a custom field defined in the CustomFieldDefinitions table. In this case, the <#OPTION> tag's "name" parameter is configured with the value "custom."
This article will detail the fields compatible by default with the <#OPTION> tag as well as how to configure a new group in the CustomDropDown table as a dropdown field on web forms using one of the other default Aeon fields, such as the ItemInfo1 field.
For instructions on configuring a custom dropdown field in the CustomFieldDefinitions table and adding this field to your web forms, see Adding Custom Fields to Web Forms.
Default Fields with Dropdown Options Derived from the CustomDropDown Table | Default Fields with Dropdown Options Not Derived from the CustomDropDown Table | Configuring New CustomDropDown Groups as Dropdown Fields on Web Forms
Default Fields with Dropdown Options Derived from the CustomDropDown Table
Eight default Aeon fields are compatible with the <#OPTION> tag by default and pull their dropdown menu options from a default group configured in the Aeon Customization Manager's CustomDropDown table. You can modify the default entries for each group in the CustomDropDown table or add or remove entries to or from the group to modify the options available in the dropdown menu for each field as desired. The entries configured for these fields in the CustomDropDown table are also used to populate the dropdown options for each field on the user record in the Aeon Desktop Client and Aeon Web Client. Each of these fields must use a specific value in the "name" parameter when configured in the <#OPTION> tag on web forms. The relevant CustomDropDown table group and required "name" parameter value for each field are noted in the table below:
| Field Name | CustomDropDown Table Group Name | Required <#OPTION> Tag "name" Parameter Value |
| Department | Department | Departments |
| IDType | IDType | IDTypes |
| AltIDType | AltIDType | AltIDTypes |
| Status | Status | Statuses |
| State (Primary Address State) and SState (Alternate Address State) | State | States |
| Country (Primary Address Country) and SCountry (Alternate Address Country) | Country | Countries |
The Department, Status, State, SState, Country, and SCountry fields are configured as dropdown fields on the NewUserRegistration.html, NewAuthRegistration.html, and ChangeUserInformation.html forms by default and do not need to be manually added to your web forms. Note that State/SState and Country/SCountry share a common CustomDropDown table group from which they draw their dropdown menu options. The IDType and AltIDType fields are not available on the web forms by default, as these values are usually assigned to the user's record by staff using the Staff Client. However, if you would like your users to set these values themselves via the Aeon web interface, you can add these fields to your web forms using the following code:
Note: Please remove the line breaks within the <#OPTION> tag if copying and pasting the code from this page into your web form.
ID Type
<div class="form-group col-md-4">
<label for="IDType">
<span class="<#ERROR name='ERRORIDType'>">
ID Type
</span>
</label>
<select class="custom-select mr-sm-2" name="IDType" id="IDType">
<#OPTION name="IDTypes" selectedValue="<#PARAM name='IDType'>"
defaultName="Choose an ID Type" defaultValue="">
</select>
</div>Alt ID Type
<div class="form-group col-md-4">
<label for="AltIDType">
<span class="<#ERROR name='ERRORAltIDType'>">
Alt ID Type
</span>
</label>
<select class="custom-select mr-sm-2" name="AltIDType" id="AltIDType">
<#OPTION name="AltIDTypes" selectedValue="<#PARAM name='AltIDType'>"
defaultName="Choose an Alt ID Type" defaultValue="">
</select>
</div>Default Fields with Dropdown Options Not Derived from the CustomDropDown Table
The remaining Aeon fields that are compatible with the <#OPTION> tag by default do not use the CustomDropDown table to populate their dropdown menu options. Each of these fields must use a specific value in the "name" parameter when configured in the <#OPTION> tag on web forms, however, these fields are typically already configured as dropdown fields on the relevant Aeon request forms by default and do not need to be manually configured. The location from which each field derives its dropdown options and the required "name" parameter value for each field are noted in the table below:
| Field Name | Dropdown Menu Option Configuration Location | Required <#OPTION> Tag "name" Parameter Value |
| RequestLink | Dropdown options are automatically populated with the names of the researchers the user proxies for and the activities the user is associated with to allow them to associate the request with a specific researcher or activity. | RequestLinks |
| Format | Dropdown options correspond to the formats configured in the Billing Defaults tab of the Aeon Customization Manager. | Formats |
| ShippingOption | Dropdown options correspond to the shipping options configured in the Billing Defaults tab of the Aeon Customization Manager. | ShippingOptions |
| ServiceLevel | Dropdown options correspond to the service levels configured in the Billing Defaults tab of the Aeon Customization Manager. | ServiceLevels |
Configuring New CustomDropDown Groups as Dropdown Fields on Web Forms
In addition to the default CustomDropDown groups and fields available as detailed in the sections above, you can also configure a new group in the CustomDropDown table and use it as a dropdown field on your web forms. You can choose to store the user's selected dropdown value in a default Aeon field, such as ItemInfo1, or configure a new custom field for this purpose in the CustomFieldDefinitions table. The instructions below detail how to configure and store the user's selection into a default Aeon field, using ItemInfo1 as an example. For instructions on configuring a custom field in the CustomFieldDefinitions table for this purpose, see Adding Custom Fields to Web Forms.
Step One: Configure the Group in the CustomDropDown Table
In the following example, we will configure a "Research Purpose" dropdown field on a web form that will store the data from the user's selected dropdown option in the ItemInfo1 field, which is a field that is available by default in Aeon. The first step is to configure a new group in the CustomDropDown table that will set the options that should be available in the dropdown menu for the field on the web form. Each option that should be available in the dropdown menu for the field must be configured as a separate entry in the CustomDropDown table, and each entry must use the same Group Name value. The Group Name used can be any value, but should not contain spaces and should reflect the purpose of the group as a best practice. The Label Name configured for each entry will set the value displayed for that option in the dropdown menu on the web form. The Label Value configured for each entry will set the value stored for the field in the Aeon database and displayed for the field in the Staff Client when the user selects that option from the dropdown menu.
The example configuration below shows how to configure a "ResearchPurpose" group in the CustomDropDown table with four dropdown options: Article, Blog, Class assignment, and Dissertation:
| Group Name | Label Name | Label Value |
| ResearchPurpose | Article | Article |
| ResearchPurpose | Blog | Blog |
| ResearchPurpose | Class assignment | Class assignment |
| ResearchPurpose | Dissertation | Dissertation |
Step Two: Web Page Code
After the dropdown menu options are configured in the CustomDropDown table, the code for the dropdown field can be added to the web form. The example below demonstrates how the "ResearchPurpose" group configured in the CustomDropDown table is added to the web form as a dropdown field that stores the user's selected value into the ItemInfo1 field:
<div class="form-group col-md-4">
<label for="ItemInfo1">
<span class="<#ERROR name='ERRORItemInfo1'>">
Research Purpose
</span>
</label>
<select class="custom-select mr-sm-2" name="ItemInfo1" id="ItemInfo1">
<#OPTION name="Custom" fieldName="ResearchPurpose"
selectedValue="<#PARAM name='ItemInfo1'>"
defaultName="Choose an option" defaultValue="">
</select>
</div>- The "for" attribute in the <label> element should be set to the database name of the field into which the data should be stored, in this case, ItemInfo1.
- The "name" attribute in the <#ERROR> tag should be set to the value "ERROR" appended with the database name of the field into which the data should be stored, in this case, ItemInfo1.
- The "name" and "id" attributes in the <select> element should both be set to the database name of the field into which the data should be stored, in this case, ItemInfo1.
- Finally, the <#OPTION> tag should be configured with the following attributes:
- name - This must be set to "Custom".
- selectedValue - This must be set to "<#PARAM name='[FieldName]'>" - where [FieldName] is replaced with the database name of the field into which the data should be stored, in this case, ItemInfo1.
- fieldName - The must be set to the name of the group in the Customization Manager's CustomDropDown table that the dropdown options are associated with, in this case, "ResearchPurpose".
- defaultName - This should be set to the default text that you want to have displayed in the dropdown menu before the user selects a specific option.
- defaultValue - This can optionally be configured with a specific value that you want to be selected by default in the dropdown menu. In the example code above, a default selected value has not been configured so this attribute is left blank.
Results
After the new code has been configured and saved, the field will now display on the form with individual dropdown options according to the Label Name for each entry configured in the CustomDropDown table:
Upon submitting the form, the selected value will be saved and appear in the Staff Client in the ItemInfo1 field:
Note: The UserInfo1-5, ItemInfo1-5, and ActivityInfo1-5 fields are not included on forms in the Aeon Desktop Client or Aeon Web Client by default and must be manually added to forms in the Aeon Desktop Client using custom staff layout templates or to the customizable pages and grids in the Aeon Web Client by an Aeon administrator using custom staff profiles. You can also use these customization features to change the display name for the field in the Staff Client, for example, instead of displaying "Item Info 1" as shown in the picture below, you can change the label to display the field name as "Research Purpose" instead.