Custom Drop Down Values

You can specify the values that display in drop-down fields on forms such as the registration and change user forms by adding #OPTION tags to your forms. There are several fields that can be used as the value for the  #OPTION tag's "name" parameter. Some derive their values from the CustomDropDown table and some do not.

Values Derived from the CustomDropDownTable

Five of these #OPTION values are derived from the default Group Name values found in the CustomDropDown table, and they pull their dropdown values from that table:

1. Departments (Group Name = Department)
2. IDTypes (Group Name = IDType)
3. AltIDTypes (Group Name = AltIDType)
4. Statuses (Group Name = Status)
5. States (Group Name = State)

For example, if you want to include a drop-down list of all the states within your form, add the following code to your form. Note the value of the #OPTION tag's "name" parameter is States.

<label for="State">
	<span class="field">
	<span class="req">*</span>
	<span class="<#ERROR name="ERRORState">"><b>Primary Address State</b></span>
	</span>
	<select id="State" name="State" size="1" class="f-name" tabindex="85">
		<option>Choose a State</option>
	<#OPTION name="States" default="VA">
	</select>
	<br />
</label>

Values Not Derived from the CustomDropDownTable

The remaining #OPTION values available in the web forms do not use the CustomDropDown table:

• RequestType: Copy/Loan
• ResearcherUsernames: Names of the researchers the patron proxies for
• Activities: The Activities the patron is associated with
• RequestLinks: Both ResearcherUsernames and Activities
• Formats: From BillingDefaults.BillingType where context = "Format"
• ShippingOptions: From BillingDefaults.BillingType where context = "Shipping Option"
• ServiceLevels: From BillingDefaults.BillingType where context = "Service Level"
• Countries: The <#OPTION name="Countries"> option has changed slightly. You can now specify the format of the value of the dropdowns that's submitted by using the mode parameter, for example <#OPTION name="Countries" mode="twoLetter">. The values for mode are "twoLetter" (the default), "threeLetter", "numeric" (ISO numeric code), and "name", which is just the full name.

For example, if you want patrons to select from a list of associated researchers, add the following code to your form:

<label for="ResearcherUsernames">
	<span class="field">
	<span class="req">*</span>
	<span class="<#ERROR name="ERRORResearcherUsernames">"><b>Associated 
	Researchers</b></span>
	</span>
	<select id="ResearcherUsernames" name="ResearcherUsernames" size="1" 
	class="f-name" tabindex="85">
		<option>Select a Researcher</option>
	<#OPTION name="ResearcherUsernames">
	</select>
	<br />
</label>