OPTION Tags

The OPTION tag is a way for ILLiad to create unique values in an option list to be used for a dropdown selection. This tag is currently only used to specify the options for "Special Service" (which is a customization being phased out by newer options) or to create the list of valid accounts for a Borrowing web user.

If you have turned on billing for either Borrowing or Document Delivery, ILLiad must have a valid account selected for every request submitted. The accounts are unique to each user, though, so the drop-down of choices would need custom values.

The OPTION tag to show the valid accounts for the logged-in user would generally be on the request forms and edit request forms. These allow the one tag to translate to a user-specific list of accounts for the user. An example of how this tag would display in the HTML:

9.1 Default Web Pages:

<select id="AccountNo" name="AccountNo" size="1" class="f-name">
<#OPTION name="ValidAccounts">

8.6 Default Web Pages:  

<select id="ValidAccountsDropDown" name="ValidAccountsDropDown" size="1" 
class="f-name">
<#OPTION name="ValidAccounts">
</select>

The name of the field used on request forms is ValidAccountsDropDown, but the name of the option within the OPTION tag is ValidAccounts. 

Adding an Optional DropDown Value to a Form Using DefaultName and DefaultValue

In the NewUserRegistration and NewAuthRegistration forms, the drop-down fields described above also include defaultValue and defaultName fields. The defaultValue is the equivalent of the Label Value; the defaultName is the equivalent of the Label Name and is the value that will display on the form. This allows you to add an additional option to your web form for explanatory text, such as "Pick a Department." These values will appear in the Client forms for those users who have selected them. An example:

<label for="Department">
	<span class="field">
	<span class="req">*</span>
		<span class="<#ERROR name="ERRORDepartment">"><b>Department</b></span>
	</span>
	<select id="Department" name="Department" size="1" class="f-name" tabindex=
	"4">
		<#OPTION name="custom" groupname="Department" selectedValue="<#PARAM 
		name=Department>" defaultValue="NONE" defaultName="Pick a department" />
	</select><br />
</label>

• Name: For custom drop-down fields, this must always be set to custom.
• GroupName: Represents the group name entered in the CustomDropDown table's GroupName field.
• SelectedValue: This represents the value of the option that should be selected by default. This can either be plain text or can be another ILLiad tag that will be replaced when rendered. Example: If you always want the department to display as Art History, and the value for Art History is ARTH, yourselectedValue="ARTH". Alternatively, if you want the department to be set to the user's current department or what they last selected on the form, you would use the selectedValue="<#PARAM name=Department>".