Creating a drop-down list based on a ComboBox data source

The cell to place the selected value. You can specify the cell using one of the following options:

• A full cell reference such as C22 or Report!C22
• A column letter such as C (where the row is the current row)
• A relative column location such as +3 or -3 from the current cell

For more information, see Referencing cells in content tag parameters.

The target cell cannot be the same cell that contains the Select tag. The target cell can be anywhere in the spreadsheet and does not need to be visible within the formatted grid.

If there is content in the target cell, that content will be displayed as the selected value for the combo box (using its corresponding label from the data source). If you want to display a previously selected value that was saved to the database (such as when the form is subsequently opened and a value is queried back in), then you can use a formula in the target cell to bring in this value.

NOTES:  

• You must choose either TargetCell, FormState, or SharedVariable as the target of the tag. TargetCell is the default behavior and should be used unless the form is being specially designed for use with form state or shared variables.
• When using the Data Source Assistant / Tag Editor, you select either Cell, Form State, or Shared Variable as the Target and then complete the field as appropriate. Your selection will be automatically rendered as the correct parameter when the tag is written to the cell.

The key name under which the selected value will be stored in form state memory. For example, VPName.

When a form state key name is defined, the user's selected value is not placed anywhere in the source file. Instead, it is stored in form state memory for the current file. If you need to reference the value within the form, you can use the GetFormState function to return the value into a cell.

The FormState parameter should only be used if the form is intended to be used as a dialog in the Desktop ClientGeneral term for using either the Excel Client or the Windows Client, both of which are installed to the user's desktop., and you need to be able to pass values from the form to the currently active spreadsheet. For more information, see Passing values between an Axiom form and the active client spreadsheet (form state).

The shared variable name to save the selected value as. For example, ProposalName.

When a variable name is defined, the user's selected value is not placed anywhere in the source file. Instead, it is saved to the variable list that is stored in memory for the shared form instance. If you need to reference the value within the form, you can use the GetSharedVariable function to return the value into a cell.

The SharedVariable parameter should only be used if the form is intended to be used in an embedded form context (as either the parent form or a child form), and you need to share this value with other forms in the shared form instance. For more information, see Sharing variables between parent and child forms.

The name of the ComboBox data source to use as the source for the list. This parameter uses the following syntax: SheetName!DataSourceName. For example: Sheet2!Category.

For more information on creating the data source, see Creating a ComboBox data source for the Select tag.

The [Label] column of the data source defines the values to display in the drop-down list. The [Value] column of the data source defines the value to be written to the target cell (or to form state / shared variable memory) when the user makes the selection.

Optional. Specifies how interactive controls submit values back to the source file:

• Enabled: The control uses auto-submit behavior, regardless of whether the grid is set to auto-submit. Changed values are submitted as soon as they are changed.

• Disabled: The control does not use auto-submit behavior, regardless of whether the grid is set to auto-submit. Changed values are not submitted until another interactive control triggers a submit.

• Grid: The control honors the auto-submit behavior as configured for the grid.

If omitted, the default behavior is Grid.

This parameter only applies to tags that generate interactive controls: CheckBox, DatePicker, Select, TextBox.

Optional. A message to display within the combo box when no value has yet been selected. This only applies when the target cell does not have any contents, or when the form state key or shared variable does not currently have an assigned value. For example: "Select a Department."

Once a value has been selected, the contents of the target cell (or the stored form state / shared variable value) display instead of the placeholder text.

You can define the placeholder text within the tag directly, or you can use a bracketed cell reference to read the placeholder text from another cell. For more information, see Referencing cells in content tag parameters.

NOTES:  

• The appearance of the placeholder text depends on the skin assigned to the form, and on the browser used to view the form. In most environments the placeholder text displays in a lighter color than selected values, but not always.

• If multi-select is enabled, then the placeholder text is also used as the title of the multi-select dialog.

Optional. Specifies tooltip text to display when a user hovers the cursor over the cell contents.

Alternatively, you can use a bracketed cell reference to read the tooltip text from the referenced cell. This approach is useful if you want to dynamically determine the text, because then the formula can be in the referenced cell instead needing to construct the tag using a formula. For more information, see Referencing cells in content tag parameters.

Optional. Specifies whether the drop-down list is "active" (True/False). The default value, False, means that the list is active and that the user can select values as needed. If True, then the cell becomes "frozen" and no further edits can be made. The cell will display the current selected value of the list (or the display cell value, if applicable). This parameter can be used to control whether a user can edit the cell's value.

Generally speaking, this parameter would only be used within a formula to dynamically enable / disable the combo box.

Optional. Specifies whether the list is searchable (True/False). By default, this is True, which means the list is searchable by typing values into the combo box. If you want the list to be a static drop-down list instead, indicate False.

NOTE: If MultiSelect is True, then this parameter does not apply. The dialog box where users can select multiple values always has a search box to filter the list. It is recommended to disable this parameter so that users cannot attempt to type inside the combo box (which will just cause the multi-select dialog to open).

Optional. Specifies whether users can select multiple values in the list (True/False). By default this is False, which means that users can only select a single value.

If True, then users can select multiple values in the list. When the user clicks on the combo box, a dialog opens instead of a drop-down list. The user can select check boxes for the values they want to select.

When the user clicks OK to close the multi-select dialog, the selected values are written back to the target cell using a comma-separated list. When using a ComboBox data source, each selected value is always wrapped in single quotation marks. Although the target cell contains the comma-separated list of values, the combo box in the form displays a comma-separated list of the corresponding labels (with no quotation marks).

For more information on how users interact with the multi-select dialog, see Multi-select dialog behavior.

NOTE: If multi-select is enabled, it is recommended to define placeholder text because that text will display as the title of the multi-select dialog.

Optional. Specifies how many columns the cell contents will span in the grid.

If this parameter is omitted or set to 1, then content generated by the tag will only span the current column. If you want the content to span multiple columns, enter a number such as 2 to span 2 columns. The column span extends to the right.

NOTE: The row and column styles used in the grid impact how the column span displays. For example, if the content in the starting column is left-aligned and does not naturally exceed the width of the starting column, then the spanned columns will simply be blank because no content is extending to those columns. However, if the content is long enough to extend out of the starting column, or if the content has external borders (such as a text box), or if the content is center-aligned or right-aligned, then content will display in the spanned columns.

Optional. The foreground color to use for rendering the cell contents (text, symbol, etc.). This parameter only applies to spreadsheet-formatted grids. It will be ignored by thematic grids.

By default, the text uses the font color defined for the cell in the spreadsheet. If you want to override this formatting and specify a color in the tag itself, you can use the Foreground parameter. The advantage of this approach is that the color can be made dynamic using a formula.

The color can be specified using either the color name (i.e. "yellow") or the hexadecimal code for the color (#FFFF00 for yellow). For example, see a list of colors here: http://www.w3.org/TR/css3-color/#svg-color.

When using the Data Source Assistant / Tag Editor, you can click the arrow button to the right of the box to bring up the color selector. You can select from the displayed colors, or you can enter a RGB value or a hexadecimal code. The selected color will be inserted in the tag using its hexadecimal code. To clear the selected color, click the Clear color icon.

Alternatively, you can use a bracketed cell reference to read the color from the referenced cell. This approach is useful if you want to dynamically determine the color, because then the formula can be in the referenced cell instead needing to construct the tag using a formula. For more information, see Referencing cells in content tag parameters.