Configuring Siebel eBusiness Applications > Configuring Picklists and Pick Applets > About Dynamic Picklists >

Constraining Dynamic Picklists

You can dynamically filter a pick applet to display only records that have field values matching corresponding fields in the originating business component's records. This is called constraining a picklist. For example, a Contact's pick applet invoked from an applet that displays quotes could be configured to display only contacts for the current quote's account.

Pick applet constraints are defined using the Constrain property in the Pick Map object type. For example, if you want to configure a Country picklist to display only states that are part of that country, you need a way to indicate the relationship between each state and its country. You could use the existing Description field in the Picklist Generic BusComp to do this or alternatively, you could extend the table and use a new column. Next, you would need to fill the Description field with valid Country values. Use one of the following methods to accomplish this.

• From the client application, choose Site Map > Application Administration > List Of Values View and populate the Description field with valid Country values.
• From Siebel Tools, choose Account BusComp > State Field > PickMap. Insert a new record in the PickMap list and set the following properties:
  • Field = Country
  • Constrain = True
  • Pick List Field = Description

After a user selects a value from the Country picklist, the State picklist appears. The values in the State picklist are constrained by the value selected from the Country picklist. The value chosen from the Country picklist is used to filter the values that appear in the State picklist. Only the values where the Description field contains the selected value from the Country picklist will appear in the State picklist.

Pick maps can be of two types: copy pick map or constraint pick maps. Copy pick maps perform the role described in About the Originating Business Component of a Dynamic Picklist: a copy pick map updates the current originating business component record with information from the pick business component. A constraint pick map also configures a mapping between the originating and pick business components, but its purpose is different. It is used to filter the list of records displayed in the pick applet to present only those that have matching values in corresponding fields in the originating and the pick business component.

A pick map is configured as a constraint pick map by setting its Constrain property to TRUE. If FALSE (which is the default), the pick map is a copy picklist.

The pick applet displays only contacts with the same Account, Account Id, and Account Location as the quote. To accomplish this, define a constraint pick map as a child object of the Contact Last Name field (in addition to the various copy pick map object definitions provided in order to implement pick behavior). The presence of this constraint pick map indicates to the system that it is to filter the displayed records in the pick applet.

NOTE:  If the constrained field refers to a joined table in the pick business component, the foreign key field must also be constrained. Otherwise, a "This operation is not available for read-only field" error will occur if a new record is created in the pick applet.

The pick business component is the business component of the pick applet. Data from fields in this business component is displayed in the list columns of the pick applet.

Figure 84 shows a detailed definition of the pick business component from Figure 78.

Figure 84.  Pick Business Component Details

The pick business component has no important property settings with respect to its role in the pick process.

The pick business component has the following important child object definitions:

• Fields displayed in the pick applet. Populate the list columns in the pick applet. They are referenced in the Field property of corresponding list columns in the pick applet. Some of the same fields may be identified in the Pick List Field property of Pick Map object definitions and, hence, have a role in updating corresponding fields in the originating business component.
• Fields not displayed in the pick applet. Although not displayed in list columns in the pick applet, some of these fields may be identified in the Pick List Field property of Pick Map object definitions and therefore have a role in updating corresponding fields in the originating business component.