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Controlling How Siebel CRM Desktop Sorts Records in Comboboxes

This topic describes how to control how Siebel CRM Desktop sorts records in a combobox. For more information, see Combobox Control of the Forms File.

To control how Siebel CRM Desktop sorts records in comboboxes

1. Use an XML editor to open the forms_xx.xml file.
2. Use the following code to add the order_by clause to a combobox control:

   <combobox id="combobox_name" tab_order="tab_order">
     <items format=":[:(field_name_to_display):]" value_column="value_column" has_null_item="null_item_value">
       <source type="auto" name="type_name">
       </source>
       <order_by>
         <order ascend="true">sort_field</order>
       </order_by>
     </items>
     <field>display_field</field>
   </combobox>

   where:

   • combobox_name identifies the name of combobox control.
   • value_column identifies the field name from which to save the value.
   • null_item_value is set to one of the following values:
     • true. Display null items.
     • false. Do not display null items.
   • type_name identifies the object type name from the siebel_basic_mapping.xml file.
   • sort_field identifies the field name on which CRM Desktop does the sort.
   • display_field identifies the name of the field that CRM Desktop displays in the client that displays the sort results.

     For example:

   <combobox id="Type" tab_order="9">
     <items format=":[:(Label):]" value_column="Value" has_null_item="true">
       <source type="auto" name="AccountTypePicklist"></source>
       <order_by>
         <order ascend="true">SortOrder</order>
       </order_by>
     </items>
     <field>Type</field>
   </combobox>