Developing and Deploying Siebel Business Applications > Configuring Picklists, Drilldowns, and MVGs > About Picklists and Drilldowns >

About Picklists

To standardize data entry and minimize mistakes, NREC must use picklists. To enter information in a field, the user can choose a value from a picklist rather than typing the information in the field.

Static Picklist

A static picklist is a type of picklist that displays a single-column list of predefined values when the user clicks the arrow that is located to the right of a field. When the user chooses a value from this list, Siebel CRM enters the value in the field. A static picklist derives values from a table that a Siebel administrator maintains. To view an example of a static picklist, do the following:

1. In the Siebel client, navigate to the Opportunities screen.
2. Click the arrow in the Sales Stage field.

   Siebel CRM displays the static picklist.

Dynamic Picklist

A dynamic picklist is a type of picklist that is similar to a static picklist, except it gets list values from a table that the user maintains. A field that uses a dynamic picklist is typically a joined field that displays data from a table other than the base table that the business component references. The opportunity field you display on the applet in Adding a Field to a List Applet is a joined field. A dynamic picklist on this field allows the user to use the opportunity name from the Opportunity table to update the activity. NREC requires a dynamic picklist on the Activity Detail Applet.

The Pick List Wizard creates the following dynamic picklist and related objects:

• Pick List. Defines the properties of the picklist, including the originating business component and the pick business component. The originating business component is the business component that the dynamic picklist references. The pick business component is the business component from which Siebel CRM picks values to display to the user. In the NREC example, the Action business component is the originating business component, and the Opportunity business component is the pick business component.
• Pick Map. Child object of a business component field that maps the source field in the pick business component with the target field in the originating business component.
• Pick Applet. Pop-up applet that displays the list of records.

Constrained Picklist

A constrained picklist is a type of picklist that uses a pick applet to display records that only include field values that match corresponding field values in the originating business component. For example, you can constrain the Opportunity pick applet to display only the opportunities for the account that are associated with the activity.

To constrain a picklist, you create another pick map with the Constrain property set to TRUE. This pick map defines fields on the originating business component and a field on the pick business component. If the values in these fields match, then Siebel CRM displays the record in the pick applet. You can create more than one constrain pick map. A constrain pick map does not copy the values of the field from the originating business component to the pick business component. It provides a filter then Siebel CRM uses to determine which records to display in the pick applet.