Data Entry Controls

Use data entry controls to offer different ways to enter and maintain information. These types of controls are always associated with a record field that is defined in a record definition and maintained in a database.

Note:

PeopleSoft Application Designer allows you add up to 405 fields on a page. When you reach this limit, typical system behavior includes being unable to select, move, or edit the page fields with an order number exceeding the 405-field limit. While this limit has no effect on the page at runtime, it has the potential to disrupt productivity during design time. If you find a page nearing the 405-field limit, you should use subpages to decrease the number of fields on a single page.

See Using Subpages.

Term	Definition
Check Box	Adds a small square box that operates as a toggle switch—on and off—for data controls that can have one of two values (yes or no, 1 or 0). During data entry, when the page is saved, the enabled or disabled value (whichever represents the current state of the check box) is written to the database. If values are specified in the page definition, the fields are left blank in the database, but you can still select or deselect the check box on the page. You will not know that the database fields are blank until you run a query or report on the field.
Drop-Down List Box	Adds a drop-down list box from which you select a single value from a list of valid values. Use drop-down list boxes to enable data selection from a list of three or more possible choices. In its closed state, the control displays the current value for the control. The user opens the list to change the value. Drop-down list boxes are a good design choice when presenting users with a small number of selections from which they must select one value. However, when designing for grids and scroll areas, prompts give you better performance.
Edit Box	Adds an edit box, which you use for data entry. You also use edit boxes for displaying fields and translatable text. Use an edit box for text data entry, for example, for a record field that is defined as character, number, signed number, or date.
Long Edit Box	Adds a long edit box, which is a variable-length, alphanumeric control used for entering long, textual items, such as comments. The length of the control is determined by its content rather than the physical size of the box on the page. Use long edit boxes to display long, translatable text. Each long edit box has a built-in scroll bar that enables users to enter and display more data than can be shown at one time on a page. The scroll bar on the long edit box is used only to scroll through the text in the long edit box. Unlike edit boxes, which are limited to the field size that is defined in your record definition, long edit boxes can contain a relatively unlimited number of characters, up to a theoretical maximum of 64KB. This space, however, is shared by a number of other programming elements, so the true size might be closer to 15 to 25KB, depending on the location of the field in your application and the state of the application. Typically, you use long edit boxes for comments or descriptions, or you configure the long edit box as a rich text editor. See Setting Options Properties.
Radio Button	Adds a small, round button that represents one value for a control with multiple defined values. Add radio buttons in groups. A user can select only one radio button in a group at one time, like station buttons on a radio—hence the name. Use radio buttons to enable selection of one out of two possible choices. If you have three or more choices, use a drop-down list box.
Subpage	Adds a predefined, presized group of controls, such as address controls, that are defined in a separate subpage definition. During design time, you add only the subpage control to represent all of the controls in the subpage. You maintain those controls in only one place, the subpage definition. At runtime, you see all of the controls that are defined in the subpage on the page.