Application Note - Using Selected Lists
Manager Contents
User Contents
Introduction

Selected Lists allow values from a single, user-defined list to be selected and filtered based on the value of a session parameter. This application note demonstrates how the feature may be used.

The Scenario

Assume that your organization has 3 departments called Assembly, Test, and QA. Each department has 1 or more workstations. You wish to define a field on the Issue log form that will track which workstation the issue was identified at. For ease and consistency of data entry, this field will be a pull-down list.

The workstations within the three departments are as follows:

Assembly Test QA
Soldering Pretest Microscope
Mechanical Final Test Gages
Parts Prep General Inspection
Polishing

Implementation

Step 1 - Create a List

In CATSWeb Manager, select Lists, then add a new list called "Workstations". Add List Items until the list looks like this:

List Item Item Selector
Final Test Test
Gages QA
General Inspection QA
Mechanical Assembly
Microscope QA
Parts Prep Assembly
Polishing Assembly
Pretest Test
Soldering Assembly

Step 2 - Create a Selected List Data Link

In CATSWeb Manager, select Data Links, then add a new Selected List Data Link. Enter or select these values in the fields:

Data Link Name: "Selected Workstations"
Description: "A data link that provides a list of workstations in the employee's department"
List: "Workstations" (this is the list you just created)
Select By: "Department"

NOTE: After you save the data link, CATSWeb will automatically rename it to "[Selected Workstations]" so that it (as a user-defined data link) can be distinguished from common lists or system data links.

Step 3 - Bind the Selected List Data Link to a Form Field

In CATSWeb Manager, select Issue Categories, then select Field Definitions for the category in which you want to track workstations. Click a field to redefine for this purpose. On the Form Definition Edit page, select "[Selected Workstations]" from the Bind to List pull-down. Change the caption to "Workstation" and edit other values as appropriate.

Step 4 - Mission Accomplished

Return to CATSWeb and login as users in the various departments. Or, use Change Department if you are a member of the departments. Begin to log a new issue in the category. The Workstation pull-down list will list only the workstations in the department of the logged in user.

Extending the Solution

Assume that each employee in these three departments has a primary workstation. A selected list can be used to default the Workstation field to the appropriate value for each employee. For example, three of the employees might have the following primary workstations:

Employee Primary Workstation
Mary Jones Final Test
Bob Williams Gages
Jim Newman Mechanical

Create a new list called "PrimaryWorkstations" and enter the following values:

List Item Item Selector
Final Test Mary Jones
Gages Bob Williams
Mechanical Jim Newman

Create a new Selected List Data Link called "Default Workstations" and select the "PrimaryWorkstations" list. For the Select By entry, choose "Employee Name". Return to the field definition for your new Workstations field. In the Default field, enter "![Default Workstations]". Now the Workstations field will not only load a list of workstations that are specific to the logged in employee's department, but the field will already be defaulted to their primary workstation.