Zoho Creator Tutorial – Unique list values, dynamic pick lists & dependent list values

What is Zoho Creator | The Basics| Design & Share Custom Forms |Using prevalidated Form Fields | Statless Forms |

Now that you are exploring zoho creator yourself, you might have grasped more than what you bargained for. During this learning curve you may come across certain use-case scenarios & would like to see them work. Here is a working copy of one such request that visited my inbox.

The Assignment :-

1. Registration form has Country & State fields.
   
2. Both have to be pre-populated drop down fields ( ie... zero manual entry. User has to pick from list.
   
3. >Based on the Country name, (Pre-populated list), the State Names ( of respective country) should be displayed in the second drop down.
   

Click here to View the Working demo ( Tab Name – LIST ACTIONS)

Forms & views Used –
Counry_states Form ( & view) – Single line field
Registration Form ( & view) – Single Line & Drop down

Registration Form	Country - Sates (add new country & state list here)

Use Single line fields and Drop down fields to design the forms. Leave the default "Option1, Option2, Option3" in the drop down fields. We will be dealing with them shortly at Deluge script.

Donot use pick list/ lookup field
Question:-What happens when you use a look-up field?
Answer:- It will show the country names as "n" occurances. Eg:- India, India, India, India, USA ,USA, USA, USA.
We don’t want that.. all we want the list to show is – "India"& "USA"
In other words, we want to avoid any duplicate entries in the drop down list.

Form:- Country_States

This form is used to "collect" the country name & state name. So there is absolutely no scripting involved. Do take a look at the Country States View in the DEMO link


Form:- Registration Form

You can have as many fields as you want. Since this is a tutorial post, I am limiting the fields to Name, Country & State
In the demo, you will notice that, "Country" - does not have duplicates & "State" list changes dynamically based on the country name.

The Deluge Script involved.

On Registration Form -- > > on Load.

//--------THIS POPULATES THE COUNTRY LIST WITH UNIQUE VALUES--------
Country_list = List();
Cntry = Country_states [(Country is not null)];
Country_list.addall(Cntry.Country.getall());
Country_unique = List();
for each country in Country_list
{
if (!Country_unique.contains(country))
{
Country_unique.add(country);
}
}
for each Ctry in Country_unique
{
County:ui.add(Ctry); //USE CLIENT FUNCTION -- ADD ITEM
}

CODE	YOU CAN FIND THIS AT	THIS LINE OF CODE MEANS
Country_list = List();	LIST MANIPULATION (LM) – CREATE LIST
Cntry = Country_states [(Country is not null)];	DATA ACCESS – FETCH RECORDS	collect the rows where state is not null in Country_States_view
Country_list.addall(Cntry.Country.getall());	LM- ADD ALL
Country_list=List();	LM – CREATE LIST
for each country in Country_list	LM – FOR EACH ELEMENT <expression> = country
if (!Country_unique.contains(country))	IF CONDITION	You can otherwise Type ---> country_unique.contains ( country) is false Checks if the <expression> value is present ( true) or not ( false)
Country_unique.add(country);	LM – ADD ITEM	If false, then the value is added to the list -- now, you have a unique list
for each Ctry in Country_unique	LM – FOR EACH ELEMENT <expression> = ctry
County:ui.add(Ctry);	CLIENT FUNCTION – ADD ITEM	Now, each list item is added to your drop down box

On Registration form - > Country Drop down - > User Input

//------THIS POPULATES THE ~~STATES~~ OF THE SELECTED COUNTRY-----------
States_list = List();
States_rec = Country_states [Country == input.County];
States_list.addall(States_rec.State.getall());
for each State in States_list
{
State:ui.add(input.State);
}

CODE	YOU CAN FIND THIS AT	THIS LINE OF CODE MEANS
States_list = List();	LM – CREATE LIST
States_rec = Country_states [Country == input.County];	DATA ACCESS – FETCH RECORDS
States_list.addall(States_rec.State.getall());	LM – ADD ALL	Exactly similar to Above pic - Enlarge and see. Be sure to get the state names & check the box for return field values as list
for each State in States_list	LM – FOR EACH ELEMENT <expression> = State
State:ui.add(input.State);	CLIENT FUNCTION – ADD ITEM	Select the state-drop down list --- You will see this list getting popupated based on country name

If you found this post to be of some use, please spare a moment to drop a comment.
Your appreciation is my motivation

What is Zoho Creator | The Basics| Design & Share Custom Forms |Using prevalidated Form Fields | Statless Forms |