Inserting Combo Box and List Box objects

Combo Box and List Box are the objects that you can use to control the data that is displayed in your visual dashboard, or to accept the user input. You can link both objects to query driven layout objects.

1. In the Palette view, expand Controls, click Combo Box or List Box object, and place it on your visual dashboard.
   The Combo Box Wizard or the List Box Wizard opens.
2. In the wizard, specify the way you want to populate the OptionList and the ItemDataList of your Combo Box or List Box object with data.
   Note: The OptionList items are displayed in the Combo Box or the List Box object. The ItemDataList items are not displayed in the object. Each item of the ItemDataList corresponds with an item of the OptionList and can be used for linking objects by hidden value. Both OptionList and ItemDataList can be used to link the Combo Box or List Box object to query-driven layout objects (such as Grid or BarChart). For more information, see the Linking Combo Box and List Box objects to query driven objects topic.

   You can supply the data for both lists from a query result set, a static list, or an expression.

   • To populate the list with data from a query, perform the following steps:
     1. On the first page of the wizard, select Yes and click Next.
     2. Add the source query and click Next.
     3. From the Field containing the list of options to be displayed list, select the query column the values of which you want to include in the OptionList.
     4. From the Field containing the item data (optional) list, select the query column the values of which you want to include in the ItemDataList.
     5. Click Finish. The wizard closes.
   • To supply the OptionList items from a static list, perform the following steps:
     1. On the first page of the wizard, select No and click Next.
     2. Click Add New Entry.
     3. Add items to the list.
     4. Double-click one or several check boxes in the Value column to make the corresponding items selected by default. For the Combo Box object, you can select one item from the list. For the List Box object, you can select one or several items from the list. Click Finish. The wizard closes.
   • To supply the ItemDataList items from a static list, perform the following steps:
     1. On the first page of the wizard, select No and click Next.
     2. Click Finish. The wizard closes.
     3. On your visual dashboard, click the object that you just created to select it.
     4. In the Properties view, click the ItemDataList property cell and click the ellipsis (...). The List Editor window appears.
     5. In the window, add items to the list and click OK.
   • To supply the list items from an expression, perform the following steps:
     1. On the first page of the wizard, select No and click Next.
     2. Click Finish. The wizard closes.
     3. On your visual dashboard, click the object that you just created to select it.
     4. In the Properties view, click the OptionList or ItemDataList property cell and type the expression or double-click the property cell to use the Expression Designer. Consider the following expression as an example: =lineInsert(Parameter1, 1, TextBox1.Text). In this example, Parameter1 is the global parameter of the “TextSet” type of your visual dashboard, TextBox1.Text is the string that you want to put on the list, and 1 is the position of that string in the list. For more information about using the Expression Designer, see the Using the Expression Designer to specify property or field values topic.