Settings - Picklists

Settings / User-Defined Lists / Pick Lists

Pick Lists are user-defined lists of words relevant to particular fields. Users can be forced to choose from a closed list of options so that data entry is controlled.

Introduction

Forcing the use of Pick Lists

Populating the Pick Lists

Using the Pick Lists

See Also:

Much of this section is for Administrators. Users may want to go straight to Using the Pick Lists

Introduction

There are several look-up lists available throughout Openlaw. These are pre-defined words or phrases which are used to describe or define a head of classification for Items in the Case. Pick Lists are one of the Settings found on the Control Panel Case Menu.

A copy of the sub-menu can also be found on the Tab View Settings Menu. Entries can be added from the Tab View Menu (so that you can make them available for the current Item) but cannot be edited or deleted from there.

Pick Lists are used to make available to users a selection of field contents to choose from for six particular fields. These are:

Doc Format

Doc Type

Index No

Party

Redacted Reasons

Title

The menu is shown below.

Pick Lists are similar to User Defined Lists which also provide labels which are available to any Item (e.g., Category Labels or Keywords). Pick List entries differ in this respect: it is possible to force users to use the Pick Lists, that is, require that anything entered into these fields be one of the entries on the Pick List, with no option to invent their own.

The default settings are that users may type anything they want into these fields and that the Pick Lists contain default entries. An Administrator has two functions to perform - to set one or more of these fields to require the use of the Pick Lists, and to set up the Pick Lists as required for a particular Case.

Forcing the Use of Pick Lists

The picture below shows part of the Detail Tab in Edit mode.

Four of the fields shown here have white backgrounds and are editable - the user could type anything he or she liked into here. The other two, DocType and Format, are not editable. The only way a user can get information into here is to press the button beside the field and pick one of a closed list of entries. That list (if it is populated at all) can be used even if typing access to the field is not barred.

There is more than one Administrator step involved here. The first such step is to decide which if any fields are to be closed off in this way. This is done in the Set Licence Options function in Case Setup.

The switches have names which identify which field is to be affected. The one for Doc Format is called:

EDITING : Must Use Doc Format Picklist

If this is ticked in the Set Licence Options window (and therefore has its message in green) then users must use the Pick List. The same is true, mutatis mutandis, of the other Pick List options.

Populating the Pick Lists

New entries can be added to the Pick Lists from the Settings sub-menu of the Control Panel Case Menu or from the Settings sub-menu on the Item Card Menu. Entries can be edited or deleted only from the Control Panel Menu. Only an Administrator can alter the Pick Lists and Exclusive Use is required from the Control Panel (but not for adding entries from the Tab View Menu).

The Doc Format screen looks like this:

The others are much the same. Press Add, Edit or Delete as appropriate. When you are adding or editing an entry, you are able to <Cancel> or <Save>.

Using the Pick Lists

Administrator settings determine whether certain fields can be edited at will or must (if they are filled at all) be filled with one of a closed list of alternatives.

The relevant fields are mainly those on the Detail Tab shown here:

If when you go into Edit mode on the Detail tab you find the field itself is greyed out, then you cannot type into it. You can only pick an entry from the list which appears if you press the button beside the field.

Highlight the one you want and press <Select>.

You can use the Pick List even if access to the field is not barred. This gives you the choice between free typing or picking an existing entry.