Selection list

The Selection List component is responsible for recognizing selection lists. Selection lists are like menus, but they are presented as a list of options, each of which is preceded by a leading token and a delimiter, such as in the following example:


Option 1. Prepare form
Option 2. Work with forms you submitted
Option 3. Work with forms requiring action

In this example, Option is the string before the leading token, 1, 2, and 3 are the leading tokens, and the delimiter is a period followed by a space (. ).

Once a list item has been selected (either clicked or selected depending on the widget), its leading token is placed in the targeted host input field.

A recognized selection list can be rendered by the following widgets:

The following figure shows how a selection list component might appear on your host screen:

Example of selection list component — Figure 1. Selection list component example

String before the leading token (a space)
Leading token type (digit)
Delimiter (a period (.))
End delimiter (a space)
List options (or items)

The following settings can be configured for this component:

String before the leading token: Optional. The string which precedes the leading token of each list item.

Leading token type: Specifies whether each list item starts with letters, digits, or both letters and digits.

Maximum length of leading token: Specifies the maximum length of the leading token. The default is 4.

Delimiter: Required. The string of characters between the leading token and the description. You can specify more than one value, separated by the vertical bar (|) character.

End delimiter: Optional. The string of characters which must follow each list item.

Minimum required options: The minimum number of list items that must be found in order for the selected region to be recognized as a selection list.

Group Items Individually: Select this box if you want to group items individually.

Selection target field

Specifies which input field receives the selection. Options: First on screen, Last on screen, Previous field, Next field, Cursor position, or User defined.

Row: Specifies the row of the input field which should receive the selection.
Note: This setting only applies if User defined is selected as the selection target.

Column: Specifies the column of the input field which should receive the selection.
Note: This setting only applies if User defined is selected as the selection target.

Auto submit on select: If selected, an AID key is automatically sent to the host even if the input field is blank. If cleared, an AID key is not automatically sent.

Action key: Optional. Specifies the host aid key that should be pressed after the target input field has been updated with the user's selection. The default value is [enter] meaning that the enter key will be pressed once the user makes a selection.

Sort list options

If selected, list items are sorted according to either their leading token or description (see below for more information about other settings).

Sort by: Specifies whether to sort the set of list options by their leading token or description.

Sort order: Specifies whether to sort the set of list options in ascending or descending order.
Note: The locale-sensitive sorting methods, built into Java™, are used to perform this operation.

Placeholder options: Specifies whether to embed placeholder list items when gaps (such as empty space) exist between list items. Options: Actual, None, or Single.