One
of the most frequently used field types in SharePoint are the ‘lookup
lists’. These are drop-down lists that display values from other
SharePoint lists or libraries. When working with these lookup lists,
users soon come up with more requirements.
Example of Lookup Lists (Continent and Country)
Most frequently requested add-ons are:
Connected fields :
The
values shown in a dropdown-list depend on the value selected in another
dropdown-list. In the example above you have already selected the value
“Europe”. Now you don’t wish to see all country-values in the “Country”
dropdown-list, but only the European countries.
Display multiple columns:
You
have defined a dropdown field in SharePoint, but you want the drop-down
values to display multiple columns from the lookup list or library.
To answer the user requests, Ometa developed a new custom lookup field type that covers both requirements.
Example:
First
the Continent “Europe” is selected from the drop-down list. The values
in this list can be found in the “Continents”-list.
Now
the Country dropdown-list only shows the European countries (=
connected fields functionality) with their country code (display
multiple columns functionality). The values in this list can be found in
the “Countries”-list.