Picklists

This article will take you through the Picklist creation, edit, and delete processes.

Definition

Picklist in PantrySoft is a set of answers that you can tie to any pulldown field in the App. For instance, Ethnicity is a popular picklist you can tie to a Demographic (Household Member) Question.


Basic Creation Process

To create a picklist question from scratch, you'll first create an answer-set, and then create one or more picklist questions you will "wire" to that answer-set. For instance, you might create an "answer-set" list of ethnicities called Ethnicity Choices, save that, and then create an Ethnicity Demographic Question wired to your new Ethnicity Choices.

Creating a Picklist Answer-set

Perform the following steps to create a new picklist:

  1. Verify Admin Status
    Ensure you are already logged in with an Admin role.

  2. Navigate to the Picklist Screen
    From the Menu bar, access Setup-> Question Picklists. This will bring you to the Picklist Index screen.

  3. Create a New Picklist
    Click Create New Picklist. This will bring you to the New Picklist screen.

  4. Add Entries to the Picklist
    Name the Picklist and add, edit, or delete as many choices as you'd like. 
    Note: You cannot delete a picklist choice if it's been "chosen" somewhere in the app, but you can make it inactive (un-check the Active box).

  5. Save the Picklist
    Click Save and Exit.

Now the answer-set you just created is available to "wire" to any custom questions in the app.

Yes/No answer set. Answer sets can be wired to multiple picklist questions throughout the app. For instance, a popular configuration involves creating a very generic picklist with the values Yes and No, and then wiring it to multiple questions set to required. This is preferable to a simple checkbox because it doesn't assume Yes or No, but it requires the user to select one or the other before saving. 

Creating or Editing a Picklist Question

Perform the following steps to "wire" a picklist answer-set to a picklist-type custom question:

  1. Access the Question Type
    Navigate to the particular question type you want to add:
    • Setup ->Demographic Questions

    • Setup ->Interview Questions

    • Setup->Registration Questions

  2. Access the Edit Question Screen
    Click the New Question button or edit an existing one by clicking Edit next to an existing question. This will show you a Question Edit screen.

  3. Set type to Picklist
    Set Data Type to Picklist. A Picklist field will appear at the bottom of the screen.

  4. Select the Picklist
    Click on the Picklist drop-down menu to select the picklist to use.

  5. Save the New Picklist
    Click Save and Exit.

  6. Verify the Picklist
    For good measure, visit a screen that should now be manifesting your new or newly edited question and ensure that it is now contains a picklist-type question with the answer set you created/ edited in Creating a Picklist Answer-set above.

System Picklists

PantrySoft uses the Picklist system in some of its hard coded fields throughout the app, in addition to allowing the user to create their own for custom questions. These are called System Picklists, and they are marked as such in the Question Picklist edit screens. Here are the rules for System Picklists:

  1. You can change the name of any of the choices at any time.

  2. You can delete choices that haven't yet served as the answer to anyone's questions or associated records. Otherwise, they cannot be deleted

  3. You cannot delete the picklist itself.

Example: Visit Type System Picklist. Visit Types is a system picklist hard coded to visit records; they are employed in the Visit Type field atop every Visit screen. A User cannot erase that field from Visit screens, but they can change the choices it offers.