Checkbox and Picklist fields can be used to control the behaviour or content of another dependant field. The information in the checkbox or picklist field determines what happens with the dependant field. This gives you a lot of flexibility in how you show information on your pages.
Permissions are required to work on Custom Objects and Fields.
The Controlling field must be either a Checkbox or Picklist field. The Dependant field can be any other custom field. There can be only one dependant field for a controlling field. There are two ways that field dependencies work. The first is that the value in the controlling field determines if the dependant field is read only, able to be edited, or is hidden (not visible) on the page layout. The second way field dependencies function is if both the controlling and dependant fields are pick lists. In that case the value chosen in the controlling field determines what values will be shown in the second pick list.
You need to create both the Controlling and Dependant fields, and fill in any information for any pick list fields whether they are controlling or dependant, before creating the dependency between the fields.
Select the custom object to be edited so that you see the list of fields.
Click the Field Dependencies button to see the Field Dependencies list.
Click the New button.
Select the Controlling Field from the list. It can be any Checkbox field in the object. The selection in the Controlling field determines what happens in the Dependant field.
Select the Dependant Field from the list.
Click the Next tab.
Select how the Dependant Field will act when a value in the controlling checkbox is selected.
With a checkbox it can either be checked or unchecked, and for each of those values you select what the dependant field will do.
With the picklist there can be many different values in the list, so for each value in the list you select what the dependant field will do.
There are three different options for how the dependant field will behave.
Enabled: The dependant field is visible and the user can change its information.
Read Only: The dependant field is visible but the user can not be change it. If it has a default value that default value will be shown.
Hidden: The dependant field can not be seen by the user.
Click Save to finish, or Cancel to return to the Field Dependencies list view.
If you use a picklist to control a picklist, how the dependant field behaves changes. When you choose a value from the controlling list, that value controls what entries you will see in the dependant list. What shows up in the dependant list depends on what is chosen from the controlling list. This is very useful when you have a category - sub-category arrangement. For example, the controlling list has the values of Animal, Vegetable, and Mineral. If you choose Animal, the dependant list could show Cat, Dog, and Horse. If you choose Vegetable, the dependant list could show Carrots, Peas, Rice. Note that the dependant list must contain all the values that you need. It just shows some of them depending on what has been chosen in the controlling list.
Select the Controlling Field from the list. It can be any Picklist field in the object.
Select the Dependant Field from the list. It can be any other Picklist field in the object.
For each controlling value (listed across the top), select which value(s) from the dependant object (listed below the controlling option) will be shown in the list. For example, one value from the Controlling list is "Picklist value 1", and if it is chosen the dependant list will show the values "PKLD 1", "PKLD 2", and "PKLD 3" but not "PKLD 4".
Custom Fields
Fields and Relationships
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