Comments on: Tips and Tricks: Use a lookup table instead of a choice dropdown list

By: Julie

Julie — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 04:33:14 +0000

Bill,
So sorry, I have to retract my solution. Long story short, there were 2 of us trying to solve this issue at my place of work and what I thought was a solution was a a view of a choice drop-down (with a blank default value) that my colleague had inserted at the same time I had added the _Select One in the lookup list. My bad for not double-checking before posting a reply. So the question is still out there and I will continue to monitor this blog for a solution.
Julie

By: Bill

Bill — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 20:06:24 +0000

Julie,

I appreciate the feedback. If I enter _Select One as an entry, and the total number of entries in my list are under 21 – then the first value in the list doesn’t default to blank, it defaults to _Select One, and if the user doesn’t change it, _Select One is what is recorded in the record. If the field is made to be required, I only get a blank choice if there are 21 or more items in the lookup list. 21 items seems to be the key to this bug\problem. How many items in your lookup list that this is working for you? Are you on Sharepoint 2007, or 2010?

Thanks again for your help!

Bill

By: Julie

Julie — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 17:50:38 +0000

Bill,
Try adding “_Select One” in your lookup list (no brackets). The first option defaults to blank. It worked for me.

By: Bill

Bill — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 19:19:22 +0000

Hi. I asked this question a while back, but never did get a response. (August 2009) I’ll word it a bit differently. My problem is with using a Lookup column that is also designated as a required field. I would expect in that situation that when a new form is opened that the lookup field would be blank, and that the user would be forced to populate the field from the choices in the drop down before “saving”. What I find is that the field defaults to the first value in the lookup list – and the user is not forced to do anything. Instead, they are likely to save the form with the wrong value. This bavoir changes depending upon how many values are returned in the drop down for the look up field. If there are less than 21 entries – what I have just described is what happens. if there are 21 or more values, then the field works as I would expect – the field is blank and the user is forced to make a choice. Is this a bug, or am I doing somehting wrong? I’m using SharePoint Server 2007.

By: Jais

Jais — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 10:24:41 +0000

Ok, so how do I render my lookup as a radio button list instead of a dropdown?

By: EndUserSharePoint

EndUserSharePoint — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 18:28:09 +0000

Craig – One of the problems with the multiple upload feature is that there is no request for metadata, so this is not a problem with the lookup column, it’s a bug in the SharePoint interface. — Mark

By: craig

craig — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 18:00:22 +0000

Question:

This seems to work well for lists and when you use the generic “upload” function in document libraries. How do you make it work when you use the “upload multiple documents” function?

By: EndUserSharePoint.com: Top 10 Subscribed Posts | End User SharePoint

EndUserSharePoint.com: Top 10 Subscribed Posts | End User SharePoint — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 09:03:55 +0000

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By: Bill

Bill — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 15:42:34 +0000

Sorry – that last last line have read “with the default ‘text’ box empty…”

By: Bill

Bill — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 15:40:39 +0000

I’m using SharePoint Server 2007. I have a List called Color. The list has a single column, Color, renamed from the default Title column. The list contains the following entires: Green, Yellow, and Red. I have another list that tracks customer issues. This second list has a Color column that is set as a lookup to the Color column on the Color List. I have made this a required field. The default text box is blank. When I open the form, the Color field defaults to Green, the first value in the list. I want to force the user to make a choice, and don’t want a default value. With the required field checked and the default check box empty – why is going wrong that I ened up with a default value? Thanks very much! Bill