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Problems with DCT <select> in 6.5 Upgrade

jajtiii

Hey,

We are in the midst of upgrading from 5.5.2 to 6.5, have validated TS/OD/DD and are now validating each application (branches w/workareas). Things have been going 'somewhat' smoothly, but we have recently hit a snag I was hoping this list might be able to help with.

We have the following select statement in a DCT. When rendered IN 5.5.2, it automatically defaults to a blank box. The user must hit the dropdown and select something from the list (options) or TS will generate an error (because required = 't').

But, in 6.5, it does not default to a 'blank' box, instead defaulting to the top <option> (Ms. Allen), as one would expect of a regular html <select> tag. BUT, if you simply hit SAVE, TeamSite registers this as an error, since nothing was selected.

From a 'user friendly' standpoint, this is a problem for us. Is there a setting I am missing?

<item name="name">
<label>Director</label>
<description>Select name of director</description>
<select required="t" size="1">
<option value = "" label = " "/>
<option value="Ms. Allen" label="Ms. Allen"/>
<option value="Dr. Brown" label="Dr. Brown"/>
<option value="Mr. Calise" label="Mr. Calise"/>
<option value="Mr. Capps" label="Mr. Capps"/>
<option value="Mr. Davidson" label="Mr. Davidson"/>
<option value="Mr. Harris" label="Mr. Harris"/>
<option value="Mr. Jepson" label="Mr. Jepson"/>
<option value="Mr. Lambert" label="Mr. Lambert"/>
<option value="Mr. Leatherwood" label="Mr. Leatherwood"/>
<option value="Ms. McKenna" label="Ms. McKenna"/>
<option value="Mr. Randall" label="Mr. Randall"/>
<option value="Dr. Royal" label="Dr. Royal"/>
<option value="Dr. Simmons" label="Dr. Simmons"/>
<option value="Mr. Spilman" label="Mr. Spilman"/>
<option value="Mr. Wollard" label="Mr. Wollard"/>
</select>
</item>

TS 6.5, OD w/DD 6.0.1
Solaris 9

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Comments

iwovGraduate

Isn't there an attribute of <option> tag called "selected" or something ? Check the DTD.

jajtiii

Yes, there is, but that does not fix the issue. In 5.5.2, for whatever reason, it generates a blank option as the default 'selected' option (even though it is not specified in the code.) So, in my example above, the select appears blank and the users know to select something.

In addition, even though 'Ms. Allen' shows as the default in 6.5, if you hit SAVE, TeamSite still thinks you have not selected something (which is required) and generates a warning/error, advising client to select something.

Here is what I believe is a related documentation, found in the FormAPI Developers Guide on page 17, under 'Empty Options':

If a single <select> item has no value (and no default value), FormsPublisher renders the
select list with an extra blank option at the top.

For some reason, we are not getting the empty option in the upgrade. I was hoping that it was a setting we overlooked.

TS 6.5, OD w/DD 6.0.1
Solaris 9

jajtiii

By the by, we are fixing it with the following right now, although I would definitely like to know if there is a setting we missed :

<option value="" label="Select Director"/>

This at least will make the form work correctly, but it does not answer the question of why it is working differently from 5.5.2, which doesn't require this.

TS 6.5, OD w/DD 6.0.1
Solaris 9

Adam Stoller

The reason it probably works differently is that the code for rendering the DCT form has changed and whoever worked on it for 6.x probably did not maintain (for whatever reason) the notion that drop-down select lists should always start blank.
Personally - I think this is better - if you want a blank - put a blank in your select list - if you don't want one, don't include it -- better than having the UI dictate that there must be (or not be) a blank entry at the top of the list.

As for the error occuring even if the first item appears to be selected when the form is rendered - that's an issue that I recall reading about several times and I think there's a fairly simple way through FormAPI to deal with it - but if you're going to initialize the list to a blank entry - it shouldn't be an issue anymore.

--fish
Senior Consultant, Quotient Inc.
http://www.quotient-inc.com

NathansDIS

We have a DCT that has only one option in the select box, and no matter what you can't get it to register as selected, even thought it has the only option selected by default. This used to work in TeamSite 6.1 SP1.

Based on the behavior, I imagine it has to do with bad logic around the index of the select box. Since the UI used to inject the blank into element 0 and now that it doesn't do that, element 0 is the first valid selection where before it always indicated that a blank or non-selection was made. Kinda reminds you to always boundry check your code huh? I'm going to open a case with Support now...

-nathan
Washington State DIS
~~~

Ottawa_IWOV

Did Interwoven ever supply a fix for this issue?