Handling Large Dropdown Lists

Overview 

The Decisions Form designer offers a multitude of tools that can be used to collect information via user input from a Form. One such method is selecting data from a drop-down component; these data options can be static values or dynamically populated via a Flow. The following article will explain how a Flow can be used to dynamically populate a drop-down component with a large list utilizing user-typed Strings of text.  

Example 

1. Create a Flow and add a Show Form step and create a new Form. 
2. In the Form Designer, add a Drop Down List and a Button from the FAVORITES section.
3. Select the Drop Down List; in the Input Data > Type, select All/Search and search for "Account". PICK the first option.
4. Select EmailAddress from Input Data > Display Field.
5. Select Flow from Input Data > List Input Source.
6.  Next, after selecting the PICK FLOW ID box, click CREATE from the resulting CREATE or PICK FLOW dialog window. 
7. Select Flow, name the Flow and click CREATE.
   
8. Add Input Data, configure one String [Text] type with the Name "TypedText".
   
9. Add a Length Greater Than step from the Toolbox panel, and connect it to the Start step.
10. Select the Length Greater Than step and use a Constant mapping of "3" under Inputs > Length.
11. Using the Select From Flow mapping on Inputs > Length, choose the String [Text] from the Start step.
12. From Toolbox > FAVORITE STEPS, pull and attach a Fetch Entities step to the 'True' path from the previous step. 
13. In the Properties panel, under ENTITY FETCH DEFINITION > Type Name, select Account from the All/Search result.
14. Under ENTITY FETCH DEFINITION > Fetch Criteria select ADD NEW. 
15. Under Add Fetch Criteria > Field Name, select emailAddress.
16. Under Add Fetch Criteria > Query Match Type, select Contains. Then click OK.
17. Using a Select From Flow mapping under Inputs > Email Address, select String [Text].
    
18. Connect the Results, No Results, and False lines to the End step. 
19. With the End step selected, navigate to the Properties panel > Pick From Current Data section and enable the EntityResults checkbox.
20. Save and Close Flow Designer and the Form Designer to return to the main Flow.

Debug

1. Select Debug in the top action panel. In the Debugger, click START DEBUGGING.
2. Begin typing letters corresponding to an option in the list; these options will populate under the drop-down component based on the number of letters entered.
3. Select Done to close the Form.