checkbox value list with a scrollbar?

[l_asa]

A checkbox list is used for multiple select.

If displayed on a layout with a value list of some 1000 values,

it would be nice with a scrollbar, as for the list option

(only then only one option can be selected)

Suggestions?

[ESpringer]

The check-box approach precludes scroll-bar. If your list had 100 short items, I'd recommend a horizontally extended field format. But not for 1000 values! However, two or three work-arounds:

(A) what a check-box field does is to enter one value after another into a multi-line text field, with returns between. So, if you use a popup value list, you can achieve something quite conveniently close. Make sure that "Select entire contents on entry" is disabled. Then,

(1) use the keyboard to type the first couple characters of the entry you want, and/or use arrow keys to get to desired value

(2) Hit <enter> (rather than clicking) to choose your item. The selected item will show up in your field, with the cursor just past it. Hit <return> to make the line break.

(3) Hit "escape" and the value list pops up again. Keyboard your way to the next desired item; choose it with <enter>, etc.

In this way, you can pile items from a value list into your field. (If you still want to *display* the check-boxes (on print, say) rather than the list of chosen values (would you really want to do this with 1000 values?!), you can hide your data entry field under an opaque No-Entry-Allowed checkbox field.)

(: Another solution is to use a *repeating field* for these values, defining as many repetitions as you're likely to ever need (you don't have to fit them all in your layout). Many in these forums caution against using repeating fields. However, the advantage here is that you can use a value list conveniently: type the first few identifying keystrokes, and then hit <return> (not <enter>), at which point you'll automatically find yourself in the next repetition of the field with the value list there and ready for your next keystrokes. I generate all boilerplate feedback comments on student papers in this way, choosing from a list of a couple hundred comments related to this assignment-type. All I have to type for each comment is the two-letter key at the beginning of the comment. I do a quick visual check that it's what I want, and use <return> to zip on.

© Depending on what your data demands, you may also find it's useful to create a file with JOIN records. If you have value-list that long, it seems like the kind of thing you be tracking in a separate database. Then, a join file with relations to both could allow you a powerful way of connecting data in your main file to multiple values from your long list. In that case, you create new *records* in the join file for every selection. You'd do data entry via a portal to the join file, with creation of related records enabled.

Is this all on the right level?

[l_asa]

*******, I missed your reply. Saw it just now.

Christmas is haunting me, I'm trying to get done with some stuff before the evening, but

I will read your comment carefully

Sincerely,