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This tutorial is for the Desktop Designer. To view the updated tutorial for the online project designer, please click here .

Selection Point

Learn how the Selection point can be used and see it in action with the sample projects.

What is the Selection point?

The Selection point can be used to present a list of items on screen at the same time. This point is similar to the Drop List point but is more suitable for displaying a smaller list of items on the screen at the same time. The point can be configured to allow a single or multiple items to be selected. The items can be configured to display different text to the values that are stored in a session, using code-based items . This point is similar to the Drop List point except that the items are all displayed on screen at the same time. The point can be converted to a Drop List point at any time, using the conversion feature .

Key Features


Selection point animation

Single and Multiple selections

When this point is displayed in a session on the mobile application, the user will be able to select options from the list. The point can be configured to allow the user to select only one item or to allow selection of multiple items.

Code-Based Items

The list of options can be configured to set the display text of each item separately to the values of each item by using the code-based option. Code-based items can be added using the following format:

150;Consulting Rate

The example above would display Consulting Rate when the point's items are displayed in a session on the mobile application. When the item is selected, the value 150 will be saved to the session data.

Import Items from a Text File

The list of items can be imported from a text file, using the Import button in the properties window. In the text file, each item will need to be separated by a tab.

Convert to a Drop List Point

A Selection point can easily be converted to a Drop List point which can be useful when a Selection point's items have grown in number and are better displayed in a dropdown interface. This can be done by right-clicking the Selection point in the Mobile Data Anywhere Designer and selecting Convert to Drop Point . Similarly a Drop List point can be converted to a Selection point.


Configuration and Settings

The Selection point can be configured in the Mobile Data Anywhere Designer to set the data for the list of items and to choose how the point functions within a session on the mobile application. Below is an example of the properties window for a Selection point, opened in the Mobile Data Anywhere Designer.


Selection point properties

Items

The items section allows you to create the list of options that will be presented to the user when a session is being created on the mobile application. You can manually add, edit, delete and re-order the items using the buttons on the right. Alternatively, the list of items can be populated using the Import feature .

Selection Options

These options control how the point will function on the mobile application and includes the following options, explained below:

Multiple Selection

This style will allow the user to choose multiple items from the list, to be saved to the session as a delimited list. Each selected item will be appended to the point's value with a ; separator, for example:

Cow; Horse;

Single Selection

This style will allow the user to choose one item from the list to be saved to the session.

Code-based

Can be used with either single or multiple selection types and is used to separate the stored values from the text that is displayed on screen. See here for how to add code-based items. This can be useful for setting a numeric value for the point while displaying text to the user so that the numeric value can be used in a Math point's expression.

Setting a default value

A list item can be set as the default value from the point's page preview, in the Mobile Data Anywhere Designer. This can be done be selecting the item in the page preview for the point and then right clicking on the point's caption and selecting Save Default Value .


Sample Projects

The Basic Points Sample project contains examples of how to use many of the various points that are available. This project also contains a page that demonstrates some of the ways that this point can be used in your projects.


Sample Projects
You can download the sample project for this tutorial or import the projects directly into your account.