multi-select
I have a custom multiselect picklist field with 500 values in the application and now i need to enable the selection of more than 100 values at a time on any record.
As per the salesforce limitation, we cannot select more than 100 values at a time in multiselect picklist field.
Can you please suggest me any ideas over this? How to implement this?
Any alternatives possible on this?
Safe Harbor: this is a really long answer...read at your own risk. Also, none of this sample code has been tested, this is just me stubbing it out in Notepad++.
This is not currently possible with standard Salesforce configuration, as multi-select picklists cannot be selected as the Controlling Field in a Field Dependency. So, you're definitely looking at a VisualForce solution; your approach here really depends on your requirements. Does it need to be easily configurable, or is it feasible to hardcode the dependencies in your controller?
If it's acceptable to hardcode the dependencies in your controller, then you'll probably want to set up maps of the dependencies to simplify your code (I use the word "simplify" loosely here)...
public class someController {
public String[] parentPicklistVal {public get; public set;}
public String[] childMultiPicklistVal {public get; public set;}
public String childSinglePicklistVal {public get; public set;}
// maps to hold your dependencies between picklists
private Map<String, List<String>> parentDepMap;
private Map<String, List<String>> childDepMap;
private String[] parentOpts = new String[] { 'parent option 1', 'parent option 2' };
private String[] childMultiOpts = new String[] { 'child multi 1', 'child multi 2', 'child multi 3' };
private String[] childSingleOpts = new String[] { 'child single 1', 'child single 2', 'child single 3' };
public someController() {
// init dependency maps
parentDepMap = new Map<String, List<String>>();
childDepMap = new Map<String, List<String>>();
// pick which child options to display for which parent value
parentDepMap.put(parentOpts[0], (new String[]{childMultiOpts[0], childMultiOpts[1]}));
parentDepMap.put(parentOpts[1], (new String[]{childMultiOpts[1], childMultiOpts[2]}));
// pick which single-select options to display for which child value
childDepMap.put(childMultiOpts[0], (new String[]{childSingleOpts[0], childSingleOpts[2]}));
childDepMap.put(childMultiOpts[1], (new String[]{childSingleOpts[1], childSingleOpts[2]}));
childDepMap.put(childMultiOpts[2], childSingleOpts); // or if you want to show them all?
}
public List<SelectOption> getParentPicklistOptions() {
List<SelectOption> selectOpts = new List<SelectOption>();
for ( String s : parentOpts )
selectOpts.add(new SelectOption(s, s));
return selectOpts;
}
public List<SelectOption> getChildMultiPicklistOptions() {
List<SelectOption> selectOpts = new List<SelectOption>();
if ( parentPicklistVal != null && parentPicklistVal.size() > 0 ) {
// build a set of values to avoid dupes, since there may be overlapping dependencies
Set<String> possibleOpts = new Set<String>();
for ( String val : parentPicklistVal )
possibleOpts.addAll(parentDepMap.get(val));
for ( String s : possibleOpts )
selectOpts.add(new SelectOption(s, s));
}
return selectOpts;
}
public List<SelectOption> getChildSinglePicklistOptions() {
List<SelectOption> selectOpts = new List<SelectOption>();
if ( childMultiPicklistVal != null && childMultiPicklistVal.size() > 0 ) {
// build a set of values to avoid dupes, since there may be overlapping dependencies
Set<String> possibleOpts = new Set<String>();
for ( String val : childMultiPicklistVal )
possibleOpts.addAll(childDepMap.get(val));
for ( String s : possibleOpts )
selectOpts.add(new SelectOption(s, s));
}
return selectOpts;
}
public PageReference actionUpdatePicklistVals() {
// this doesn't really need to do anything, since the picklists should be updated when their getters call after returning
return null;
}
}
And then your VF page...
<apex:page controller="someController">
<apex:form>
<apex:outputPanel id="panel1">
<apex:selectList value="{!parentPicklistVal}" multiselect="true" size="3">
<apex:selectOptions value="{!parentPicklistOptions}" />
<apex:actionSupport event="onchange" action="{!actionUpdatePicklistVals}" rerender="panel1" />
</apex:selectList>
<apex:selectList value="{!childMultiPicklistVal}" multiselect="true" size="3">
<apex:selectOptions value="{!childMultiPicklistOptions}" />
<apex:actionSupport event="onchange" action="{!actionUpdatePicklistVals}" rerender="panel1" />
</apex:selectList>
<apex:selectList value="{!childSinglePicklistVal}" multiselect="false" size="1">
<apex:selectOptions value="{!childSinglePicklistOptions}" />
</apex:selectList>
</apex:outputPanel>
</apex:form>
</apex:page>
However, if this needs to be easily configurable, then you're looking at a custom object with a lookup relationship to itself. You can then query the dependencies and build the maps from them instead of hardcoding them. Just throwing some ideas out there, let's say this custom object uses a Name field for its value, a FieldDep__c field as a lookup to it's controlling value, and a WhichPicklist__c field to control which picklist it belongs to (for this I'll just say it's an integer with possible values of 1, 2, and 3).
public class someController {
public String[] parentPicklistVal {public get; public set;}
public String[] childMultiPicklistVal {public get; public set;}
public String childSinglePicklistVal {public get; public set;}
private Map<String, List<String>> parentDepMap;
private Map<String, List<String>> childDepMap;
public someController() {
FieldDep__c[] deps = [select id, name, fielddep__c, fielddep__r.name, whichpicklist__c from FieldDep__c order name asc];
// init the same maps that we used in the example above
parentDepMap = new Map<String, List<String>>();
childDepMap = new Map<String, List<String>>();
for ( FieldDep__c dep : deps ) {
if ( dep.whichpicklist__c == 1 ) {
// shouldn't really need to do anything here...
} else if ( dep.whichpicklist__c == 2 ) {
// add to the dependency map between the parent and child multi-select picklist
String parentVal = dep.fielddep__r.name;
if ( parentDepMap.containsKey(parentVal) )
parentDepMap.get(parentVal).add(dep.Name);
else
parentDepMap.put(parentVal, new String[]{dep.Name});
} else if (dep.whichpicklist__c == 3 ) {
// add to the dependency map between the child multi-select and child single-select picklist
String parentVal = dep.fielddep__r.name;
if ( childDepMap.containsKey(parentVal) )
childDepMap.get(parentVal).add(dep.Name);
else
childDepMap.put(parentVal, new String[]{dep.Name});
}
}
}
public List<SelectOption> getParentPicklistOptions() {
List<SelectOption> selectOpts = new List<SelectOption>();
String[] parentOpts = parentDepMap.keySet();
for ( String s : parentOpts )
selectOpts.add(new SelectOption(s, s));
return selectOpts;
}
public List<SelectOption> getChildMultiPicklistOptions() {
List<SelectOption> selectOpts = new List<SelectOption>();
if ( parentPicklistVal != null && parentPicklistVal.size() > 0 ) {
// build a set of values to avoid dupes, since there may be overlapping dependencies
Set<String> possibleOpts = new Set<String>();
for ( String val : parentPicklistVal )
possibleOpts.addAll(parentDepMap.get(val));
for ( String s : possibleOpts )
selectOpts.add(new SelectOption(s, s));
}
return selectOpts;
}
public List<SelectOption> getChildSinglePicklistOptions() {
List<SelectOption> selectOpts = new List<SelectOption>();
if ( childMultiPicklistVal != null && childMultiPicklistVal.size() > 0 ) {
// build a set of values to avoid dupes, since there may be overlapping dependencies
Set<String> possibleOpts = new Set<String>();
for ( String val : childMultiPicklistVal )
possibleOpts.addAll(childDepMap.get(val));
for ( String s : possibleOpts )
selectOpts.add(new SelectOption(s, s));
}
return selectOpts;
}
public PageReference actionUpdatePicklistVals() {
// this doesn't really need to do anything, since the picklists should be updated when their getters call after returning
return null;
}
}
You would then want to populate FieldDep__c records from the top down so that you can add a lookup to the controlling value for each record.
I hope I didn't go too overboard with this! If I get a chance sometime today I'll put this together in an org to see how valid my code works, but it sounded like you were just looking for a push in the right direction (although this answer may have been slightly more than that...)
As far as the database is concerned, the values were simply entered in the order they were created. What you've done is tell SF to change the order in which they're displayed in the GUI. That's why they query results will return the order in which they were created instead of the order in which you've told the GUI to display them. The query is simply querying the memory locations and not the GUI.
Best Answer
As you noted already, SalesForce imposes a limit on multi-picklist selection fields of 500 values. The overall limit (of 500 values) can technically be increased, but the selection limit of 100 values cannot (per this SF Help Article).
I would also take into consideration the limitations multi-selection picklist fields can impose on your organization. Please reference this article to see what I mean here. Although they may seem like a great idea in the short term, they can be a bit of a nightmare when it comes to flows/automation/reports you might want to set up in the future.
Your question does not mention if the application is internal or external and what the intent behind the field is, so it's difficult to provide a more specific answer. Some solutions I can think of are as follows:
If this answer was helpful, please select it as the best answer so it can be helpful to others. Happy SalesForcing!