List Boxes

Designing the Graphical User Interface › Guidelines for Window and Dialog Box Design › List Boxes

List Boxes

A list box is a control that enables the display of a series of attribute values as a list. The user may select from the list and, optionally, enter new values in the list.

List boxes are used on windows and dialog boxes.

Note: A CA Gen-generated application automatically handles vertical and horizontal scrolling on list boxes.

You can specify the following for list boxes:

Import and export views, which must be group views.
Whether a user can select more than one entry at a time.
Attributes and field prompts.
Attribute that may be used as a selection indicator, which is flagged so that procedure logic can detect the entry in a list that has been highlighted by the user.

List Box Type	Possible Attribute Views	When to Use
Non-enterable list box (the default)	Several	The user will always need to see the list. There are multiple columns in the list. Multiple selections are desirable.
Non-enterable drop-down list	Only one	Space is limited. A list is rarely viewed (the default value displayed is usually accepted). A single choice is selected. While drop down lists can save space, too many of them on the same window can become hard for the user to navigate. Note: If there are fewer than 6 possible values, consider using radio buttons instead of a list box (see the Designing Radio Buttons section in this chapter).
Enterable list box	Only one	Data entry and list selection are allowed. Display as a drop-down or already dropped down if space is available.
Enterable drop-down	Only one	Data entry only is allowed.

More information:

About Scroll Bars