Curriculum: Reference types (dropdowns)

A reference type is an option list that you define yourself, for example a list of teaching languages, delivery modes or project types. Once a reference type exists, it can be used in a custom field so that users pick a value from a dropdown instead of typing free text.

This guide creates the reference type Teaching language with four values. That is the list used for the Teaching language field in Custom types and fields. Create the reference type first, then the field that uses it.

Go to Administration -> Objects -> Reference types. The page is described as: Create and configure option lists, such as literature, project types, or employee types. These reference types can be used in custom fields.

The overview lists all reference types with their External ID, Code and Name, for example closureType, competences, country, deliveryModes, ft-pt, level, locations, modeOfStudy and yes/no.

• Use the search box to filter the list.
• Click + Add to create a new reference type.
• Use the page-size options (5 / 10 / 25 / 50 / 250) at the bottom to show more rows.

Reference types are lists you create yourself. Lists that the system itself relies on are Elements (Administration -> Objects -> Elements).

1. On the Reference types page, click + Add. The dialog Add new reference type opens.
2. Fill in the External ID, for example teachingLanguage.
3. Fill in the Code (required), for example teachingLanguage.
4. Fill in the Name per language (EN / NL / SV), for example EN Teaching language.
5. Click Save. The message The data has been saved appears and the new type is added to the overview.

Click the new reference type to open it. The detail page has three tabs: Type, Fields and Lists. The Type tab shows the External ID, Code and Name, a Used in fields section, and a table of the values in the list. The table is empty at first (No results found).

To add a value:

1. Click + Add above the values table. The dialog Add reference opens.
2. Fill in the External ID, the Code (required) and the Name per language, for example English for all three.
3. Optionally fill in the other settings (see the table below).
4. Click Save.

Repeat this for every value, for example English, Dutch, Swedish and French. The table shows each value with its Code, Name, Sequence, Default selected, Active, Start date and End date.

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Conditional lists

The Lists tab is for conditional lists: subsets of the values (Reference lists with a Name, Sequence and Condition, plus the Items they contain).

Create a custom field with value type Reference and select this reference type as its Subtype. Users then see the values as a dropdown on the object.

Step-by-step instructions are in Curriculum: Custom types and fields.

For longer lists, values can be imported instead of added one by one.

1. Go to Administration -> System -> Import CSV. Uploads can apply historic changes, so use this with caution and test in a test environment first.
2. Set Type to REFERENCE. Separator (,) and Quote (") are filled in by default.
3. Select the CSV file and upload it.

Once the type is selected, the page shows the documentation for the CSV columns:

Custom values can be added to the default CSV configuration, with the column header containing the unique name of the custom type.