Working With Field Dependencies

Field dependencies enable you to control the values that are available for a field based on the selection users make for a different field.

For example, you can limit the values in an Employee field when users make a selection in a Manager field. In this example, when users select a manager, the values in the Employee field are limited to the manager's employees.

Each dependency is made up of an independent field and one or more dependent fields. In the example above, the Manager field is the independent field, and the Employee field is the dependent field because its values are dependent on the value selected in the independent field.

Field dependencies are defined in SBM Composer, but depending on the independent field type, some configuration may be required in Application Administrator. For auxiliary tables, some field dependency configuration tasks must be completed in SBM System Administrator.

The following tutorials explain the steps for defining and configuring each type of field dependency:

Dependency Field Types

The following table lists the available independent field types and the field types that allow dependencies.

Independent Field Types	Allowable Dependent Field Types	How to Configure
Single Selection field	Single Selection, Multi-Selection, Multi-Group, Multi-User, and User fields	Define the dependency in SBM Composer. Single Selection and Multi-Selection fields — Configure dependent field values in SBM Composer. User, Multi-User, and Multi-Group fields — Configure dependent values for projects in Application Administrator. Configure dependent values for auxiliary tables in SBM System Administrator. Override dependent field values for projects in Application Administrator. For details, refer to Overriding Dependent Selections for Single Selection Fields in Projects.
Single Relational field	Single Relational and Multi-Relational fields	Define the dependency in SBM Composer. Use the Manage Data feature in Application Administratorin to add items to relational field auxiliary tables. For an example, refer to Relational Field Dependencies Tutorial.
User field	Single Selection, Multi-Selection, Multi-Group, Multi-User, and User fields	Define the dependency in SBM Composer. Configure dependent values for projects in Application Administrator. For details, refer to Configuring User Field Dependencies. Configure dependent field values for auxiliary table fields in SBM System Administrator. Override dependent field values for projects in Application Administrator.