Creating Hierarchical Custom Data Fields (Admin)

In Actionstep, you can create custom data fields that are dependent on the values of other fields, often referred to as hierarchical or parent/child fields. This is particularly useful for creating conditional data collections where the options available in one field depend on the selection made in another field. In other words, you can limit the options available in a child drop-down field based on a prior selection in a parent drop-down field. 

For example, let's say you have a drop-down field for Country, and based on the answer selected, you want to display a child dropdown field that lists the States/Provinces for the selected country. You can create and then edit your custom data fields so that the State/Province options are filtered based on the selected Country, like this:

To create parent/child custom data fields:

1. Create a new data collection (as described in Creating a Data Collection for a Matter (Admin)).
2. In the Fields section of the New Data Collection window, add the parent field by clicking Add row. An empty row of fields appears. 
3. Add rows for both the parent and child data fields. Make sure you set the Data Type to Dropdown list.
4. Complete the rest of fields in the New Data Collection window as needed and click Save when you're finished. You are returned to the Matter data page. 
5. Click Fields for the data collection you just created.  The Data Collection Fields page appears.
6. Click Edit for the parent-level field. The Edit data collection field window appears.
7. In the Dropdown choices section, click Add Row and add the options you want users to choose from. For example, if you are editing a Country field, you might enter the different countries' names. 
   TIP:  Keep track of the values you enter here as you will need to re-enter them when setting up your child fields.
8. Complete any other fields and click Save when you're finished. 
9. On the Data Collection Fields page, click Edit for the child-level field.
10. In the Dropdown choices section, click the Parent dropdown field drop-down list and choose the parent field. 
11. In the same section, click Add row and add the options you want users to choose from. 
12. For each option, enter the parent choice the child option applies to. For example, if the choices for the parent field of Country are USA, Canada, and Australia, you would enter USA, Canada, or Australia as the Parent Stored Value for each city or province you enter. 
13. When you're finished making changes to the data collection fields, click Save. 

Now, when a user is completing the custom data collection for a matter, whatever option they select from the parent field will determine what choices are available in the child field.