Imported Lists and Drop-Down Menus

[Altstatten]

Is there a wildcard of some sort so that when importing a list, all of the variations in a field will be imported and not just the ones listed in the drop-down associated with that field?

[andopes]

Hi Phillip

I have never tried it before but I believe there is no way to do this.
When importing a dropdown/radion button field the Import functionality try to match the imported value to the available options.
So I suggest you to update the values of that field into file to be imported accordingly to dropdown list.
You can add new options if required.

Cheers

[Altstatten]

Sounds to me like there's two options.

1. If I have a jillion different variables in a field to be imported, then I have to input those jillion variables into my drop-down so the import will go smoothly, or...

2. Know enough about importing the db directly into the MySql file and avoid #1.

Yes?

And thanks for taking the time to answer my question. I appreciate it.

[mrmmm]

If you go with #2, you will have problems down the line. For example, when you try to edit a record whose dropdown value does not exist in the dropdown list, the value will automatically change to the "default" for that dropdown.

[roblaus]

mrmmm is right - it's the same. Non existing values don't show. But with a little bit of fiddling you should be able to put them into /custom/include/language/en_us.lang.php in the following format:

$GLOBALS['app_list_strings']['list_your_dropdown']=array (
'v1' => 'value1',
'v2' => 'value2',
);

Best would be to create the dropdown first the normal way with one value only and then extend it. The values you get from your existing list with a simple 'group by'

Hope that helps...

PS: don't forget that you have to import the 'v1' and not the 'value1' but they may be the same