Link controls to reference data

What you'll be learning:

  • how to link displayed controls and their values to reference data, so that they automatically update when the data changes

  • how to make the reference data accessible and editable to Editor-level users of the Backoffice website

This is a good time to recap what you've accomplished so far:

  1. you created a battery of segmented buttons to ask the user if a variety of car parts are operational

  2. you grouped the car parts-related controls into popup panels for a neat and well-organized look

  3. your form notifies the user if he or she tries to submit the form without input in the segmented buttons

Now, you'll make your form ready for change.

It's kind of a drag to have to manually enter the names of the car parts in the segmentedbutton controls in your form. If the number or names of the car parts you want to show changes, you don't want to have to come back to the form again. You want your form to update automatically.

You can use the data-binding concept and technique you've mastered to do this - the only difference being that this time you bind the form elements to a reference table that lists the relevant car parts, instead of other form elements.

This is a typical set-and-forget operation - once the link is established, you'll never have to touch the source code again to keep the data up-to-date. Whenever the data in the reference table that your bind to changes, the linked controls and values in the form will display the new values the next time the form is opened. A server-side workflow script triggered by a form submission, a webform submission, or an incoming integration message, as well as a human administrator at Rocky Jupiter can modify the list of car parts, and popups and segmented buttons displayed in the form will change accordingly.