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A dropdown lets a submitter pick from a controlled list of values. The list comes from a picklist you point the field at with picklist_id. The field stores the option code; the picklist owns the options themselves.

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When to use it

Use a dropdown when the valid values are a bounded, governed vocabulary that you want to control centrally:
  • Channels, mediums, regions, product lines, business units.
  • Any value you want consistent across every record so reports group cleanly.
  • Selections that should narrow based on an earlier choice (a cascade).
Don’t use a dropdown for free-form text. If submitters need to type an open value, use a Text field instead.
The list of options lives on a picklist, not on the field. Three picklist types feed a dropdown:

Static

A hand-authored list. Flat or hierarchical.

Hierarchical

Parent-to-child options for cascading dropdowns.

Automated

Options derived live from another taxonomy’s records.

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Settings reference

You set these on the field. picklist_id is required; everything else is optional. The required toggle lives on the field itself, not in these settings. The option list is closed: submitters pick from the picklist’s published options and cannot add values from inside a form. If the field’s values change too fast for a curated list, use a Text field with Suggest from past entries instead of a dropdown.

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Single vs. multiple

By default a dropdown takes one value. Turn on multiple to let submitters pick several. When multiple is on:
  • min_choices and max_choices bound how many they may select. Leave either blank for no bound.
  • The selected codes are joined with separator (a comma by default) when the value is stored.
  • default_value becomes a list of codes rather than a single code.
Multi-select works only with static, flat picklists. It is not available on hierarchical or automated picklists, or on any dropdown that sets depends_on.

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Conditional picklists

Sometimes the right list of options depends on what was entered elsewhere. Add one or more picklist rules to the field: each rule says “when this condition holds, use this picklist instead.” Terminus Hub evaluates the rules top to bottom and uses the first one that matches. If none match, it falls back to the field’s default picklist_id. For example, a sub_channel dropdown could show a “Paid sub-channels” list when channel is paid, and a “Organic sub-channels” list otherwise. You build these in the field’s settings under Picklist Rules; reorder them to control precedence.

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Example

In the Campaign URL Builder, utm_medium is a single-select dropdown over a static picklist of mediums (email, social, cpc):
A multi-select audiences dropdown that requires one to three picks looks like this:
When a submitter picks prospects and existing, the record stores prospects,existing.

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Gotchas

  • The dropdown stores the code, not the label. Reports and links use the option code. Keep codes stable; rename an option’s display label freely, but changing a code leaves existing records pointing at the old value.
  • Multi-select is narrow. multiple is rejected on hierarchical picklists, automated picklists, and any field that uses depends_on.
  • Conditional rules and cascades both filter. If a field has both picklist_rules and depends_on, both narrow the options at once, so an over-tight combination can leave a submitter with nothing to choose.
  • Submitters cannot add values. A dropdown only ever accepts its picklist’s published options; there is no setting that lets a submitter type a new one. When free entry is the right shape, make the field a Text field with Suggest from past entries. See Letting submitters enter new values.