Timing issue: Autocomplete vs. Cascade

[BenR]

Alexander,

I have a nearly working solution, with one last step failing…

I have a two field Cascade, Tier-1: LOB, Tier-2: SubLOB. This is working fine.

I also have Autocomplete, that upon selection, populates (setFields) both fields of the above Cascade, LOB and SubLOB – and this is where the problem lies. The Tier-1 LOB successfully populates every time, but the Tier-2 SubLOB does not. However, if I perform the Autocomplete a second time – the Tier-2 SubLOB is successfully populated.

I think this is a subtle timing issue… It appears to me that the Tier-2 SubLOB field is not ready to receive the data from Autocomplete until Cascade sees the value in Tier-1 LOB. I’ve tried to turn off all options in Cascade to hopefully allow it to run faster (turned off Hide, Autofill, and Clear), but with no success.

Here are the steps I take to fill the form with Autocomplete:

1. From NewForm, I see that Cascade fields are shrunk in size as they are not yet populated (see image Step-1 below)
2. Use Autocomplete, make Autocomplete selection – this will populate Tier-1 LOB field, but not Tier-2 SubLOB field (see image Step-2 below)
3. Reperform Autocomplete – this time, Tier-2 SubLOB field is populated (see image Step-3 below)

I realize that Autocomplete and Cascade may not be intended to used together, but is there a work-around possible to accomplish my objective?

As always, I appreciate your support and efforts!

R’grds – Ben.
Reference:
Version information

DFFS Loader: v2
DFFS frontend: 4.4.4.10 – September 20, 2019
DFFS frontend CSS: 4.51 / 4.51
Autocomplete: 1.6.37 – September 04, 2019
Cascading dropdowns: 3.7.30 – July 21, 2019
jQuery: 1.12.4
Lookup: 1.1.17 – July 21, 2019
Resource management: 2.4.5 – August 29, 2019
SPJS-Utility: 1.337 – September 04, 2019
vLookup: 2.2.138 – September 04, 2019

Attachments:

1. 

   Step-1.png
   

2. 

   Step-2.png
   

3. 

   Step-3.png
   

[Alexander Bautz]

This is happening because when you set the first level casc it does a query to fetch the next level, but if you try setting both at the same time your second level casc will not find a valid option for the value you are trying to set.

This might need some more custom code to work, but have a look at this newly added feature (you must update to v3.7.31 / DFFS v4.4.4.13 to use it): https://spjsblog.com/dffs/dffs-plugins/spjs-cascading-dropdowns/#Callback_function_when_select_is_filled

See if you can use this somehow to make it work.

Alexander

[BenR]

Alexander,

Yes – I believe your suggested Callback function will do the trick… However, I do need additional guidance.

I have created an additional field, TemporarySubLOB, to capture the AutoComplete Tier-2:SubLOB value via setFields. When the Tier-2:SubLOB field is ready, I would like to move the value of TemporarySubLOB to it.

// Set value to Cascade to address timing of Tier-2 (SubLOB)
function spjs_casc_ready(id, readyFIN, index) {
    var config = spjs.casc.data[id];
    var filterValue = getFieldValue(config.thisListFields[(index - 1) > - 1 ? (index - 1) : index]);
    // Add your custom code here - like this example
    if (readyFIN === "SubLOB") {
        setFieldValue("SubLOB", "TemporarySubLOB");
    }
};

Do I just add the suggested function to Custom JS, or do I have to invoke it from a Rule? If I invoke it from a Rule, what parameters do I pass? I don’t see a id or index value in the Cascade debug information.

As always, I really appreciate your support and efforts!

R’grds – Ben.

[BenR]

Alexander,

Oh duh! Your suggestion took very little to get working – though my poor scripting skills slowed me down.

The solution as you suggested worked perfectly! Thank you so much!

R’grds – Ben.

[Alexander Bautz]

I’m glad you got it working.

Alexander

[Author]

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