Many fields have drop list controls. Examples include name prefixes and suffixes. units of measure in test results, frequency in medications, Religion in Basic Information, and many more. Most have an ellipsis selection to support user-supplied values. In some cases, the user-supplied value becomes a valid entry in the list as long as there is a record using that value, as is the case for Religion. In other lists, the user-supplied values do not show up, despite there being records that use the user-supplied value. Name suffix is one of those. Example: I deal with a nurse practitioner who has the post-nomial FNP after her name and I added her to my Contacts. Having added her and supplied the FNP designation as a user-specified name suffix, if I go to add another nurse practitioner with that designation, it isn't in the list and I have to supply it again.
I see in the forum where you want to add support for "remembering" the user-specified values on a case-by-case basis. Might it not be better to assume that, if a user specified a value that does not already appear in the list, chances are that it may be needed again? Make remembering user-specified values the norm for all drop lists, rather than the exception?
- Tom
You have the power to give life.