Add a Choice Column Using a Table Lookup

A common real-world scenario is the need to create a new choice column in a form. There are several different methods to achieve this, but the method described here ties together much of the content noted in other customization articles and is relatively easy to maintain. The scenario noted below uses the example of adding a new Building choice column to a Project form; you can substitute in your own specific requirements as necessary.

1. In the unmanaged solution in your dev environment that you use for customizations:
   1. Create a new table named Building.
      
   2. Add the existing out of the box Project table to the solution, if it's not already present.
      
   3. In the Project table add new Lookup column Building and configure it to do a lookup to the Building table. Save the modified table.
      
   4. If in the Project table's Forms component you do not yet have a custom Project form of your own, make a copy of an out of the box project form by loading it and using Save as, and then name the new form as desired. If this is a new form, be sure to follow all the new form instructions found in the Customize Forms article.
      
   5. In your custom Project form add the Building table lookup column by choosing the + Form field option in the menu, and place it in the desired location. Save, publish and close the modified form. See also Customize Forms.
      
   6. To make it easy for users in the future to update the list of choices available in the Building column, you can create a navigation link to the Building table by modifying the app site map:
      1. Load the BrightWork 365 site map.
         
      2. Choose the section Admin | Other and click + Add | Subarea.
         
      3. In the Properties configuration section for the new Subarea, set the Entity value to Buildings.
      4. Publish, save and close the site map.
   7. Load the BrightWork 365 app in your development environment and switch to the Admin area.
   8. Click Buildings in the left navigation pane and add desired building choices using + New.
   9. Load a project that was created from a template that is configured to use your custom Project form.
      
   10. In the chosen project click into the Building column, choose a Building choice and save the changes.
       
   11. After your testing has completed successfully you can proceed to port the changes over to your production environment as outlined in the article Customization Intro & Recommendations.