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Mapping to Drop-down Values in CollectiveAccess

There are several instances when creating an import mapping spreadsheet where a value in the source data will be mapped to a drop-down list in CollectiveAccess. These fields look like:

A screenshot of a drop-down list in collectiveaccess. This one is called 'Acquisition Mode' and you can see the default value of 'not set'
An example of an Acqusition Mode field in CollectiveAccess that contains a drop-down menu of associated, set values.
A screenshot of a container called 'container' with 3 fields: condition status, evaluation date and condition description. The condition status field is a drop-down list showing the default value of 'not set'
An example of a Condition Container in CollectiveAccess that contains a drop-down menu of associated, set values for Condition Status.

While the drop-down lists, when selected, are displayed:

A screenshot of the condition status drop-down with options: 'excellent', very good', 'good', 'fair' and 'poor'
Values in the Condition drop-down list.

Not all CollectiveAccess systems will have metadata fields that contain drop-down values (these can be configured in the Installation Profile. Examples of fields that may have drop-down lists available include condition, acquisition mode, and other fields that have a set list of values to choose from.

Drop-down value lists will have a set number of options to choose from that may describe condition or other variable descriptors about an object or item. These options will be listed in Lists and Vocabularies.

The field containing the drop-down values will have its own CA table.element code, that will be mapped in Column 3 of the import mapping spreadsheet (see Creating an Import Mapping: Overview).

If all values are the same for the field, set the Rule Type in Column 1 to Constant, and place the value from the drop-down in Column 2 of the import mapping spreadsheet:

A screenshot that shows an example of a constant value, setting condition status to 'good' for all records

The Condition Drop-Down List​

Condition is a common example of a field that contains a drop-down list, with multiple, set descriptors. These values are pre-determined in the system itself and will vary depending on system configuration.

Source Data containing condition values might look like:

A screenshot snippet of a source spreadsheet showing record condition statuses. The three records have the condition statues of 'good', 'fair', 'poor'

To find the appropriate CA table.element code for the Condition field in CollectiveAccess, follow the steps outlined in Creating an Import Mapping: Overview.

Mapping for the condition column would look like:

A screenshot of snippet showing one row for a mapping rule to condition value

Where the source column is 3, and the CA table.element is ca_objects.condition_description.condition_value taken from the bundle code for the Condition Status field.

A separate mapping for each value in the drop-down list is not required, nor is using a Constant value. If the values match those listed in CollectiveAccess, mapping to the correct CA table.element will automatically populate the drop-down list with the appropriate values.

As noted above, the field for Condition in CollectiveAccess is formatted as a Container, meaning that each element within the Container has a distinct bundle code for which to map source data (see below). For more about Containers, see Containers.

In the mapping, the bundle code for the Condition Status is used, which contains the drop-down list.

Drop-down values are present in Lists and Vocabularies. To find the above values for Condition, for example, navigate to Manage > Lists and Vocabularies > Condition:

A screenshot showing the lists and vocabularies hierarchy screen, with the list the condition status is generated from

Where the values listed match those in the Condition field drop-down list.

The above example with the Condition field assumes that the values in the source data match those given in the CollectiveAccess field. However, if certain values do not match those in CollectiveAccess, using Original and Replacement Values should be used in an import mapping spreadsheet to create matches between source data values and set drop-down list values.