Drop-down lists in developer mode

When you generate the product, drop-down lists defined in the product become typelists in PolicyCenter.

Developer mode gives you added abilities with drop-down lists. For each drop-down list, you must specify the typelist name in the Typelist (*PD) field. In addition, you can specify that a drop-down list uses a typelist already defined in PolicyCenter.

PolicyCenter includes general purpose typelists such as Country, Jurisdiction, and Currency. PolicyCenter also includes typelists defined in generated products.

Important: Developer mode gives you the ability to make system-wide changes to typelists. Be careful when making changes. You changes affect visualized and generated products and PolicyCenter features that use these lists.

Drop-Down Definition

In Developer mode, the Drop-Down Definition popup for a drop-down list includes Typelist (*PD) and Typelist Rebuild State fields.
Field Description
Owning Attribute of shared code lists

If you are defining the drop-down list here, set to <none>.

To use a drop-down list defined elsewhere in the product, select one of the available lists. Displays all drop-down lists defined in the current product.

The lists are identified by Label and Typelist (*PD) separated by a colon (:).

If a list does not have Typelist (*PD) defined, it does not appear as a choice.
Typelist (*PD) The short name of the typelist that will be generated into the product.

This field appears if Owning Attribute of shared code lists is <none>.

To use a typelist already defined in PolicyCenter, enter the name of the typelist. The Sync button appears. Press Sync to synchronize and retrieve the typelist values.
Typelist Rebuild State

Rebuild – The typelist is rebuilt when you generate the product. Rebuild is the default if you make no selection.

Do Not Rebuild – Changes that you make to the typelist are not generated into the product.

If this product owns or maintains the typelist, then you want to rebuild changes into the typelist. If the typelist is owned or maintained by another product or by the application, then you do not want to rebuild.

This field is visible when Owning Attribute of shared code lists is <none>.
Add and Remove Add or remove values from the typelist.

Whether to rebuild typelists

In Developer mode, you can specify whether or not changes to drop-down lists are saved to the corresponding typelist in the generated product. You specify this in Typelist Rebuild State on the Drop-Down Definition popup.

In Advanced Product Designer, you can add or delete items from a typelist. If you choose to rebuild the typelist, when you generate the product, the typelist is rebuilt and reflects the changes you made. Therefore, your changes affect all visualized and generated products and PolicyCenter features that use this typelist.

For each typelist, determine where it will be owned and maintained, and have a single owner. Then set the rebuild state in accordance with your decision. Rebuild is the default if you make no selection.

Rebuild

If this product owns or maintains the typelist, then you want to rebuild the typelist, and update the system with your changes. Set Typelist Rebuild State to Rebuild.

A drop-down list owns and maintains the typelist if it defines the drop-down list. For example, a cell phone insurance product defines a Brand drop-down list. You want the product to own the drop-down list and be responsible for its contents. Therefore, you want to rebuild the typelist when the product is generated. You can set Typelist Rebuild State to Rebuild, or not specify a value since the default is to rebuild.

A drop-down list within a product maintains the typelist if the product is responsible for making changes to the typelist. For example, you create a drop-down list and sync it to a typelist in PolicyCenter. For business reasons, you decide that the product maintains this list. In this case, you want to rebuild the typelist when you generate the product.

Do not rebuild

If the typelist is owned or maintained by another product or by the application, do not rebuild. Set Typelist Rebuild State to Do Not Rebuild.

For example, you create a drop-down list and sync it to the Jurisdiction typelist. This typelist is used by various products and features in PolicyCenter. Therefore, you have decided that system administrators maintain this typelist. Drop-down lists within products can sync to this typelist, but you do not want them to make any changes. Therefore, you set Typelist Rebuild State to Do Not Rebuild.

Linking drop-down lists that reference other lists

In a mind map, drop-down lists can reference drop-down lists defined in the current product or reference drop-down lists that are typelists in PolicyCenter.

After importing a mind map, drop-down lists that get their values from other lists must be linked to those lists.

Set owning attribute for drop-down list

In a mind map, a drop-down list references a list that is defined by another attribute on the product. In the visualized product, set the owning attribute.

Before you begin

Set Product Design Mode to Developer.

About this task

If a list in the mind map references another drop-down list defined in the current product, the list is created in the visualized product, but has no list items. In the visualized product, the list has the same name as in the mind map. To establish this relationship to the other owning drop-down list, you must set the owning attribute in the Drop-Down Definition screen.

For example, in the following mind map, the Home Type drop-down list is defined on the Home Insurance product line. The Valuables risk object includes a drop-down list that references this list.
Home Insurance product line with Home Type drop-down, Jurisdiction drop-down, and Valuables risk object with Home Type drop-down. Home Type drop-down on the product line has text items Cabin, Duplex, and Townhouse. Jurisdiction and the second occurrence of Home Type have no subtopics.

Procedure

  1. In Product Definition, go to the Fields tab that contains the drop-down list.
    In this example, go to the Fields tab on the Valuables risk object.
  2. In the drop-down list, click Definition to display the Drop-Down Definition popup.
  3. In Owning Attribute of shared code lists, select the name of the owning list.
    Select Home Type : HomeType.
    The list items appear below.

Link drop-down list to PolicyCenter typelist

In the mind map, you created a drop-down list that gets its values from a PolicyCenter typelist. In the visualized product, link the drop-down list to the typelist.

Before you begin

Set Product Design Mode to Developer.

About this task

If a drop-down list in the mind map references a typelist in PolicyCenter, the typelist name is prepended with the product line abbreviation in the visualized product. For example, you have a mind map where the product line label is HOM-HomeInsurance (<Abbreviation>-<Identifier>). This product includes a Jurisdiction drop-down list. In the visualized product, the typelist name becomes HOMJurisdiction. To link this list to the typelist, you must update the drop-down list.

Procedure

  1. In Product Definition for the product, go to the Fields tab that contains the drop-down list.
  2. In the drop-down list, click Definition to display the Drop-Down Definition popup.
    In this example, the drop-down list is Jurisdiction.
  3. In Typelist (*PD), remove the abbreviation from the name.
    For example, remove HOM from HOMJurisdiction.
    If the name of the typelist matches one in PolicyCenter, the Sync button appears.
  4. Click Sync to retrieve the typelist values.