What is the difference between a "Select..." button and a "Suggest..." button?

Grand Avenue uses three different controls that allow users to fill a field with values selected from a list:

Below is an example page that uses these three types of controls.

Examples of Ways to Fill a Field

Valid Value List

The purpose of this button is to allow users select from a static list of values (e.g., Yes, No).

Select Button

The purpose of this button is to allow users to select from a list of values dynamically generated from other items in the database.

Clicking the “Select…” button allows you to enter search criteria and look up information stored on items such as Users, Customers, Parts, or Suppliers. You must select one value from the resulting list.

Example: When creating a new Issue, clicking the “Select…” button on the Customer Name/ID field allows users to enter search criteria for customers and, from the search results, displays the list of all possible Customer Name/ID field values. The customer must be selected from this list.

Suggest Button

The purpose of this button is to aid in filling fields where the entries are not limited to a specific set of values.

Clicking the “Suggest…” button searches for all existing values of the selected field on the same type of item. Users may choose from the dynamically generated list of suggestions or enter their own text.

Example: When creating a new Issue, clicking “Suggest…” button on the Customer Contact field displays the values in the Customer Contact field on all existing Issues. You may select from the list of previously used contacts or enter a new Customer Contact.

Because the list of values displayed when the “Suggest…” button is clicked is dynamically generated from the values on existing items, the contents of the list cannot be cleared as one could do with values stored in a cache.