Attached Data

Simple items are composed of a value and a label. However many user interfaces need access to a richer set of data for items, either for higher fidelity result displays or to process the selected item without having to perform another round trip to the server.

Attached data for Fixed Items

When defining your items as an array you can pass a third item in the array, itself another key/value pair array of the attached data:

$dropDown->setSelectionItems([
    [1, 'John', ['Forename' => 'John', 'Surname' => 'Smith', 'Age' => 23]],
    [2, 'Jane', ['Forename' => 'Jane', 'Surname' => 'Doe', 'Age' => 33]],
    [3, 'Clover', ['Forename' => 'Clover', 'Surname' => 'Daniels', 'Age' => 43]]
]);

The attached data is json encoded and attached to the relevant HTML element as an extra attribute.

Attached data for Collections

Data is automatically attached to items created from a collection if those properties are named in the Model's "PublicPropertyList". This is a fail safe to stop accidentally leaking secure data into the view despite it not being 'visible' to end users.

class Contact extends Model
{
    protected function getPublicPropertyList()
    {
        $list = parent::getPublicPropertyList();
        $list[] = 'FirstName';
        $list[] = 'Surname';

        return $list;
    }
}

The model's UniqueIdentifier and label column name are public by default.

Using the attached data

Like any control a selection control has a getValue() function that returns the value of the selected item. To get the attached data you need access to the full item structure. Use getSelectedItems() to fetch the full list of selected items and from there you can simply access the data:

var items = this.findChildViewBridge('customer').getSelectedItems();
if (items.length > 0){
    alert(items[0].data.FirstName);
}