You can restore a selector for an AutoForm single link by choosing an AutoForm control that matches the target class; use this page when the ... open-link button and Set button are missing.
Symptoms
In an AutoForm, a single link normally lets the user inspect, find, or assign the linked object. If the link is rendered without the expected ... open-link button and Set button, check the link's AutoForm settings before changing the layout or button styling.
This issue is caused by an incompatible control choice: the link is configured as SearchAndPick, while its target class uses the ValueStorePattern.
Why the buttons are missing
SearchAndPick requires a Seeker to find objects that can be assigned to the link. A class using ValueStorePattern does not provide the Seeker required by this control choice. MDriven therefore has no Seeker to open, and the AutoForm cannot render the expected open-link and set controls.
Use Combobox for this combination instead.
| Link AutoForm setting | Use it when | Result for a ValueStorePattern target |
|---|---|---|
| SearchAndPick | The user must search for an existing object through a Seeker. | Incompatible when no Seeker is available; the ... and Set controls are absent. |
| Combobox | The user selects one existing object from a suitable list. | Appropriate for a ValueStorePattern target. |
Fix the link configuration
- Open the AutoForm configuration for the affected single link.
- Find the link's AutoForm control setting.
- If it is set to SearchAndPick and the link target class uses ValueStorePattern, change the setting to Combobox.
- Save the model.
- Run the AutoForm again and verify that the user can select a value for the single link.
Example: selecting an audience
Assume a LinkedInPost has one Audience link. If Audience is maintained as a value store, configure the post's single link as a Combobox. The user can then choose an existing audience value when creating or editing a post.
A combo box is intended for a bounded set of choices. For example, a list of cars can be presented as a combo box when all available cars are suitable choices and the list is small. In a training example, the picker list contains all car instances and one column supplies the text shown for each list item. Lists of roughly 100â200 items can become inconvenient to scroll; use a different selection strategy when the candidate set is larger.
Related AutoForm behavior
AutoForms generate views from the model and can be regenerated. Changes made directly to a generated AutoForm can be replaced when AutoForms are refreshed. If you need to retain view changes, adopt the AutoForm before making those changes; see Training:Bootcamp:Chapter 3.
The missing controls described here are not a visual styling problem. Use Documentation:Formatting and Styling Buttons only when you need to format buttons that are already rendered.