<dropDownList> (Drop-Down List Structured Document Tag)

This element specifies that the parent structured document tag shall be a drop-down list when displayed in the document.

This setting specifies that the behavior for this structured document tag shall be as follows:

  • The contents shall not be editable when displayed by a hosting application regardless of the locking settings

  • The child elements of this element specify choices which shall be displayed in a standard drop-down list format

As well, the structured document tag must satisfy the following restraints or the document shall be considered invalid:

  • The contents shall only be contain a single run (one set of formatting properties)

  • The contents shall not contain more than a single paragraph or table cell and shall not contain a table row or table

example: 
<w:sdt>
  <w:sdtPr>
    …
    <w:dropDownList>
      …
    </w:dropDownList>
  </w:sdtPr>
  …
</w:sdt>

The <dropDownList> element in this structured document tag's properties specify that the type of structured document tag is a drop-down list. ]

Parent Elements

<sdtPr> (§2.5.2.37)

Child Elements

Subclause

<listItem> (Drop-Down List Item)

§2.5.2.21

Attributes

Description

<lastValue> (Drop-down List Last Saved Value)

Specifies the value associated with the current display text for the drop-down list structured document tag.

If this structured document tag is not mapped to XML using the <dataBinding> element (§2.5.2.6), then this attribute shall be ignored. If this structured document tag is mapped to XML, it shall be used to determine whether the current display text in the combo box structured document tag shall be retained when the document is opened, as follows:

  • When the XML mapping is created, the content in the custom XML data is retrieved

  • If this content has an associated list item (matching its @value attribute), then the corresponding display text shall be displayed in the structured document tag

  • If no list item exists, this content shall be matched against the @lastValue attribute value. If the values match, the current display text shall be retained. If the values do not match, the current custom XML data content shall be the new display text (since no match exists in the combo box list items)

<w:sdt>
  <w:sdtPr>
    <w:dataBinding … />
    <w:dropDownList w:lastValue="2"/>
  </w:sdtPr>
  <w:sdtContent>
    <w:r>
      <w:t>Hello world</w:t>
    </w:r>
  </w:sdtContent>
</w:sdt>

The current run content of the structured document tag reads Hello world. When this document is opened, if the current value of the associated custom XML data is 2, the matching @lastValue attribute specifies that the contents of the combo box shall continue to be the current display text of the combo boxeven though there is no <listItem> whose @value is 2 (and normally, the content of the structured document tag would be set to 2. Essentially, this attribute specifies a <listItem> whose @value is 2 and whose @displayText is Hello world (the current structured document tag contents). ]

The possible values for this attribute are defined by the ST_String simple type (§2.18.89).

The following XML Schema fragment defines the contents of this element:

<complexType name="CT_SdtDropDownList">
	<sequence>
	<element name="listItem" type="CT_SdtListItem" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded"/>
	</sequence>
	<attribute name="lastValue" type="ST_String" use="optional"/>
</complexType>