Server Administration > Item Fields > Creating Fields > Item Backed Picklist Fields (IBPL)
 
Item Backed Picklist Fields (IBPL)
An item backed picklist field displays the values of one or more fields from another item type as picklist values. The item type that the values are based on is known as the backing item type. Whenever a value in one of the fields is updated in a backing item, all items with IBPL fields that reference that value are updated to reflect the new value.
For example, if you create an IBPL field named Documentation on the Defect item type, backed by the ID field on the Documentation item type, ID field values in all Documentation items appear as pick text in the Documentation IBPL field in Defect items. If you wanted to show more information in the pick text, the Documentation field could be backed by the Project and Summary field as well as the ID field. The values from these fields would be combined to form more descriptive picklist values.
Only values from active backing items are displayed in IBPL fields. You determine the criteria for active items by specifying the active states, and by defining a filter for any additional criteria that you require. The item type, active states, and additional filter criteria are used together to filter the values that appear in the IBPL field.
If a selected picklist value becomes inactive, it still displays in the IBPL field, unless you edit that field.
Note the following:
• The name of the IBPL field cannot be the same as the referenced field in the backing item type.
• If a new or existing IBPL field is multi-valued, it cannot be used as a relationship for a Field Value Attribute (FVA) field. When creating an FVA field, the IBPL field does not appear in the relationship field.
Item Backed Picklist Fields: Values Tab
Field
Description
Display As Link
Displays the value selected in the IBPL as a hyperlink to the backing item.
Allow Multiple Values
Allow users to select more than one item in the IBPL field.
Backing Type
Item type containing the short text field you want to reference
Item Identifier
The field or fields in the backing item type that you want to use as pick text.
For a single field, select the field name from the dropdown list and click Insert Field to add it to the Item Identifier field.
For multiple fields, type the field names in the Item Identifier field, surrounding each with "{" and "}". For example: {ID}:{Project}/{Summary}. Make sure you specify actual names of fields not their display names.
You cannot specify the following types of field:
• computed fields
• field value attribute
• item backed picklist fields
• relationship fields
• attachment fields
Active States
States used to populate the IBPL with backing items. Populating an IBPL with backing items in specific states essentially allows you to deactivate entries in an IBPL. For example, if an Employee item contains an Active and Inactive state, and you select Active as the Active States, only Employee items in a state of Active display as pick text in the IBPL field.
Enable Field Sort
Specifies a visible field on the backing item type to sort by in the IBPL. For example, if an IBPL field uses a Build item as the backing item type, you could display the most recent build from the Build Number field at the top of the IBPL field. If the Enable Field Sort option is disabled, field values in the IBPL are sorted alphanumerically.
From the Sort Field list, select a field to sort by and then choose a Sort Direction (Ascending or Descending).
Note the following:
• The following field types on the backing item type are not available for sorting: type, attachment, IBPL, FVA, QBR, range, relationship, source link, and SI project fields.
• If a field is currently specified as the sorting field and you choose to configure that field as invisible in the item type, a warning message notifies you that this will affect the sort order, allowing you to save or cancel the change. Saving your changes causes field values in the IBPL to be sorted alphanumerically.
Filter
Filter values from the backing items based on specific criteria. The filter is defined the same way as a query filter. For information on how to define a filter, see the User documentation.
* 
This filter is applied in addition to the filtering provided by the Backing Type and Active States options.