Input dropdown

Input dropdowns are a Studio component that let app users choose a value from a predefined list, then use that selection to dynamically update what’s displayed in the app. Input dropdowns work well for self-service apps, especially when you want users to view data from different time periods (e.g., “Last 30 Days”, “Quarter 1”), business entities (e.g., company code, plant, customer), and categories (e.g., product type, process variant).

In this benchmarking app example, an input dropdown with manual inputs has been configured to allow the user to select the dimension to benchmark:

Benefits of using input dropdowns in Views

Adding input dropdowns to your Views offers a number of benefits, including:

Guided user interaction: Help your users make consistent, valid selections by limiting choices to a predefined list. This also reduces human error, such as typos or incorrect entries.
Dynamic filtering: Makes dashboards more interactive without requiring users to navigate multiple Views, allowing them to select values from a list that then updates the same View.
Faster decision-making: By letting users toggle between scenarios (e.g., specific regions, time periods, process variants), input dropdowns speed up data analysis.
Consistency across Views: You can reuse input dropdowns with View Modules, ensuring that filtering and selections behave the same between Views.

Configuring input dropdowns

You can configure an input dropdown by dragging and dropping the component into your View. You then have the following configuration options:

Input type: Choose how the values are generated in your input dropdown, selecting from loading items or manual input:
- Load items: Dropdown items are added based on your selection in the PQL editor. From the editor, you can select the column to create the dropdown items. See: Example - Input dropdowns with loaded inputs.
- Manual input: Dropdown items are selected from existing attributes and metrics or entered as free form text. See: Example - Input dropdowns with manual input.
Interactions - Save user selection to variables: Choose one or multiple View and Knowledge Model variables to save input dropdown selections to. By saving the selection to variables, you can reuse this selection across Views and View components. See: Example - Input dropdowns with multiple variables.
Interactions - Selection: Allow single or multiple selections from this input dropdown.
Style - Label: Add a default label for the dropdown by entering plain text or using smart inputs. See: Smart inputs.
For example, you can add free text and a variable to the dropdown using this expression:
```
Result: ${view_variable}
```

Example - Input dropdowns with loaded inputs

In the following benchmarking example, an input dropdown has been configured using entries loaded from the Knowledge Model:

This input dropdown has been configured by creating a PQL statement and saving the user selection to a variable:

In this example, the PQL statement is:

${dimension_benchmark.displayName}

Example - Input dropdowns with manual input

In the same benchmarking example, an input dropdown with manual inputs has been configured to allow the user to select the dimension to benchmark:

This input dropdown has been configured by manually adding each dropdown item and labelling them with 'Free text'. We've then also added a variable to save the user selection to:

In this example, the PQL statement for the 'Customer' dropdown item is:

"o_celonis_Customer"."CustomerNumberAndName"

Example - Input dropdowns with multiple variables

You can also write values into multiple variables from a single selection in the input dropdown component. This works for string, number, date and boolean variables, but isn't supported for object variables.

For example, this app provides an input dropdown for users to switch between Consumer and Corporate views:

And for each selection, the input dropdown saves their choice to three variables:

And for a video showing this feature in use: