Question

Is it possible to expand variables in a WebForm? The intended use is that I want users to be able to select from dynamically generated lists when starting a topic. One example is the list of offices which should appear as a pull down menu in WebForms for equipment. At present, the list of Offices would have to be updated in TWikiRegistration and in each equipment WebForm (while OfficeLocations is easily modified to generate lists dynamically).

Here is what I have tried (OFFICELIST and TestOfficeList are essentially the search results as variable and file, respectively):

| *Name* | *Type* | *Size* | *Values* | *Tooltip message* |
| DnsName | text | 25 | | DNS domain name(s) |
| Location1 | select | 1 | (Other: specify), %OFFICELIST%  | usual/permanent location of equipment |
| Location2 | select | 1 | (Other: specify), %INCLUDE{"TestOfficeList"}%  | usual/permanent location of equipment |
| Location3 | select | 1 | (Other: specify) %SEARCH{ "^Office" web="Main" scope="topic" regex="on" nosearch="on" nototal="on" format=", Main.$topic"}%  | usual/permanent location of equipment |

In the view of the form itself, Location1 and Location2 show up correctly, while Location3 is not rendered inside the table. When generating a topic using this form, all pulldown menus show the raw table entry (i.e., macros are not expanded). Any comments/ideas?

Environment

TWiki version:	Feb 2003
TWiki plugins:	DefaultPlugin, CalendarPlugin, GnuSkinPlugin, InterwikiPlugin, TWikiDrawPlugin
Server OS:	SuSE 8.2
Web server:	Apache 1.3.27
Perl version:	5.8.0
Client OS:	Redhat 7.2
Web Browser:	Mozilla 1.1

-- NilsBluemer - 10 Sep 2003

Answer

I had this very same issue and the answer is located in HandleCommonTagsInFormDef. This details a very minor (two lines) code change to the FORMS.PM perl code. I just made it (we are running 01Feb2003) and it works as advertised (so far.)

-- SteveRJones - 12 Sep 2003