Changing a record field from single to multi dropdown - user filter implications

Question

Hi all, 
 I am working on an existing project that uses records, where I am used to CDTs. This project utilizes one central record type of "metrics" and each metric has metadata (fields), some of which is tied to other record types with one-to-many and many-to-one relationships. 
 I can't include pictures, so writing out the general set up in dummy code: 
 Record Type: Metric 
 Fields: 
 
 id / integer 
 metricName / text 
 ... 
 riskType / integer 
 
 User Filters: 
 
 metricName / a!recordFilterList(...filter: a!queryFilter(field: Metric.metricName, operator: "="...)) 
 riskType / Risk Type.value 
 
 Record Type: Risk Type 
 Fields: 
 id / integer 
 value / text 
 The relationship: Metric.riskType = Risk Type.id 
 The "Risk Type" field is a many to one record type relationship with the Metric record type, and is selected via the front end in a single dropdown. I would like to change this to a multidropdown, but was unable to change the field to take multiple integers. I created another text field to write the multidropdown to, which works with picking, saving to the db, and loading to the front end, but we have user filters, which doesn't work. How can I either alter the existing Risk Type field to leave the rest of the code, or make a user filter that can work for multiple selections? Is there any other way aside from manually splitting out the string of multiple dropdown selections and running each value through a record filter?

Harsha Sharma · Answer

With records you can configure user filters very easily for your use case. Actually for a many to one relationship Appian by default creates a multiple selection dropdown user filter when we add a relationship. So you shouldn&rsquo;t split the strings and can use record based user filters. You can find steps to configure as well as few examples here. docs.appian.com/.../filter-the-record-list.html 
 Hope it helps!