Setting an initial user for pickerFieldUser

The simpler approach here is to simply have the user picker field access, and save back into, the value of a local variable that you can declare to be the value of the loggedinuser upon form load - then at the time of submit click, use a single extra a!save() statement to save the current value of that local variable back into `ri!record['recordType!{...}BWTA Event.fields.{...}user']` (etc).

Thank you for the response.  One variation I tried did include using local-variables, so I think I know the syntax for that part, but I'm not familiar the latter part "use a single extra a!save() statement to save the current value of that local variable". 

Is this an example of what you're suggesting? https://docs.appian.com/suite/help/23.2/fnc_evaluation_save.html#upper-casing-and-appending-to-the-typed-text-in-one-variable,-saving-unchanged-to-another

You have to set the default values in the variable that you use as a value and saveInto. Not directly in the component as it will always keep it fixed. 

brianw0006 said:

Is this an example of what you're suggesting?

Not really - you would put it on your Submit button, not within the field itself.

a!buttonWidget(
  label: "Submit",
  value: "Submit",
  submit: true(),
  style: "PRIMARY",
  saveInto: {
    ri!buttonClicked,
    a!save(
      ri!record['recordType!{...}BWTA Event.fields.{...}user'],
      local!mySelectedUser
    )
  }
)

This is almost working! Now I can change the selected user, but when I submit I get an error that it could not find ri!buttonClicked.  

Without ri!buttonClicked, when I change a different picker field (pickerFieldRecords) right beneath (focus, change value, then blur), the user field resets to the original value.  This also happens when I change the value of a paragraph field on the same form.

I searched the docs for ri!buttonClicked, but I did not see anything.  

Thanks.

Mike Schmitt Can you provide some insight on ri!buttonClicked?  Thanks.

"buttonClicked" is just an example of a typical text-value Rule Input that carries the value of the clicked-on Submit button back to the process (when necessary).  It's optional but I add one about 95% of the time.

I assumed the absence of buttonClicked was related to the aberrant behavior I described above.  

Creating two localVariables, startUser and selectedUser, where the initial value of selectedUser is startUser seems to have corrected the issue.

For posterity...

a!localVariables(
  local!startUser: if (
    isnull(ri!record['recordType!{...}BWTA Event.fields.{...}user']),
    loggedInUser(),
    ri!record['recordType!{...}BWTA Event.fields.{...}user']
  ),
  local!selectedUser: local!startUser,
  a!formLayout(
    label: if(
      ri!isUpdate,
      "Update Event",
      "Create Event"
    ),
    contents: {
      a!columnsLayout(
        columns: {
          a!columnLayout(
            ...
          ),
          a!columnLayout(
            contents: {            
              a!pickerFieldUsers(
                label: "User",
                labelPosition: "ABOVE",
                maxSelections: 1,
                value: local!selectedUser,
                saveInto: local!selectedUser,
                required: true,
                validations: {}
              ),
              ...
            }
          )
        }
      )
    },
    buttons: a!buttonLayout(
      primaryButtons: {
        a!buttonWidget(
          label: if(ri!isUpdate, "Save", "Create"),
          submit: true,
          style: "PRIMARY",
          validate: true,
          saveInto: {
            a!save(
              ri!record['recordType!{...}BWTA Event.fields.{...}user'],
              local!selectedUser
            )
          }
        )
      }
    )
  )
)

Mike Schmitt THANKS!