Global choice lists / Client Scripts / UI Actions not working in child domains
Description
Overview of how choices work when using domains.
Solution
Partitioning (using the sys_domain field) and Delegated Administration (using the sys_overrides field) work in different ways.
Partitioning:
Data records are separated by a sys_domain, which is hierarchical. For example, if you are in domain A, and domain A has a child domain B, which contains domain C, you can see any task record in domains A, B, or C.
Delegated Administration:
Policy records are not separated by a sys_domain. For example, sys_choice, sys_ui_action, and sys_client_script all have both sys_domain and sys_overrides fields.
For these administration tables (this is where the term, Delegated Administration, comes from) the sys_domain field does identify the domain that the policy record applies to.
Sys_overrides refers to another record in the same table, but in a higher domain, which this record replaces.
This allows you to define a set of sys_choice values that apply to the global domain, and then define a different set of choices that apply to a child domain.
It is a common mistake to confuse Partitioning with Delegated Administration. If you create a new UI action and set the sys_domain field to domain B, that means users in domain C will not see it. This is because policy tables are not partitioned like data. They use sys_overrides and sys_domain fields together to let child domains override policies in ancestral/parent domains.
Example:
In a customized choice list field in the Change Request form, child domains do not inherit choices set to global in addition to any choices set to their specific domain.
If the domains A, B, C are present in addition to the pseudo-domain global, the following will happen:
- Global has choices 1, 2, and 3
- A has no choices
- B has choices 4 and 5
- C has choices 6 and 7
- Users in domain C will see 6 and 7
- Users in domain B will see 4 and 5
- Users in domain A will see 1, 2, and 3
- Users in global will see 1, 2, and 3
You may expect users in domain C to see 1, 2, 3, 6, and 7, or perhaps even 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7. That is not the case, because choices are not cumulative up the ancestor chain. The reason for this is that domain C may not actually want to see 1, 2, and 3.
To address this, direct the first domain going up through the ancestry that has any choices to define all choices. In other words, any domain that defines any choices, defines all of the choices for users in that domain or any descendant domain that doesn't define its own choices.