[rt-users] Conditional field validation / input?

[Damon Miller]

Hi all.  I've been an RT user for a short while now and I'm continuing
to dig deeper as we extend its use.  Thanks to Jesse and team for a
product which delivers significant flexibility while preserving
simplicity of use.



Here's my current question:  Is there an easy way to add logic such that
certain custom fields are required or made available for use only when
specific values are set on a particular field?  That's a fairly generic
question so I'll attempt to illustrate a bit with a scenario or two:



1.  As part of an internal business process, we frequently need to work
with carriers to effect changes to our telephony platform.  I've modeled
this through several custom fields, but the challenge is that not all
information is available when the process is initiated.  Thus, only
certain custom fields can be populated when a ticket is created.
However, I do want to apply input validation on these values and I'd
like to require values at the approprate stage.  (The 'stages' are
modeled through a custom field drop-down.)  If I set validation patterns
for the custom fields, they all become required when creating a ticket
through the web interface.  I'm wondering if there is a way to require
data only when the relevant stage is selected.  Does this make sense?


2.  I'd like to expose certain inputs in response to selections made in
other custom fields.  As an example, consider a support process covering
10-15 different products, each with its own set of data required for
support purposes.  Package A might require a serial number and a version
whereas Package B might require a processor speed and a power
consumption value.  One solution is to expose all inputs at all times
but I'd like to simplify the interface presented to support staff if at
all possible.  This would ideally happen by exposing only those custom
fields related to a top-level product selection.

Another possibility might be to use a separate Queue for each product, I
suppose, but I don't think this scales particularly well; imagine a
scenario in which there are a large number of products (and therefore
Queues).  There are many examples of "conditional dropdowns" in HTML.  I
just wasn't sure if there was something similar in RT.



Thanks in advance for any guidance.


Regards,

Damon