= "Globally" defined drop-downs

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Very often the set of available choices depends on the data type of the property/action parameter, rather than the individual property/parameter itself.
And similarly the algorithm to search for references again may well depend only on that reference type.

In the case of _choices_, annotating a class as "bounded" (as in a "bounded" or fixed number of instances) means that a _choices_ drop-down will automatically be defined.
For example:

[source,java]
----
@DomainObject(
    bounded = true
)
public class Product { /* ... */ }
----

For more on this, see xref:refguide:applib:index/annotation/DomainObject.adoc#bounding[@DomainObject#bounding].

Or, if the data type is an enum, then a drop-down will be provided automatically.
A payment method is a good example of this:


[source,java]
----
public enum PaymentMethod {
    VISA, MASTERCARD, AMEX;
}
----

Something similar can be achieved for _autoComplete_.
Here the domain object indicates a repository query to execute.
For example:

[source,java]
----
@DomainObject(
    autoCompleteRepository = Customers.class,
    autoCompleteMethod = "findByReferenceOrName"
)
public class Customer { /* ... */ }
----

with:

[source,java]
.Customers.java
----
@DomainService
public class Customers {
    @Action(semantics=SemanticsOf.SAFE)
    public List<Customer> findByReferenceOrName(@MinLength(3) String refOrName) {
        ...
    }
}
----

For more on this, see xref:refguide:applib:index/annotation/DomainObject.adoc#autoCompleteRepository[@DomainObject#autoCompleteRepository].

[TIP]
====
There's no need for the nominated method to be an actual action; any method of any domain service will do, so long as it accepts a string and returns the correct list.
====
