problem creating a dependent picklist

Question

I want a user to be able to firstly select a value from a picklist and then to be able to select values in a lookup.

For example, if the user selects the value "campaign" from the lead source picklist, I want them then to be able to select from the "primary campaign source" lookup drop down. (Both of these fields are standard fields on the Opportunity object).

However, this does not seems to be possible on account of the lookup not being a picklist, i.e., the dependent picklist functionality is truelly limited to picklists and does not extend to looups.

Am I correct in saying so? Is there an elegant workaround?

Answer 1

That's correct. That's why they call it a "dependent picklist". The values that appear in a 2nd picklist are dependent on the values which appear in the 1st picklist.

I've never attempted this, but you might be able to create a visual flow to accomplish what you're describing. I'd have to play with a flow to see if it would be possible. Since you're essentially creating forms or an interview of sorts where you can control the logic, you might be able to do it that way.

Otherwise, you'd need to do it using custom code (probably with javascript) where the values in the 2nd picklist are then pointed to your look-up fields. You might also need to use a custom controller to help support what gets returned as being the equivalent to the look-up fields you want to use. However, Javascript functions may make that unnecessary. Hopefully someone else will have some code they can post to provide you with an example of how they've been able to do something similar.