Dynamic Lists

Live in Summer '22 and STILL not fixed in Winter '23 the long awaited (very long) “Filtered Related Lists” is here… BUT… read on before you use them.

Video

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History

Filtered Related Lists have been needed FOREVER!

• In 2015 Doug Ayers gave us a great option to use the new Process Builder to filter a related list on a lookup with a neat trick.

• In Summer '19 Enhanced Related Lists came out which was an improvement, at least we had a New Button, and 10 columns! Game changer! (This was GA in Spring '20).

• Also in Summer ‘19 they tried to sell us “End User Filtered Related Lists” as Filtered Related Lists AND closed the Idea! There was thankfully another idea Idea for actual Filtered Related Lists.

• They showed the Filtered Related Lists at Dreamforce 2021 (at 4’30”) and said it would be GA in Summer ‘22. Why does it take a further 2 releases from demo to release it? And due to all the issues I can’t call it GA yet! Release Notes.

• There have been many Appexchange apps that have tried to get around this lack of Filtered Related Lists but as many as I’ve tried I’ve found just as many problems with them… usually due to not looking enough like standard Related Lists.

The Good

• The Convert functionality wasn’t there when I did my video, and that works quite well and it takes away some of the gotchas in the video - well it doesn’t remove them, it just means you won’t have to deal with them, and I STILL want an answer on that bizarreness of where the default fields come from.

• We got more than just filters, we got the ability to add columns from the Lightning Page also.

• Add any fields to the list view directly from the Lightning Page,

• Filter that list… BUT…

• Show or hide Buttons on the list view,

• You don’t have to show the Name or the Name can be something other than the first column (Could be weird for users so use sparingly).

• Can do Relative Date Filters eg THIS YEAR and Use ISO date formulas for Fixed Dates.

• Can place the related list on the lightning page if it’s not on the Page Layout.

The Bad

• Narrow Column List View layout is weird.

  • Especially when the Name is not the first column.

• No Mobile View - the main place you need it.

• Slow to set up

• Can only have two on the page (But can you???! It’s what the release notes say though).

• Can’t conditionally hide a field on the List View.

• You can not show Name. If Name is not shown, you don’t get Selection checkboxes.

• No List View Action Buttons (But you don’t have them on regular related lists either).

• When editing the Page Layout there is nothing to tell you “hey, you need to go and edit the Lightning page also or instead!” - similar to Dynamic Actions and Dynamic Forms.

• If you show the New Button, you can add a new related record that then will NOT show on the list.

• You can’t use them on all Objects. Eg Tasks. Now Tasks already have a perfectly good filtering System on Cases, so why that isn’t a thing on all object I don’t know…

The Downright Wrong

• No ability to show > 30 records - AND THIS IS A FEATURE!

• No View All - even when the list view is 10 records and there are fewer than 30 records (as per the feature) in the List View.

• Dynamic List in Narrow Column does not show any indication of being filtered.

• Only 3 records shown in Narrow Column!

• Filters don’t work as standard - eg you have to type in the Picklist Values!!!!!!!

• Nothing saying what the View is filtered by - it shows the field but not the filter (That is the same as regular list views but anyone can see the filters with the click of one button, you can’t see that on Dynamic Related Lists).

The Annoying

• Just Like Dynamic Forms and Dynamic Actions there is nothing to tell you this list view is not going to change when you modify the page layout as you have done for many years. Therefore gas-lightning you when you go to your page and refresh 5 times and it’s still not on the list view (or page for Dynamic Forms and Actions).

• Adding a new Dynamic List to the page doesn’t bring across the fields in the list view on the page layout… however the default fields that are shown in a Custom Object’s list view are controlled by a setting that does not exist in Lightning anymore. Yes, you read that right. You need to change the Tab Columns which is no longer available in Lightning because Search Layouts now control what is in both the Search and the Recently Viewed view. So you have to switch to Classic to modify the Tab view to set the default columns!

• If you have two List Views of the same object on the same page you can’t make them line up with the same column widths so it can look a bit untidy.

Tricks

• If you have the regular List View and don’t show the List View Action Bar (eg hide the New Button), be sure to make the Dynamic Lists the same and hide the New Button there also).

• When setting up the Dynamic List have the regular List View below it on the page so you can see which fields should be on the list.

The Future

Things I would like to see in the future:

• Clone a component on the lightning page so you don’t have to set up all the fields again

• Live Preview on the Lightning Page

• Inline Editing

• Mobile. Of course!

• More than 2 on a page

• Multiple Sort

• Conditionally hide a field on the List View - but only based on non field-value criteria - eg Profile or Permission level

• All the things that we’ve been wanting on Lists and Related Lists for ages

  • Rolodex

  • Search / Filter

  • Multi Level Sorting on the fly

  • More than 10 Fields!!!!!!!!

• Different Icons on each List View

• A Description Field

• An ACTUAL Count of how many records there are.

To Test

• Visibility of fields if one user can’t see that field.

• Why the Dynamic Lists just disappears sometimes, and a few other glitches that I haven’t been able to pinpoint.

  • Picklist Filters - they were there, then they were gone

  • Why the Filter text disappears sometimes

  • List disappearing completely

  • List disappearing to just one line on the page - like an empty container

• Can we use Actions or other Buttons on the List View. NOPE.

Recommendation

If you have to use Dynamic Lists then:

• Don’t add it to the regular Related Tab where regular Related Lists are found

• Only add it to the wide column

• Ensure the Title clearly displays that it is filtered

• Add the full list view below OR

• Add a Report Chart below that shows a report showing ALL the related Lists.

• Add a Rich Text Component Below to say that not all records will be shown - click the Report Chart Report to show all records, or view the Related List on the Related Tab

• Ensure the buttons match the regular List View unless there is a reason to not show the button on this Dynamic List OR better still do NOT show the New Button on Dynamic Related Lists at all due to the “disappearing record” noted above.

• Note: You can’t even show a Report link or button directly below the Dynamic List because the Dynamic Actions Bar has disappeared from Pilot (Was in Pilot in Summer 21 and never seen again https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=release-notes.rn_forcecom_lab_dynamic_actions_bar.htm&type=5&release=232 )

Live

My first Live Dynamic List

• I used the convert option

• I placed it on the front page above my main details record (yes it’s a custom object and no I’m not using Dynamic Forms).

• I did have a regular related list there previously.

• We just need to know what is happening latest on the Asset so the latest 10 is details is not too bad

• It is right below the Related List Quick Links so they can get to the ALL records quickly.

• Setting it to 10 makes sense because it is the same number as the default overflow on the Related List Quick Links.

• I named it Latest 10 Details

• It’s still disconcerting that it says “10+ items” in the byline and “(10+)” in the title but there is no way to get to the +, and yet it is exactly what the text says immediately above in the Related List Quick Links AND you can get to the more records… cognitive dissonance, much?

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