Number of items in a drop-down list box control

[Mariann Carmen]

How many items are too many, and is there a limit that should be adheard to
for optimal performance, to have in a drop-down list box control?

In addition, how many drop-down list box controls are too many to include in
a form? And, nested in a repeating table (say 4 out of 5 columns have nested
drop-downs)?

 

[S.Y.M. Wong-A-Ton]

Your question is too difficult and situation-specific to answer, since
performance depends on so many factors. You need to look at your own
situation, and if performance issues arise, find ways to optimize your form.
Ways to optimize a form is by keeping the Main data source "light", that is,
do not store too much data in it, use secondary data sources that are local
to the form template (no network connection dependency), and do not use too
much nesting (sections in sections in sections, etc.).

Windows standards say that a max of 8 items in a drop-down is enough, but
I've seen many people break this "rule". So again, look at what's best for
you.

 

[B Cattell]

I just tried to add a drop down list tied to a Share Point list of 4000
customer names and customer id numbers and t he drop down only displays the
first 100 entries in that list.

 

[Ben Walters]

Hey
I've had a similar issue in the past, and found that InfoPath would only
display what was in the default view for the list.
With this in mind the default view is usually capped out at 100 items.
However echoing previous comments I would suggest that with a list of 4000
items you probably want to re-think your strategy on how this information is
displayed to the user. Ideally you don't want the user needing to scroll
through 4000 items in a drop down, perhaps there is a way you can filter the
data down to a sub set that is a little more manageable?

Cheers,

Ben Walters