Data Page–backed Dropdowns Not Rendering in Delegated Data Type Grids (Centralized Lookup Values)

General
1

I have a Data Type Add_Roles that is delegated to business users so they can add or update rows, and some of the fields in this data type must be restricted to dropdown values only instead of free text. I want these dropdown values to be centrally managed, reusable, and preferably business-manageable and delegatable. I explicitly want to avoid maintaining one Local List per property or creating a separate Data Type for each dropdown.

For this purpose, I am using an existing Look_up table where Code and Type are the keys, with sample data such as Code = Status1, Type = UpdateStatus, Description = New and Code = Status2, Type = UpdateStatus, Description = Failed. I created a read-only, thread-scoped list data page D_GetLookup on the Look_up class with a parameter Type, and when I run this data page standalone by passing Type = "UpdateStatus", I correctly get both rows in pxResults. The Add_Roles data type has two columns, InsKey and UpdateStatus. When UpdateStatus property is configured with a Local List (New, Failed) and the UI control is pxDropdown, it works as expected. However, when I change the UpdateStatus property UI control to pxDropdown and configure Display and Validation to use a Data Page in Table type (Class of instances = Look_up, Data Page = D_GetLookup, parameter Type = “UpdateStatus”, value property = .Code, display text property = .Description), the behavior changes- while adding a new row in Add_Roles, I get a blank text box instead of a dropdown.

Is this a limitation or rendering issue when using a data page-backed dropdown in a delegated data type grid, or am I missing a required configuration? What is the recommended approach to achieve centrally managed and reusable dropdowns in this scenario, especially when there are many such fields in the real implementation?

”Pega Infinity '24.1.4”

2

This is a platform limitation, not a mistake in your setup. In the delegated Data Type grid, Pega uses an auto-generated record editor, and that editor does not support dynamic data page-backed dropdown controls for editable cells, so the field falls back to a blank text box instead of rendering a dropdown. The clear solution is to stop using the out-of-the-box delegated grid for this field and build a custom maintenance screen for Add_Roles with a normal editable dropdown bound to your central Look_up data page. That lets you keep one reusable lookup source and still give business users controlled values without creating a local list for every property. In this setup, your Look_up table stays the centralized source, and the custom screen becomes the supported way to edit Add_Roles records with proper dropdown behavior.