About the ADF List of Values (LOV) Binding

An ADF List of Values (LOV) binding lets users choose a value from a list component that results in an update to a separate component. The list displays one or more informational attributes from a specified "source" data collection. When the user makes the selection, the LOV binding updates one or more attributes of a specified "target" data collection. Both the source and target data collections are defined by the LOV binding.

From the UI Model view of the Structure window, you use the LOV binding editor to define the source and target data collections, the binding between their attributes, and the attributes to display in the LOV-bound component.

Note: For a detailed description of the attributes you will select, display Help in the LOV binding editor. When choosing attributes for the LOV binding, please note these restrictions:

Your LOV should not be based on a master and detail collection. Using attributes from related collections to define your LOV binding will produce unintended consequences.
Your LOV source should not include attributes that function as a foreign key for the collection to be updated by the LOV display. Using an attribute that specifies the relationship between collections will produce unintended consequences.

You can set an LOV binding for these UI components that you insert from the Data Control Palette into an ADF-enabled web page:

List of Values for JSP pages
Single Selection List for JSP pages (when used with LOV binding)
MessageList (Select Many) for UIX pages
MessageList (Select One) for UIX pages

The advantage of using the LOV binding to manage an attribute value update is that the business service may specify a collection strictly for lookup purposes. For example, when the user needs the zip code for a mailing address, and they know only the city and state, the look-up collection need not display zip codes. In this case, after the user selects a city from the list, the zip code field will be updated based on this single selection.

In order to display the LOV target of the user's selection, your web page must display a UI component bound to the same target attribute. Inserting one of the above selection list components into your web page and defining the LOV binding provides only the binding between the source and target collections and determines what the component should display to the user.