Combine list types

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Azure DevOps Server 2022 - Azure DevOps Server 2019 | TFS 2018 - TFS 2013

You can specify multiple types of lists for a single field. This topic defines how the resulting list of items is determined.

The following descriptions use these conventions:

  • All values for an ALLOWEDVALUES list are identified as {set A}.
  • All values for a SUGGESTEDVALUES list are identified as {set S}.
  • All values for a PROHIBITEDVALUES list are identified as {set P}.

Valid value determination

The valid values allowed for a field are obtained by subtracting {set P} from {set A}. If {set A} has no entries, {set A} is considered to be all possible values. This is because no allowed values have been defined; everything is allowed except those values specifically identified in {set P}.

{Set S} plays no role in determining valid values for a field, but it does help determine the values that display in the drop-down list.

Populating a drop-down list with list values

The following rules use the content of the ALLOWEDVALUES, SUGGESTEDVALUES, and PROHIBITEDVALUES sets to determine the values that populate a drop-down list.

If {set S} AND {set A} have no entries  
  Result: Empty list  
If {set S} has entries and {set A} has no entries  
  Result: The values are obtained by subtracting {set P} from {set S}  
If {set S} AND {set A} have entries  
  Result: The list of values are obtained by:  
                a. Intersecting {set A} with {set S} to get {intermediate set I}  
                b. Subtracting {set P} from {intermediate set I}  
If {set S} has no entries and {set A} has entries  
  Result: The list of values are obtained by subtracting {set P} from {set A}

Specify multiple lists

If you specify multiple <ALLOWEDVALUES> sets at a particular point in time (for example, a work item type-wide <ALLOWEDVALUES> set plus a state-scoped <ALLOWEDVALUES> set), the intersection of these multiple sets is used as the final set, {set A}.

If you specify multiple <SUGGESTEDVALUES> sets or <PROHIBITEDVALUES> sets, the union of each of these multiple sets is taken as the final set, {set S} or {set P}, respectively.