Currently there is no way to have an empty drop down list option appear as your first option.  For example if I wanted to create a required field for shirt colors I would have to do something like follows:

--
Red
Green
Blue

This is alright, except on the front end I can’t say {if shirt_color}...{/if} because shirt color will always be filled (even if it’s “--").

Therefore I built an extension that will convert “--” into an empty form value.  The displayed value however is customizable through the extension’s settings.

Why not just do the following?

In the template that works fine.  This extension is more for using a drop down as a required field.  If you go the “--” way, the field is always filled and making it required is essentially useless.  This fixes that and actually throws an error if the field isn’t filled in.

Yep, different animal altogether.  Continue!

Yea, when I first head about this issue I didn’t get it either.  But in the CP it makes sense why you wouldn’t want an option of “--”, while on the front end it doesn’t really matter.

continuing!

Would there be a way (or IS there a way) to make the drop down’s value different than what the option actually shows on the screen (this is for a custom field in the Control Panel)? Just curious, say for states. I’d like my drop down to show:
Select…
Alaska
Alabama
Michigan
[etc]

But I’d like the values to be:
NULL
AK
AL
MI
[etc]

Maybe an extension that allows for a PHP-type array thing? So, in the drop down field I might have:
Select...=>NULL
Alaska=>AK
Alabama=>AL
Michigan=>MI

etc.

Yes, and extension can control both what is displayed as well as what the value of the options are for drop-down fields in the Publish page.

Thanks Mark. for almost a year I didn’t have the time to follow the forums. and now that I’m back and see all of your great works I’m really amazed.

Good luck

Thanks for this extension as well, Mark. Just for clarification, this extension doesn’t affect pulldown custom fields in the member signup form. Or is it supposed to?

It does not affect the member sign up form.

Edit...
Mark...your extension seems to be doing exactly what I was looking for though I believe
these results are probably unintended and due to my improper usage.

I came across your extension while looking for a solution to provide Custom Dropdown Fields the ability to group selection items; thus providing a label for each group of selections to provide a more intuitive experience for the user entering data via the Weblog Publish Panel.

Maybe I’m wrong about my application but, it seems your intent with this extension was not aimed at the back end experience? Could you clarify?

What I was doing was ignoring ignoring the use of “--” to achieve an empty option which, if I’m correct, the extension is supposed to replace with the “keyword” entered in the extension settings (is this correct?).

In my Custom Dropdown when setting the selections I added a label

So what was entered in for the dropdown selections was

And the result is that I get the desired label in the dropdown applied to the publish page: Identities.

Now, the thing is it’s not applied correctly - though the page validates. What occurs is
the

entered as a selection for the Custom Dropdown is rendered to the Publish Page mark-up as just that, an option

Wondering what you think about this, since it’s actually not being applied correctly with this (probably unintended) usage?