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Class for creating single-select dropdown parameter widgets that allow users to choose one option from a list. This class can be imported from the squirrels.parameters or the squirrels module.

Factory methods

Factory methods are class methods that create and configure parameter instances. These methods are typically used in the pyconfigs/parameters.py file to create the parameter configurations (which describes the “shape” of the parameter but does not include the realtime user selections).

create_simple()

Decorator for creating a simple parameter from a function that returns select options. The decorated function must return a list of SelectParameterOption objects.

create_with_options()

Decorator for creating a parameter with options that can vary based on user attributes or parent parameter selections. The decorated function must return a list of SelectParameterOption objects. This is functionally equivalent to create_simple but with additional arguments available for user_attribute and parent_name.

create_from_source()

Decorator for creating a parameter populated from a database table or query using a SelectDataSource. The decorated function must return a SelectDataSource object.

Instance methods

Instance methods are available on parameter instances at query time (in context.py or data models) to retrieve selected values.

get_selected() -> SelectParameterOption

Gets the selected SelectParameterOption object.
SelectParameterOption | None
The selected SelectParameterOption object (or None if the parameter has no selectable options).

get_selected() -> Any | None

Gets the custom field from the selected option.
Any | None
The custom field value, or None if either:
  • the field does not exist and no default is provided, or
  • the parameter has no selectable options.

get_selected_id()

Gets the ID of the selected option.
str | None
The ID string of the selected option (or None if the parameter has no selectable options).

is_enabled()

Returns whether the parameter is enabled. A parameter is enabled if it has at least one selectable option.
bool
True if the parameter has at least one selectable option, False otherwise.

Examples for factory methods

All examples below are defined in the pyconfigs/parameters.py file.

Using create_simple for basic dropdowns

For parameters that don’t need user-specific or parent-dependent options, you can use create_simple.

Cascading dropdowns with parent-child relationship

This example shows how to create dependent dropdowns where the child options change based on the parent selection.

User-specific options

This example restricts certain options based on user access levels.
If custom user fields are defined in pyconfigs/user.py, then they can be used to restrict visibility of parameter options as well. To do so, the user_attribute argument must be prefixed with custom_fields..

Single-select from database source

This example populates dropdown options from a database table.

Cascading dropdown from database with parent

This example shows cascading from a database where products depend on the selected category.

Examples for instance methods

Once parameters are configured, you can use instance methods in your models to access the selected values. The parameter instances are available through the context object (e.g., sqrl.prms).

Basic usage in context.py

Basic usage in Jinja SQL models

The following example works but is not recommended. See tip below for why.
It is generally better to only use the instance methods in context.py to transform parameter selections into context variables. Using the instance methods directly in the data models is not recommended.IDEs can provide code suggestions for the available instance methods in Python instead of having to memorize which method (such as get_selected_id) is available to use for SingleSelectParameter objects.

Accessing custom fields

Suppose you define a single-select parameter with custom fields as such:
Then you can access the custom field in context.py as follows: