# Allow different display fields for the same object in drop downs

**URL:** <https://forums.knack.com/t/allow-different-display-fields-for-the-same-object-in-drop-downs/8917>\
**Category:** Feature Requests\
**Tags:** connections\
**Created:** [May 28, 2020, 10:11pm UTC](https://forums.knack.com/t/allow-different-display-fields-for-the-same-object-in-drop-downs/8917 "2020-05-28T22:11:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![DylanWeick45438](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forums.knack.com/dylanweick45438/32/547_2.png) [@DylanWeick45438](https://forums.knack.com/u/DylanWeick45438)\
**Post date:** [May 28, 2020, 10:11pm UTC](https://forums.knack.com/t/allow-different-display-fields-for-the-same-object-in-drop-downs/8917/1 "2020-05-28T22:11:00Z")

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What I would really like is the option to represent the same object type with multiple different display fields for different situations.

Let me illustrate this with an example.

Suppose you have an object Class Room. Class Room has a connection to object Teacher.

Suppose you have another object Pay Stub. Pay Stub also has a connection to object Teacher.

When you have a form to create or edit Class Room, you will have a drop down to select the corresponding Teacher. Teacher's display field is Name. So this drop down will show the Teacher's Name. This is what we want for this scenario.

When you have a form to create or edit the Pay Stub, you will have another drop down to select the corresponding Teacher. However, in this situation we don't want to display the Teacher's name. We would much rather display the Teacher's Employee ID. Employee ID is a field in Teacher, but it is not a display field. Right now, there is no way to get the Teacher's Employee ID to display in the drop down instead of the Teacher's Name.

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**Author:** ![Vincent94744](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/df788c/32.png) [@Vincent94744](https://forums.knack.com/u/Vincent94744)\
**Post date:** [May 7, 2021, 8:30pm UTC](https://forums.knack.com/t/allow-different-display-fields-for-the-same-object-in-drop-downs/8917/2 "2021-05-07T20:30:19Z")

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Same here. Hoping for this feature to happen for a while.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![DylanWeick45438](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forums.knack.com/dylanweick45438/32/547_2.png) [@DylanWeick45438](https://forums.knack.com/u/DylanWeick45438)\
**Post date:** [May 28, 2020, 10:13pm UTC](https://forums.knack.com/t/allow-different-display-fields-for-the-same-object-in-drop-downs/8917/3 "2020-05-28T22:13:44Z")

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The same thing was essentially asked for two years ago: [https://support.knack.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/360018891932-Variable-Display-Field-when-connecting-objects-?input\_string=Allow%20different%20display%20fields](https://forums.knack.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/360018891932-Variable-Display-Field-when-connecting-objects-?input_string=Allow%20different%20display%20fields)  
  
But maybe we can make it happen this time around.