Better dropdown fieldtype to handle long lists?

Question

Does anyone know of a better fieldtype to handle long lists in a dropdown than the default dropdown list fieldtype?

I need to

• work within Grid
• field must be searchable in front end (via ee or low search)
• be able to add items within the list at times
• handle thousands of items in the list (maybe 5,000 - 20,000)
• hopefully offer an improved way of choosing the item

(I considered using a second channel and a Relationship in the Grid, but the problem is searching isn't a possibility for Relationships in a Grid. That would be ideal in that I can change/add to the items in the second channel, but the search issue is a deal breaker.)

Answer 1

You can use the low_search_update_index hook in Low Search to index relationship fields inside Grid fields - I've done this before.

There's a ready-made extension available which does this for standalone relationship fields ... it doesn't do Grid fields, but it would be easy to modify the query inside the extension to do so.

So, stick with the relationship inside the Grid, since it meets all your other requirements, and the search bit is solvable.