Creating Cascading Tool Inputs

Cascading input settings are useful when the value of one input field determines which subsequent inputs are shown. This makes the input process more streamlined, user-friendly, and error-free. This guide will walk through how to create cascading inputs for your tools.

Prerequisites

Please make sure you have the latest version of Prompt flow for VS Code installed (v1.2.0+).

Create a tool with cascading inputs

We’ll build out an example tool to show how cascading inputs work. The student_id and teacher_id inputs will be controlled by the value selected for the user_type input. Here’s how to configure this in the tool code and YAML.

1. Develop the tool function, following the cascading inputs example. Key points:

   • Use the @tool decorator to mark the function as a tool.

   • Define UserType as an Enum class, as it accepts only a specific set of fixed values in this example.

   • Conditionally use inputs in the tool logic based on user_type.

from enum import Enum

from promptflow.core import tool


class UserType(str, Enum):
    STUDENT = "student"
    TEACHER = "teacher"


@tool
def my_tool(user_type: Enum, student_id: str = "", teacher_id: str = "") -> str:
    """This is a dummy function to support cascading inputs.

    :param user_type: user type, student or teacher.
    :param student_id: student id.
    :param teacher_id: teacher id.
    :return: id of the user.
    If user_type is student, return student_id.
    If user_type is teacher, return teacher_id.
    """
    if user_type == UserType.STUDENT:
        return student_id
    elif user_type == UserType.TEACHER:
        return teacher_id
    else:
        raise Exception("Invalid user.")

2. Generate a starting YAML for your tool per the tool package guide, then update it to enable cascading:

   Add enabled_by and enabled_by_value to control visibility of dependent inputs. See the example YAML for reference.

   • The enabled_by attribute specifies the input field, which must be an enum type, that controls the visibility of the dependent input field.

   • The enabled_by_value attribute defines the accepted enum values from the enabled_by field that will make this dependent input field visible.

   Note: enabled_by_value takes a list, allowing multiple values to enable an input.

my_tool_package.tools.tool_with_cascading_inputs.my_tool:
  function: my_tool
  inputs:
    user_type:
      type:
      - string
      enum:
        - student
        - teacher
    student_id:
      type:
      - string
      # This input is enabled by the input "user_type".
      enabled_by: user_type
      # This input is enabled when "user_type" is "student".
      enabled_by_value: [student]
    teacher_id:
      type:
        - string
      enabled_by: user_type
      enabled_by_value: [teacher]
  module: my_tool_package.tools.tool_with_cascading_inputs
  name: My Tool with Cascading Inputs
  description: This is my tool with cascading inputs
  type: python

Use the tool in VS Code

Once you package and share your tool, you can use it in VS Code per the tool package guide. We have a demo flow you can try.

Before selecting a user_type, the student_id and teacher_id inputs are hidden. Once you pick the user_type, the corresponding input appears.

FAQs

How do I create multi-layer cascading inputs?

If you are dealing with multiple levels of cascading inputs, you can effectively manage the dependencies between them by using the enabled_by and enabled_by_value attributes. For example:

my_tool_package.tools.tool_with_multi_layer_cascading_inputs.my_tool:
  function: my_tool
  inputs:
    event_type:
      type:
      - string
      enum:
        - corporate
        - private
    corporate_theme:
      type:
      - string
      # This input is enabled by the input "event_type".
      enabled_by: event_type
      # This input is enabled when "event_type" is "corporate".
      enabled_by_value: [corporate]
      enum:
        - seminar
        - team_building
    seminar_location:
      type:
      - string
      # This input is enabled by the input "corporate_theme".
      enabled_by: corporate_theme
      # This input is enabled when "corporate_theme" is "seminar".
      enabled_by_value: [seminar]
    private_theme:
      type:
        - string
      # This input is enabled by the input "event_type".
      enabled_by: event_type
      # This input is enabled when "event_type" is "private".
      enabled_by_value: [private]
  module: my_tool_package.tools.tool_with_multi_layer_cascading_inputs
  name: My Tool with Multi-Layer Cascading Inputs
  description: This is my tool with multi-layer cascading inputs
  type: python

Inputs will be enabled in a cascading way based on selections.