I’ve actually got just one line in all of SPServices to find selects like this. It’s in a constructor function called DropdownCtl. I use that constructor to find any type of “dropdown”, meaning a simple select, a “complex” select, or a multi-select. Due to the oddities in SharePoint forms across the versions, I long ago realized that I needed to handle those oddities centrally.
In fact, I’ve written before about how inconsistent the multi-select controls are in Variations in <a href="http://sympmarc.com/2013/12/02/from-sharepoint-magazine-variations-in-multiselect-controls-in-different-sharepoint-language-versions/">Multiselect Controls in Different SharePoint Language Versions</a>. Because of these inconsistencies, I have special logic for Russian, German, and Italian, where the element naming is just different enough to be a problem.
If this recent change is intentional (which I'm hearing it may not have been), then I’ll update that function to handle it. I’m going to guess that it wasn’t intentional, though, because except for a tiny UX improvement – and even that is debatable – there’s no discernable purpose to the change that I can think of. The bigger problem is that it just happened, and there’s no way to see these changes coming.
BTW, the ‘ Required Field’ text only appears in the Title attribute in simple and complex dropdowns (not multi-selects) when the column is required. I have no idea what might appear in sites where other languages are used, but based on my findings with the multi-selects in the past, all bets are off.
M.
In fact, I’ve written before about how inconsistent the multi-select controls are in Variations in <a href="http://sympmarc.com/2013/12/02/from-sharepoint-magazine-variations-in-multiselect-controls-in-different-sharepoint-language-versions/">Multiselect Controls in Different SharePoint Language Versions</a>. Because of these inconsistencies, I have special logic for Russian, German, and Italian, where the element naming is just different enough to be a problem.
If this recent change is intentional (which I'm hearing it may not have been), then I’ll update that function to handle it. I’m going to guess that it wasn’t intentional, though, because except for a tiny UX improvement – and even that is debatable – there’s no discernable purpose to the change that I can think of. The bigger problem is that it just happened, and there’s no way to see these changes coming.
BTW, the ‘ Required Field’ text only appears in the Title attribute in simple and complex dropdowns (not multi-selects) when the column is required. I have no idea what might appear in sites where other languages are used, but based on my findings with the multi-selects in the past, all bets are off.
M.