How to describe (enumerate) picklist enties valid for a specific record type in Salesforce?

Question

In apex code I want to enumerate the legal values for a picklist field. To do this I can just call Account.Foobar__c.getDescribe().getPickListValues() and I've got a list of Schema.PickListEntry values.

However it's possible to setup multiple record types for a given sObject. For example Account might have "Manufacturer", "Distributor" and "Retailer" record types. In the Salesforce setup it is possible edit (limit) the picklist entries for each field based on record type. So Retailer type accounts might only use a subset of the picklist values for the Foobar field.

So basically I want Account.Foobar__c.getDescribe().getPickListValues('Retailer') however this is not the syntax. The validFor method looks promising, but it seems like it is only for field dependent picklists - a picklist filtered only by record type returns false for isDependentPicklist.

Answer 1

I know this is an old post, but maybe the info below will help someone who still needs the answer.

I found here that one can actually get a list of record type specific picklist values by making a describeLayout() call.

Using your example (C#):

DescribeLayoutResult result = binding.describeLayout("Account", new string[] { "01230000000xxXxXXX" } );
PicklistEntry[] values = result.recordTypeMappings[0].picklistsForRecordType[12345].picklistValues;

• Replace "01230000000xxXxXXX" with a RecordTypeId of your Retailer record type object. Use the query "SELECT Id FROM RecordType WHERE Name = 'Retailer'" to get the value.
• Replace 12345 with an index of your picklist object that you would like to get values of.

Answer 2

You can't do it in pure Apex AFAIK, unfortunately. The metadata API does expose it.

Related opinions: http://boards.developerforce.com/t5/Apex-Code-Development/Any-way-to-obtain-picklist-values-by-record-type/td-p/287563