Revision as of 15:07, 27 June 2019

Please note that this page is currently under construction. There is more information to come.

Overview

A Custom Field is the basic unit of data storage, created on an as-needed basis for your system, and is associated with a SmartSimple entity such as a contact, organization, role, or activity. These fields can be accessed and controlled from either the Global Settings area of your system, or on the Entity-based Settings page from within a . 

Custom Fields are used in addition to Standard Fields, which are automatically built into your system (for example, Name or Address are typical Standard Fields). While Custom Fields can be added, removed, and customized, as a general rule Standard Fields cannot be changed, although they might be renamed or modified. 

Features of Custom Fields: 

• All fields display data in configurable ways: for example, they can be grouped into tabs or displayed in multiple columns to avoid cluttering the page
• The maximum number of custom fields that can be displayed on a single page is 400 total - although any number of custom fields can be created for any object
• New custom fields can be added at any time without compromising existing and current information
• You use roles to control who can see and update specific fields 
• You can build Reports based on custom fields (as well as Standard Fields) 
• You can build Search Filters using custom fields (as well as Standard Fields) 

For a full list of Custom Fields, see Types of Custom Fields. You can also check the Upgrades section of our Wiki for continuous notice of the latest field types. 

Accessing Custom Fields

1. Click the 9-square menu icon on the top right of your page.

2. Under the heading Configuration, select Global Settings.

The hyperlink to Custom Fields will be available under each tab. Clicking the Custom Fields link under a specific tab will bring you to the custom fields that are associated with the purpose of that tab - for example, if you click on the Custom Fields under the User tab, this will bring you to a list of all custom fields specifically associated with users, both internal and external. 

All custom fields for system objects

Custom fields for Organizations under the Organizations tab

When you click into a Custom Fields hyperlink from the Global Settings area, you will be brought to a list display of all available custom fields relating to that part of the system. In order to modify a Custom Field, you can simply select the pencil icon to the left side of the custom field name, as shown below:

Configuration - Essentials

This page will serve as the main repository for setup information that is shared between most field types. To find setup options that are specific to a certain field type, look into the Wiki page for that field type itself. 

Common Custom Field Functions

On the top left of the Custom Field record will be a row of buttons, each with different functions relating to the field.

The following table describes the functionality of each button from left to right: 

The following settings are common to nearly all Custom Field types:

• General Settings
• Display & Formatting
• Validation
• Feature Options
• Value Storage

General Settings

The General Settings will appear right when you open up a Custom Field to edit.

Display Order with Related Entities

If you add custom fields to the basic contact entity and then add fields to roles associated with contacts, you will need to take care, as the fields will become mixed if they have the same number sequence.

The following table outlines where you need to be careful:

You should start the number sequence for these types of related fields at some higher level. For example, role 1 starts at 5000, role 2 starts at 8000.

Display & Formatting

The Display & Formatting section of Custom Fields are found by scrolling down the first tab of General Settings when you edit a Custom Field.

Validation

The Validation section is under the General Settings tab and looks similarly to this: 

Feature Options

The Feature Options section of Custom Fields settings is also found under the General Settings tab when you are editing a Custom Field. The Feature Options section will look something like this:

Value Storage

The Value Storage section is the final area of General Settings when editing a Custom Field. It will look like this: 

Permissions & Availability

The second tab available when opening a Custom Field is usually the Permissions & Availability section. Although the sectioning of permissions and availability will differ depending on what type of Custom Field it is, as well as to what part of the system it is attached to, the Permissions & Availability options might look something like this: 

Access to a custom field is controlled by permissions. These can be found and set in any custom field, on the Permissions and Availability tab. You can set only certain roles to be able to see/edit a field, or you can do the same thing with statuses. An example would be denying the Applicant role permission to see the Decision custom field (as this would reveal pre-emptively whether or not their application has been approved or denied). 

See Role Field Permissions , Field Permissions, or Status Field Permissions for more information.

Visibility Condition

The Visibility Options section when opening a Custom Field is available under the Permissions and Availability tab once the Advanced Options feature has been enabled.

In order to enable Advanced Options, you must toggle on the feature from the top right of your page.

Whether or not a custom field is visible can be controlled using conditional statements in this box. You are able to set this visibility condition for new records based on the following options: Always Display, Hide on New Record, or Only Show on New Record.

See Visibility Condition for more information.

Classic Options

The last tab available when opening a Custom Field record is usually the Classic Options section. 

Custom Field References

This feature is intended to help determine the impact of a custom field change by highlighting where the custom field is referenced within the system. Each Custom field has a Search Reference--this button is found in the action bar, and can be identified by the magnifying glass icon.

When used, the feature will search references to this custom field via variable syntax in various areas, including:

• Other custom field options/visibility condition, including JavaScript Validation, Visibility Condition, calculated values, etc.
• Template formulas
• Submit buttons
• Submit Logic
• SmartCheck Validation
• Workflow Task
• Workflow connectors
• Data class policy

Import and Export Custom Fields

You can use the custom field Import and Export features to move or copy custom fields from one entity to another (or even another instance of SmartSimple). The custom fields are exported and importing by using XML format.

To export a block of custom fields, simply click the Export button at the top of a list of custom fields. A window will pop up showing the custom field settings in XML format:

The XML block for the entire set of custom fields in the list will be displayed. Individual custom fields are delineated by the tags. Simply copy the block of custom fields you want to copy (you can make edits, e.g. to the display order in a text editor), click on the Import button at the top of the list of custom fields where you want to place the new fields, paste the XML block into the blank text area, and confirm that you want to import the fields by clicking Import at the bottom of the Import pop-up.

The majority of field settings will be included in the copied fields. Exceptions include:

• any Field Permissions
• any Field Permission Matrix assigned to the original custom field
• any Value Stores To setting assigned on the original custom field
• the Description setting

However, Field Permissions and Field Permission Matrices can be assigned to the new fields using the Batch Update feature.

As the custom field ID is unique to each custom field in the system, the custom field IDs will not be copied. Any newly created custom fields using the Export/Import feature will be assigned new custom field IDs.

Also see Custom Field Import Wizard

Custom Field Types

The full list of Custom Field Types can be found on the Custom Field Types page.

Tips

Here are some general tips that you should keep in mind when you are creating or editing Custom Fields: 

• Save and Save & New: When you create a custom field and wish to start a new field right away without returning to the field list, use the Save and New Button. If you are not finished working on a field, but wish to save the information you have inputted, click the Save button. 

• Moving quickly through a set of custom fields: If you need to move through a list of fields quickly, use the Navigate buttons displayed on the top right of the custom field page.
• Reordering the field list: If you add fields in between other fields, the order can get confusing. You can always reorder any custom field list by using the Re-Order button at the top of the field list. 
• Associating custom fields with multiple roles: If you add fields to multiple roles and associate a user with these roles, the fields will be mixed when displayed, as the order will be similar. For example, if a display order number for one role is 10, then it will appear immediately next to the field order 10 from a second role. In order to avoid this, reorder the fields in each role with different starting numbers. For role one, start at 1000 and for role two, start at 2000. 
• Associating custom fields with the wrong entity: If you associate fields with the wrong role by accident, use the Export and Import feature to move the fields to the correct entity. This will only work before you start adding information! 
• If you have a Combo box or a Select One field with the wrong value: Use the Field Data feature to review and change the value. Also, make sure that you have added the correct value to the field options. 

See Also

• Batch Update Custom Field Settings
• Reporting on Custom Fields