Administration Guide

Adding User-Defined Fields

To create a user-defined field, follow the steps below:

  1. From the Sidebar, navigate to the field list of the object class where you want to add a UDF. For example, to access Computer fields, go to Customization > IT Assets > Computers > Fields.
  2. Click New. The New User Defined Field dialog box appears.
  3. In the Field Name field, enter the name of the new field, which must be unique within the object class. The name of the actual field added to the database table will be automatically prefixed with UDF_. The Origin field displays the table name in the database.
  4. Select a field type from the Field Type list.

    INFO: For details, see User-defined field types.

  5. Specify the Field Label.
  6. For a Float field, optional: In the Decimal Places field, specify a number of decimal places which will be used as a format for input and display of values. By default, a Float field has 2 decimal places.
  7. For a String, Encrypted or Lookup field, optional: Specify the length of this field in characters in the Size field.
  8. For a Reference field: Under Reference, select the list of objects that will be available for users to choose a reference object from. If you select “Person”, the UDF will offer the list of active Person records. If you select “Technician” the field will offer the list of active Person records marked as Technician.
  9. For a Lookup field: Under Lookup Values, specify values for the drop-down list:
    1. Click New to bring up the Add Value dialog box.
    2. Type a value. You can enter values longer than specified field size, however the extra characters will be discarded.

    Repeat these steps to add as many items as needed.

    1. To arrange items in the list, use Move Up and Move Down buttons.
  10. To make the field either mandatory or read-only, select the corresponding check boxes under Options.
  11. If you are creating a user-defined field to hold internal values for your workflow, it doesn't need to be visible to the users. In such a case, select the Hidden check box. Fields marked Hidden can be only accessed by the Alloy Navigator Express administrator.

    INFO: For details on hiding UDFs, see Hiding UDFs From Users.

    INFO: For details on configuring workflow, see Workflow Management.

  12. Click OK.
  13. Click Save on the Standard toolbar to save the changes.