About Custom Fields

Updated by Cheryl Wallace

Custom Fields are additional specialized fields you can add to your ToolHound database for part numbers, serialized items, or personnel. Different data types are supported. In each case, the fields will appear on the Custom Fields tab for that page where you can enter the data for that record. The Custom Fields tab is displayed only if custom fields have been added for that page / table (Part Numbers, Serialized Items, or Personnel).

Custom fields can be used as advanced filters for reports and included as columns on certain duplicated reports.

Custom fields are not controlled, updated, or managed by any function in ToolHound including imports.

Use the Custom Fields page to add and configure custom fields for your organizations needs. Once configured, you can add the data to the field on the Custom Fields tab for the page matching the selected table name.

Use custom fields instead of a user field to ensure consistency when recording data. This can be beneficial when using dates, currency values, numbers, or codes and references that must match other ERP systems.
Adding new custom fields should be considered an advanced feature and restricted to internal ToolHound administrators or power users.

Fields on this tab include:

Table Name

Select from Inventory Item (Serialized Items page), Part Number, or Personnel. This indicates where the custom field will be linked.

Field Name

The name of the column in the table. Once a new custom field is save, the field name cannot be changed. Even if you later change the field caption, the field name will retain the original value.

Field Caption

This is the caption, or label, shown on the Custom Fields tab for the selected table name that describes this custom field. This will default to the Field Name if nothing is entered.

This can also be changed on the Custom Fields tab by double-clicking, as with any change in caption.

Datatype

Select the type of data that will be stored in this field.

  • Integer - whole number
  • Text - a character string. If desired, a Field Length can be specified to restrict the size of the string.
  • Yes/No - a radio button that can be toggled on or off
  • Date Time - currently only a date is supported. A calendar icon will be available to select a date.
  • Currency - numeric value supporting the same 2 decimals as elsewhere.
  • Notes - long text field, similar to existing Notes fields
  • Numeric - specify number of Decimal Places and Field Length, if desired

Additional datatypes will be displayed for any custom picklist. These are treated as Text.

When a custom picklist is the selected datatype, it is hyperlinked. Click Datatype to view the Custom Picklists page for this list.

Field Length

Field length is available for Text and Numeric datatypes only. Optional. This is only necessary if you wish to enforce a restriction on the size of the string or the number. The maximum field length for

  • Text is 4000
  • Numeric is 38

For the Numeric datatype, this includes the number of specified decimal places.

Example: If you wish to have only 3 places before the decimal and 2 places after, set the Field Length to 5.

Decimal Places

Only shown when the Numeric datatype is selected. Optional. This is used to format the numeric value to a specific number of decimals.

Required

Indicate whether this is a required field. A record cannot be saved without a value entered in this field.

Default Value

The value that will be saved automatically for the record unless manually overwritten on the item, part, or personnel record.

Display for Part No

Shown only when Part Number or Inventory Item table names are selected. Apply this custom field only for a specific part number. Only one part can be selected. The field will not appear on the Custom Fields tab for any other part number or serialized item of a different part number.

Display for Category

Shown only when Part Number or Inventory Item table names are selected. Apply this custom field only for part numbers with this category. Only one category can be selected. The field will not appear on the Custom Fields tab for any other part number.

Related Reports
None

See also:

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