Creating a custom field

You can create custom fields to display on customizable list pages and on customizable detail screens for documents.

Creating a custom field is distinct from placing a custom field on a page. You can create a custom field and never apply it to any pages for display. More commonly, however, you will create a custom field as below (in Administration>Custom Fields), and then place it on a page (in Administration>Custom Pages). See more information about Managing custom pages.

To create a custom field:

1. From Administration>Custom Fields, click Add. The Add Custom Field screen appears.
2. Enter a unique Name for the new custom field (up to 40 characters) in the header area of the screen.
3. Enter an Abbreviation for the custom field (up to 10 characters).
4. Describe the purpose of the custom field in the Description text box (up to 255 characters).
5. In the Business Process drop-down menu, select Inventory, Inbound, or Outbound, to describe the processes and documents the new field applies to. This is a permanent selection, and is not editable after you save the custom field. Not sure which business process to choose?

   The Business Process Details diagram in the lower part of the page refreshes to correspond to the business process you select.

6. Enter the data Type for the new custom field. Review the data types. This is a permanent selection, and is not editable after you save the custom field. (You can create up to 10 custom fields for each data type for each of the three business processes: Inbound, Outbound, and Inventory.)

   You can define the data type for each custom field you create. There are seven data types available to choose from:

   • Number: Stores numbers, and displays the specified Number of decimal places.
   • Yes/No: Stores a Yes or No value.
   • Text: Stores string values limited to 100 characters.
   • Memo: Stores long string values limited to 1,000 characters.
   • Date Time: Stores a date value.
   • Currency: Stores a currency value.
   • List: Stores an ordered list that you define. Single-select (only one item in the list is selectable).

   The Number, Text, Memo, DateTime, Currency, Yes/No, and List types of custom fields can all be empty (null). For the Yes/No and List types of custom fields, the empty (null) value appears as a list option "-none selected-".

   Note: If you mark the custom field as Required in your business process diagram when you create the custom field, it cannot be null, regardless of the type. The default value is based on your business process diagram. See more information at Creating a custom field.

   If you select List or Number as the Type, an additional field appears.

   • For List types, a List of values field appears. Enter the different values for your list on separate lines.

     If you are unsure about the values for the list, take some time to verify what they should be. If you edit the attributes of this custom field in the future, you can only add new items to the list of possible values. To protect data, SmartTurn prohibits you from deleting or renaming list values.

     Note: There is a built in "-none selected-" (null) option, provided by SmartTurn, which does not appear when you are creating the custom field.

   • For Number types, a Number of decimal places field appears. Enter the number of decimal places you need in the field. (E.g. for 45.2599, you would enter "4" in Number of decimal places; for .03, you would enter "2".)
7. The Business Process Details diagram in the lower part of the page represents how the data entered into the new custom field flows through documents in SmartTurn. Here, you can specify the field's behavior on each of the documents represented in the diagram.
   Document	Description	Business Process
   Purchase Order	general header information and list of items	Inbound
   Purchase Order Item record	specific details about the line item included in the PO	Inventory
   Receipt	general header information and list of items	Inbound
   Receipt Item record	specific details about the line item included on the Receipt	Inventory
   Inventory Item record	specific details about the line item included in Inventory	Inventory
   Shipment	general header information and list of items	Outbound
   Shipment Item record	specific details about the line item included in the Shipment	Inventory
   Sales Order	general header information and list of items	Outbound
   Sales Order Item record	specific details about the line item included in the SO	Inventory

   1. If the the document requires data in the field before it is saved, check the box for Required.

      With a custom field, it's not always necessary for the user to supply data for a Required field (or "populate" it) by keying it in. When you configure a custom field, you can specify that the data be pulled in from another document or the "header" fields of the current document.

   2. Any default value you define for an editable custom field appears (or "populates") the field either before or after a user saves the document. The two check boxes, Pre-populate and Populate on Save, instruct SmartTurn how to handle default values in editable fields.
      • Check Pre-populate if you want the default value to appear in the editable field when the screen first appears. The user can subsequently override this default value.
      • Check Populate on Save if you want the default value to be saved with the document if the user didn't specify it before closing the document (closing the document means clicking buttons such as Save, Dispatch, Receive, Ship, OK). This option is appropriate for time stamps, hidden values, etc.

        You might check both the Pre-populate and Populate on Save boxes if you have a default value for a required field. This is because when you check both boxes, you are ensuring that SmartTurn provides a default value for the user to see or override, and you are protecting users from blanking out a default value.

   3. The Available and Selected columns work together to help you specify the source for a default value. Both columns contain only choices that are appropriate to be the source for the default value of a custom field on this document. The Selected side lists the most likely sources, in descending order, for the default value. You can leave these as is, or use the arrows between the two columns to select different sources from the Available column, remove sources from the Selected column, or re-order the sources in the Selected column.
      • If you move Constant to the Selected column, you specify the value for the constant by keying it into the Constant field. For DateTime custom field types, the Constant field has a built-in date selector.
      • Pre-existing custom fields that have the same data type and that display in the tabs of a document also appear in the Available column. If you move a custom field into the Selected column, SmartTurn will pull data from that custom field, just as it would from a core field.

        Known issue: The Business Process Details diagram is not used if the document is a bill of lading. Instead, the custom field values on bills of lading are empty (null). See Working with custom fields and bills of lading.

8. Click OK, below, when you are finished configuring the custom field. This saves the custom field.
9. To apply the custom field you just created to a customizable page, log out of SmartTurn, and then log back in.

   Whenever you create a custom field with the Inventory business process, SmartTurn automatically adds it to the Item Master and to the Inventory Item record (View Inventory Item screen), on the Custom tab.

   To Edit a custom field, see Edit a custom field.

To protect existing data, SmartTurn prevents you from editing the data Type or Business Process to which it refers after you save a custom field.

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