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Creating and Editing Fields

You can create custom fields and edit existing field definitions in the Field Edit page for a record type.

Before you begin. To perform this procedure, your role must include the Customize Application privilege.

To create custom fields and edit fields

  1. In the upper-right corner of any page, click the Admin global link.
  2. Click the Application Customization link.
  3. In the Record Types Setup section, click the link for the required record type.
  4. In the Field Management section, click record type Field Setup.
  5. On the Fields page:
    • Click New Field if you are creating a custom field.
    • Click the Edit link for the field to edit the field's definition.
  6. On the Field Edit page, enter a Display Name.

    The display name is the label for the field.

  7. On the Field Edit page, select a Field Type if you are creating a field.

    CAUTION: The Field Type cannot be changed after you save the custom field.

    The following rules apply to custom fields, which might differ from those applicable to default fields of the same field type:

    Field Type

    Maximum Length

    Notes

    Date

    25

     

    Date/Time

    25

     

    Integer

     

    Whole numbers ranging in value from - 2147483648 to 2147483647.

    Multi-select picklist

     

    You cannot define a default value for a multi-select picklist.

     

    Number

     

    Numbers ranging in value from - 2147483648 to 2147483647.

    Phone

    35

     

    Picklist

    30

     

    Text (Long)

    255

    Text fields use a single-line text field.

    Text (Short)

    40

    Text fields use a single-line text field.

    Web Link

    n/a

    Web Link custom fields allow you to create context-sensitive hyperlinks in your layouts.

  8. In the Additional Properties section, complete the following fields as required:

    Field

    Comments

    Required

    Select this check box to make the field a required field when creating or updating records. For example, you can require that all users fill in the Account field when adding new contacts.

    Default

    Enter an expression directly, or, if you have the Enterprise Edition of Siebel CRM On Demand, click the fx icon to open the Expression Builder window.

    For more information about setting default values, see About Field Management, and for information about the syntax you can use for expressions, see Creating Expressions with Expression Builder.

    You can add complex expressions only if your role includes the Advanced Field Management privilege. Otherwise, you can add constants and some simple expressions only.

    Read Only

    Select this check box to make the field read-only.

    Post Default

    This field is displayed only if your user role includes the Advanced Field Management privilege.

    Select this check box if you require that the field is not automatically filled with the default value when a new record is created. The specified default value is set when the record is saved only if a value is not supplied by the user or by integration tools.

    Field Validation

    This field is displayed only if your user role includes the Advanced Field Management privilege.

    Enter an expression directly, or, if you have the Enterprise Edition of Siebel CRM On Demand, click the fx icon to open the Expression Builder window.

    For more information about setting default values, see About Field Management, and for information about the syntax you can use for expressions, see Creating Expressions with Expression Builder.

    Field Validation Error Message

    This field is displayed only if your user role includes the Advanced Field Management privilege.

    Enter a custom error message to be displayed in addition to the standard message if validation fails for the field. The message can contain only letters, numbers, spaces, commas, periods, and dashes.

    The following shows how the error messages are displayed, depending on whether you specify a custom error message:

    • If field validation is set, and no custom message specified: The value entered for '[Field]' does not meet the validation rules set by your company administrator. The validation condition is '[Rule]'.

      If field validation is set, and a custom message is specified: The value entered for '[Field]' does not meet the validation rules set by your company administrator. [Custom Error Message].

  9. Click Save.

    The new fields that you add automatically appear in blue text and brackets in the other activated languages (regardless of the setting of the Mark for Translation check box).

  10. To manually enter the translated equivalent of the new name or Field Validation Error Message:
    1. From the Translation Language drop-down list, select the language whose translation you want to enter.
    2. Enter the translated equivalent in the appropriate Display Name or Field Validation Error Message field, and click Save.
    3. Click the link to return to the Fields page you just updated, and select the language again, if necessary.

      The translated name appears in black text in the Display Name column.

      NOTE: For custom fields to display in Siebel CRM On Demand Answers when the On Demand user language differs from the language in which the custom field was created, the custom field must be translated into the applicable language. For example, if a custom field is created in English, a German language user does not see this field in Siebel CRM On Demand Answers unless the field is translated into German.

      Selecting Mark for Translation overwrites both Display Name and Field Validation Error Message in all other languages.

  11. If you created a picklist or multi-select picklist:
    1. Click the Edit Picklist link for the custom field.
    2. In the Picklist Values box, enter each value on a separate line.
    3. Save the record.

NOTE: Now you must expose newly-created custom fields, so that they appear on the forms (Edit, Detail and Create forms). They do not appear by default. To expose the custom field, create new page layouts as required and make sure that these page layouts are assigned to each role that needs to view the field.


Published 05/11/2007