If you wish to keep track of information that currently does not exist in the stock apps or in QuickBooks, you can do so through the use of custom fields.
This article will cover creating a custom field in a table that already exists, and having a good understanding of Tables and Fields will be beneficial.
In this article, you will learn how to :
Add a custom field to a table
For this example, we will add a person's nickname to the existing Contacts Table.
Cick your preferences icon in the upper-right corner and select Account Settings.
Scroll down and click Tables & Field.
This will bring up a full list of all active tables in your Method:CRM account. To add a field to an existing table, you’ll need to edit that table. Type "contacts" into the search bar, then click on the Contacts table to view it.
You will see a list of all the fields in the Contacts Table. Click the New Field button.
We'll give our field a name that makes sense: "Nickname". Keep the default field type to "Text".
The title of a custom field can only contain alphanumeric characters, Special characters (like &, *, ^, a space, etc.) is a no-no. This is true of all custom fields.
Because the Contacts table already has records, the options unique and required are disabled. The character limit for a text field defaults to 255, but you can change this value if your field requires more characters.When done, click the Save button.
Now, when you scroll down to view the fields in the Contacts table, you’ll see your new field added alphabetically.
You’ll still need to do additional work to make it appear on the screen. Check the end of this article for links to those workflows.
Delete a custom field from a table
If you decide you no longer need the field you added, you can delete it, as long as there isn't data saved in that field. We'll use the same example as above.
Note: Deleteing a field is permanent. You can’t undo deleting a custom field! |
Edit the Contacts table as described above in steps 1 to 3.
Scroll down to the “Nickname” field and select it to edit it.
At the bottom of the Edit Field screen, you’ll see “Delete”. Clicking it will delete the field.
You’ll notice there are several fields you can’t delete. That’s because some fields are required by QuickBooks and others are required by Method.
Furthermore, custom fields that have been filled with data or are on a screen cannot be deleted. In the above image, note the Find all references link. This will show you all the screens a field is on.
Customize an app to view the field
Once you've added the custom field, you probably want it showing on a screen. Depending on the table you've added it to, you'll need to customize the appropriate screen.
The following articles will detail how to show different scenarios of adding a custom field to an app screen: