Custom Field dialogs (v7)

This dialog is called from the Catalog menu or from the Metadata Properties Settings dialog. Access and edit details of custom fields.

Note: Custom Field management is only available in single-user access mode. All other users must be logged off in order to administrate custom fields - including simple edits to pre-defined lists.

The main dialog

• New.... Opens the New Field dialog - see below.
• Delete. Deletes the custom field and all data. There is no undo - use with caution. you get this warning dialog:
• Edit.... Opens the Edit Field dialog - see below.
• Cancel. Close the dialog without saving changes
• OK. Save changes and close the dialog.

New / Edit dialogs

This dialog us used for both new definition of fields and editing existing settings.

The options vary by the type of field selected and are shown below with the default settings.

Text (was 'String' in previous versions)

This field type is designed for single line text values. You can specify a maximum length for the field by entering the number of allowable characters in the Length text box. The data in a Text Field can be from 1 to 249 characters long, and include multiple values, and/or be configured as a predefined list. Fields cannot contain multi-lined text (for multi-line text, use Text Blocks).

Date/Time

This field type allows you to enter date and/or time values into your items. You can elect to have Time values not displayed by deselecting the Display Time option in the Date/Time Custom Field Definition dialog. Date/Time fields include multiple values, and/or can be configured as a predefined list.

Note: times are always assumed when searching on Date/Time fields. That is, if a time value has been entered into the field (either by extraction from the source file when the item was catalogued, or by entering a time in the field) and then hidden by turning off "Display Time", the time will still be noted by Portfolio when a search is generated. For example: searching for "5/20/02" will not find an item which contains "5/20/02 3:00 pm" because the request is interpreted as "5/20/02 12:00:00." This is true even if the time is not being displayed. Using the client the date format dd/mm vs. mm/dd is that of the client's host OS localisation. For NetPublish or PortWeb it is the localisation of the web server OS [sic].

Decimal

In this field type, you can enter decimal point numeric values with a precision up to 8 decimal points. Decimal fields can include multiple values, and/or be configured as a predefined list. To set the Precision, select it from the drop-down menu.

Text Block

Text Blocks are multi-lined fields that can be any length up to 32K characters in length. This field type allows you to add multiple lines of text to items; you can include line breaks or carriage returns. Text blocks are word-indexed, allowing even these longer fields to be searched extremely quickly. The Text Block field cannot be sorted or phrase-searched; however, you can find short phrases (of up to 5 words) by using a multi-term Find. See this FAQ for more information.

Web URL (was 'URL' in previous versions)

This field type allows you to enter Web and other URL addresses. If the syntax is correct for a URL, the data will become an active hyperlink. To create an active link, enter any reference in URL format; http, ftp, telnet, gopher, mailto, even local files or applications. When you edit a URL to add data to it (Item > Properties > Fields tab > Edit button) the Title that you enter is displayed in the item and becomes the active link (Portfolio links the Title to the actual URL in the URL field). You can give the URL any Title you like - the Title does not need to refer to the actual (underlying) URL.

Note. When importing data into a URL field (File %gt; Import Field Values), Portfolio treats the URL field as a multi-valued field with two values. The first value is always the Title and the second value is the URL address. If you wish to import URLs into Portfolio, they must conform to this format. Portfolio follows the same formatting when exporting URL field data. URL fields cannot be set up with a predefined list, cannot have multiple values (as they're effectively MV already) and must have both Title and URL data fields filled to operate correctly.

Number (was 'Integer' in previous versions)

For regular numeric values (whole numbers). Number fields can include multiple values, and/or can be configured as a predefined list.

Edit custom List dialog

If the 'Use predefined list of values' option is ticked (where field type supports this):

You get this dialog:

• '+' and '-' buttons. Allow values to be added or selected items in the list to be deleted. Fields holding deleted values are not updated - the user must do this using Find and Edit Field Values.
• Allow only Words from List. When ticked, only items in the list may be used. Any edit boxes for the field will then offer a op-up (Mac) or drop-down (Windows) list for the user to select a value.
• Import.... Opens an OS Open File dialog allowing you to import a plain text file with a previously saved list of values (1 item per line).
• Export.... Opens an OS Open File dialog allowing you to export your current list as a plain text file (1 item per line).
• Cancel. Close the dialog without saving changes
• OK. Save changes and close the dialog.

Question: Custom Field dialogs (v7) [FAQ00060.htm]
Last Update:- 09 August 2011

This FAQ is created and maintained using

Friday - The Automatic FAQ Maker