Custom Fields

Overview

The Custom Fields screen is where you can create or view customized fields to track extra characteristics and attributes of various items and profiles in different screens. For example, you can track employee skills and experience to match your company's needs. You might want to use a custom field in the Employees screen to store the date the employee received a professional license. For that, you can change its interface to a calendar drop-down. You might want to have a time entry custom field be used when a service is provided out of state. For that, you can create a custom list called U.S. State and make it a drop-down list. These custom fields can be used in custom reports as well as in standard reports for filtering data. You also have the ability to create pre-defined custom lists that can be used by others when working in BQE CORE. Click to watch the video on creating custom fields and lists in CORE.

A custom field can support any data type. For example, Plain Text for alphabets and letters, Numeric for numerals and digits, Currency for amount with a currency sign, and Decimal for decimal values. You can choose any type of UI for these custom fields. For example, a text box, a memo, a date drop-down, a custom list drop-down, or an auto-fill combo box. You can add unlimited number of custom fields to the CORE screens and also filter data in the list view based on those fields. CORE lets you batch update the custom fields from all screens. 

Field Descriptions

How To

Add Custom Fields

Add Drop-down Fields

Create Custom Lists

Add Existing Custom Fields

Show/Hide Columns in Grid

Export Custom Fields

View Reports

View Lists

Mark Screen as Favorite

Field Descriptions

Add Custom Fields

To add a new custom field, watch this video or follow these steps:

1. Open the Custom Fields screen from the side menu > Settings > Display & Formatting. 
   
   
   
   
2. Click Add Custom Field on the top-right and select the type of field you want to add, say Text Box.
3. On the Add Text Box dialog, select a screen under the Module drop-down and click Continue.
4. Next, enter the required information. Check Field Descriptions above for details.
   • Name
   • Type: Data type of the custom text box field
   • # of Characters: Number of characters allowed
     
     
     
     
5. Check Show in List View if you want this field to appear under the Show/Hide Columns list and show up on the grid.
6. Click Save.

Note: You can display a maximum of three custom fields on the list view per screen.

Add Drop-down Fields

Drop-down lists can be of two types: regular drop-downs where you can select pre-defined options but cannot enter any value, and combo box where you can select pre-defined options as well as enter new values. The combo boxes are self-populating and editable drop-downs.

To add a new custom drop-down field, watch this video or follow these steps:

1. Open the Custom Fields screen from the side menu > Settings > Display & Formatting.
   
   
   
   
2. Click Add Custom Field on the top-right and select the type of field you want to add, say Dropdown.
3. On the Add Drop-down dialog, select a screen under the Module drop-down and click Continue.
4. Next, enter the required information. Check Field Descriptions above for details.
   • Name
   • Field Type: Data type of the custom drop-down field
   • Type: whether to create the drop-down using a new list or an existing one
   • List Name: of the new custom drop-down list you are creating, say Office Location or Activity Type.
     
     
     
     
5. If you are using an existing custom list, then select it from the drop-down. You can add more items to it by clicking Add List Item. If you are creating a new list, then enter the List Name and add items to it.
6. Check Show in List View if you want this field to appear under the Show/Hide Columns list and show up on the grid.
   Note: You can display a maximum of three custom fields on the list view per screen.
7. Click Save.

Create Custom Lists

You can create a custom list and assign that to a specific custom field. For instance, you might want to track the location where a service is performed. In that case, you can create a custom list called Location and add various project or service locations to it. You can assign the same custom list to multiple records.

To create a custom list, watch this video or follow these steps:

1. Open the Custom Fields screen from the side menu > Settings > Display & Formatting.
   
   
   
   
2. Click Add Custom Field on the top-right and select an option, say Dropdown.
3. On the Add Dropdown dialog, select a screen name from the Module drop-down.
4. Click Continue.
5. Next enter or select the required information:
   • Name
   • Field Type: Check Field Descriptions above for details.
   • Type: New
   • List Name
     
     
     
     
6. Click Add List Item and enter the item names in the top row of the grid. Click Done.
7. Check Show in List View if you want this field to appear under the Show/Hide Columns list and show up on the grid.
   Note: You can display a maximum of three custom fields on the list view per screen.

8. Click Save.

Add Existing Custom Fields

To add an existing custom field to a screen, watch this video or follow these steps: 

1. Open the Custom Fields screen from the side menu > Settings > Display & Formatting.
   
   
   
   
2. Select an option from the Show drop-down, say Client.
3. Next, click Add Custom Field on the top-right and select Add Existing at the bottom.
4. On the Add Custom Field dialog, select the custom field you want to add.
5. Click Save.

The existing custom fields get added to the selected screen.

Show/Hide Columns in Grid

You can configure the fields or columns that appear on the grid in the list view. You can hide or show columns, and sort the order of columns according to your requirements.

To do so, watch this video or follow these steps:

1. Open the Custom Fields screen from the side menu > Settings > Display & Formatting.
   
   
   
   
2. In the list view, click More > Show/Hide Columns on the action bar.
3. Select or un-select the column names in the drop-down list, say Type.
4. Next, click the column name you want to sort the data by, say Type.
5. Click once for ascending order (A-Z) and twice for descending order (Z-A).

Note: You can resize the column widths on the grid and then reset them, if needed (More > Reset Column Widths).

You can also check the detailed video on navigation and customizing grids in CORE.

Export Custom Fields

In CORE, you can export custom fields to the Comma Separated Values file format. CORE exports data from all available columns and not just the columns visible in the grid.

To export the custom fields to a .CSV file, watch this video or follow these steps:

1. Open the Custom Fields screen from the side menu > Settings > Display & Formatting.
   
   
   
   
2. In the list view, click More > Export as CSV.
3. A .csv export file is created and saved on your system at the default download location, say your desktop. Click to open the spreadsheet.

You can also check the detailed video on exporting data in CORE.

View Reports

To view a report, watch this video or follow these steps:

1. Open the Custom Fields screen from the side menu > Settings > Display & Formatting.
   
   
   
   
2. In the list view, click More > View Reports.
3. Select a report from the Report List dialog. It opens in the viewer.
4. Preview the report and then choose to export or print it.

You can also check the detailed video on running and managing reports in CORE.

View Lists

You can view all the custom lists created by you from here.

To do so, watch this video or follow these steps:

1. Open the Custom Fields screen from the side menu > Settings > Display & Formatting.
   
   
   
   
2. In the list view, click More > View Lists.
3. On the Lists screen, select a custom list on the grid that you want to view and click Detail on its row.
   
   
   
   
4. On the List dialog, enter more items or make the desired changes. You cannot delete the default custom lists.
5. Click Save.

Mark Screen as Favorite

You can mark or flag the most-often used and important screens in CORE as your favorites up to a maximum of ten. These favorite screens then display separately on the side menu under the Favorites list. You can manage all your favorite screens in CORE from User Settings.

To mark this screen as your favorite, watch this video or follow these steps:

1. Open the Custom Fields screen from the side menu > Settings >Display & Formatting. 
   
   
   
   
2. Click on the top-right.
3. You can access this screen from the side menu under Favorites.

You can also check the detailed video on marking screens as favorite in CORE.