managing custom fields

[catherineh70969]

I'm looking for recommendations are best practices for managing custom fields (identifying fields that were created but never used, sun-setting fields no longer used, etc) especially if your implementation spans across multiple departments. Thanks! Catherine Hayes The Channel Company

[William--]

I can offer a couple pointers: 1. When viewing your list of fields, in Setup >> Custom Forms >> Fields, you can add a column to display on which forms a field is used. (Customize View >> Add Column >> Parameter >> Forms) This will show you if a field is abandoned or not. (Unfortunately this is not available as a parameter report filter) 2. To retire fields but retain the values recorded previously on forms, create a "Retired" section on the forms that is not visible to the users, and move retired fields into that section. 3. If you want to evaluate what options are included in each multiple-choice parameter without having to open it, you can add a column to your view in the Fields list to show you the values with this text code: displayname=Choices listdelimiter= listmethod=nested(parameterOptions).lists textmode=true type=iterate valueexpression=CONCAT({label},";",{value}) valueformat=HTML I'm sure there are many more tips and tricks from the other members here... William English

[JillAc]

Hi William Can you explain how you make a section of a Custom Form invisible to other users? This would be very useful. Thanks, Jill Jill Ackerman

[William--]

Sure thing, While editing your custom form in Setup, add a Section Break at the bottom, label it something like Retired, and in the Additional Settings section beneath the Label and Description area, there's a dropdown menu for "In order to VIEW this section, people must have permission to..." Select Admin Only in this dropdown and you're good to go! William English

[catherineh70969]

This is very helpful @William English Thanks so much! Catherine Hayes The Channel Company

[MoniqueEvans]

Hi William, Just wondering if you knew the code to identify field choices that are hidden? Ideally I want to take this reporting to the next level and add a conditional formatting color that hidden fields show up as gray (or red) Also for anyone interested in not showing the Name and Value you can use this code instead listdelimiter= listmethod=nested(parameterOptions).lists name=Field Options textmode=true type=iterate valuefield=value valueformat=HTML Monique Evans Stanley Black & Decker, Inc.

[William--]

Nice addition, Monique. My gut tells me that you're out of luck in terms of designing a Workfront report that provides conditional formatting at that level. The column is a collection, and I don't believe you can apply conditional formatting to a collection. You might try another approach - perhaps with a Kickstart export of Custom Data. The POPT Parameter Option tab is the list of custom values and their labels. You can filter or set conditional formatting rules to column G, where "setIsHidden" is TRUE. Of course, you need to know to which field these values belong. On the POPT tab, column I is the Field ID to which the value belongs. It will have a corresponding value in column B on the PARAM Parameter tab. When you've found that corresponding value in Column B, you can see the system's field name in column F. I suggest adding a LOOKUP column to make this easier. Others in the community may have a more elegant or simple solution, which I'd be happy to learn :) William English