As of v5.1, Aeon now supports the creation of new custom fields for Transactions, Users, and Activities. These new fields are created at the database level, so they must be defined in the Aeon Customization Manager.
Creating Custom Field Definitions
Custom fields are defined in the Customization Manager, under System | General | CustomFieldDefinitions. Once a field definition has been entered, that field will be available on all Transactions, Users, or Activities (depending on which context type is chosen).
Adding Custom Fields to Web Pages
Custom fields have been added to existing DLL tags and can be displayed on any of the web pages. Additional display options are available.
Adding Custom Fields to the WebValidation Table
Custom fields can also be added as required fields to the Customization Manager's WebValidation table.
Adding Custom Fields to the Aeon Desktop Client
Once defined in the Customization Manager, custom fields must be manually added to forms in the Aeon Desktop Client using custom staff layout templates. Detailed instructions on adding new fields to forms can be found in the Editing Form Layout article. The following specific types of custom fields can be added to these desktop client forms:
| Form Name | Type of Custom Fields Available |
| Request | Transaction and User (User fields are read-only) |
| User Information | User |
| Activity | Activity |
| Merge Request | Transaction |
| Merge User | User |
Custom fields will also be displayed in all relevant grids in the desktop client.
Custom fields can be renamed on grids and forms in the Aeon Desktop Client using Field Customizations in the Staff Manager. When renaming a custom field, use the format "CustomFields.[ShortName]" in the Field Name field.
Adding Custom Fields to the Aeon Web Client
Once defined in the Customization Manager, custom fields must be manually added to the customizable pages and grids in the Aeon Web Client by an Aeon administrator using custom staff profiles configured on the Staff Administration page of the web client. Each type of custom field can be added to the following pages and grids:
- User-type custom fields can be added to the User Information page and to Users and Transactions-type grids
- Transaction-type custom fields can be added to Transactions-type grids
- Activity-type custom fields can be added to Activities-type grids
For more information on customizing pages and grids in the Aeon Web Client, see Managing Staff Accounts and Web Client Layouts Using the Staff Administration Page.
Cloning Requests
When a request is cloned in the Aeon Desktop Client, all custom field values will be copied over to the new request.
When a request is cloned in the web pages (i.e. by the user), only the custom field values present on the relevant request page will be copied. In order to include custom fields that are not displayed to the user, you must include those fields on the request page as hidden inputs.
Creating Requests from File
As of Aeon 5.2, Transaction type custom field values can be set when creating requests from file in the Aeon Desktop Client. The column name for the Transaction custom field in the Excel spreadsheet should be configured to match the short name defined for the field in the CustomFieldDefinitions table.
Routing Rules
Transaction and User custom fields can be used in routing rules:
- When routing a Transaction field, use the format "t.CustomFields.[ShortName]"
- When routing a User field, use the format "u.CustomFields.[ShortName]"
Adding Custom Fields to Email Templates
Once defined in the Customization Manager, custom field tags are available to be added to Transaction, User, and Activity email templates. Transaction and Activity custom field tags are limited to their respective template types, while User custom field tags can be added to any of the three.
Tags are formatted as "<#[ContextType].CustomFields.[ShortName]>" (e.g. <#Request.CustomFields.Folder>) and can be added from a Custom Fields submenu within the Request, Researcher, User, or Activity tag menus.
Adding Custom Fields to Print Templates
Once defined in the Customization Manager, custom fields are available to be added as merge fields on print templates. For invoice templates, custom fields are associated with each invoice and payment by transaction number. Custom merge fields can be added from the Insert Merge Field drop-down box in Microsoft Word on print templates and are formatted as CustomFields_[ShortName].
Custom Searching
Custom fields are available for all three custom search types in the Aeon Desktop Client as both search parameters and results columns.
Addons
Custom fields can be retrieved and set via addons. They should be referenced using "[Context].CustomFields" as the table name (where "[Context]" is Transaction, User, or Activity) and the custom field short name as the field name.
Addon functions for a Transaction custom field with the short name "ExpDate" would be written as follows:
GetFieldValue("Transaction.CustomFields", "ExpDate");
SetFieldValue("Transaction.CustomFields", "ExpDate", "12/25/2021");
ExecuteCommand("Save", "Transaction.CustomFields");
SaveDataSource("Transaction.CustomFields");API Changes
A new custom field definitions endpoint has been created. This can be used to retrieve a list of custom fields defined for each of the three supported context types (Activity, Transaction, or User). For more information see Aeon API.