Create and edit custom fields group

When you create a new custom fields group, you specify the group code, the name, and the first field to include in the group. After creating the custom fields group, you configure other information about the field, including the field type and a default value. You can then create additional fields, change the order of fields in the group, and change any field values. When you add new fields to a custom fields group, you have the option to include the newly added fields to existing records.

Create a new custom fields group

From the Administration menu, select Administration > Record type definition.
Expand the appropriate module, then select the record type with which you want to work.
From the left menu, under Other associations select Custom fields group.
Select Create new custom fields group.

Complete the fields that display.

Field	Action
ACA displayable	This option controls the ability for residents to view custom fields in Citizen Access. Example: You can specify whether or not a resident can view the property frontage information on a planning application. Select Yes to give users full or read-only access to custom fields in Citizen Access, then set the Custom fields security (see Security policies) to full or read-only. Select No to hide the custom fields in Citizen Access. Use the Hidden option for expressions when the value from a field not displayed on the form becomes updated by the expression or the expression criteria uses the value.
ACA searchable	This option controls the ability for residents to search for custom fields in Citizen Access. Example: Residents can search for the property frontage information on a planning application. Select Yes to allow users to search on custom fields in Citizen Access. Select No to hide the custom fields on the search form. There are four combinations of settings for the ACA displayable and ACA searchable options: If you select Yes for both options, the custom field displays and is available for use in the search form. If you select Yes for ACA displayable, but No for ACA searchable, the custom field displays as read only in the search form. If you select No for ACA displayable and Yes for ACA searchable, the custom field does not display in the search form. This is not best practice. If you do not want the field to display in the search form, select No for both options.
Custom fields group code	Enter a unique code to identify the custom fields group that you are creating. If you are creating a subgroup for an existing group code, Civic Platform automatically populates this field with the group code that you are working with. This field is read-only when you are editing a subgroup or adding a field to a custom fields group.
Custom fields subgroup	Enter the name of the custom fields subgroup you are creating. This field is read-only when you are editing subgroup.
Custom lists group	Choose a custom lists group. You must create the custom lists group before you can choose it. For more information, see Create, edit, and delete custom lists and subgroups.
Default APO GIS layer	Enter the default APO GIS label.
Default value	Enter a default value for the field. If you are adding a custom fields group, this field defines the default value for the first field in your subgroup. Note: If you are setting up a drop-down list, you can add values to the drop-down list so that a user can choose between multiple values. For instructions, see Configure custom field and list drill-downs.
Display length	Specify the maximum number of characters that Civic Platform displays.
Display new custom field on existing records, meetings, contacts, and education/examination/continuing education	Choose Yes to make the new user-defined field, table, or sub-group of user-defined fields available to existing education, examination and/or continuing education records in addition to being available for new records. Choose No to apply the new user-defined objects to new records only.
Display order	Enter a number to determine the position of the field in a subgroup. If you are adding a custom fields group, this field determines the position of the first field in your subgroup. Example: To display the field before any other fields, enter 1.
Fee indicator	To use the field value in fee calculations, enter the unique 5-digit code that you use to identify this variable in a fee formula. You must use a value between 10100 and 10599 and use the format displayed: $fixxxxx$ Example: Enter $fi10101$
Field type	Choose the type of field. If you are adding a custom fields group, this field defines the type of the first field in your subgroup. For more information on field types, see Create and edit custom fields group. If the field type is a drop-down list, select Edit to update, add, or delete values from the drop-down list. For instructions, see Create and edit custom fields group.
1st field label	Enter the label of the field. If you are adding a custom fields group, this field defines the label for the first field in your subgroup. Example: If you want to prompt end-users to specify a date, enter the word "Date".
Field label alias	Enter an alias for the field created in 1st field label.
Group display order	Enter a number to specify the position of this custom fields group on an application. Example: If you want this a custom fields group to display in the second position, enter 2.
Justification	Use the drop-down list to determine the justification of the field value. Note: If you display Citizen Access in a Cyrillic font, which reads from the right side of the page to the left, you can specify a text justification that takes into consideration the font direction. The default setting uses left-alignment. If you cannot see any options, you must configure the related standard choice. For more information about the justification, see “Setting Custom Field to Right Justification” in the Internationalization Installation and Administrator Guide.
Location query	Select Yes to support populating the custom fields with the map data from multiple GIS layers. Select No to allow populating the custom fields only with the map data from the layer where the selected GIS object lies.
Max length	Specify the maximum number of characters (up to 4000) that the field accepts.
Required for fee calc	To require users to complete the Fee calculation fields, select Yes. Note: Fields required for Fee Calculation display a visual indicator ($) on an application form. You must configure FID 0242-Required for Fee Calculation to enable this feature.
Required flag	To require users to enter a value in this field, select Yes.
Searchable flag	To let users search for applications based on this field, select Yes.
Status	To let users see this group or this field in Civic Platform, select Enable or choose Enabled from the drop-down list; otherwise, select Disable or choose Disabled.
Supervisor edit only	Select Yes to make this information read-only to non-supervisor users after a user creates an application. For instructions, see Set permissions for custom fields and custom lists.
Unit or New unit	Enter any desired unit such as square feet, dollars, or miles that you want to attach to the field value. Choose from standard choices or enter a new unit. Note: If you are editing Custom fields subgroup, you cannot enter a new unit.

Select Save.

Save is disabled until you have entered information into all required fields.

Add a field to a custom fields group

You can add any number of fields to a custom fields group. The fields you add to a custom fields group become available in the Custom Fields Form Layout Editor. You can also specify whether to display a newly-added field on existing records.

Once you've added the custom field to a group, you can add it to a form, using the Custom Fields Form Layout Editor. See Custom fields group field types for a list of supported field types.

To add a field to a custom fields group

From the Administration menu, select Administration > Record type definition.
Expand the appropriate module, then select the record type with which you want to work.
From the left menu, under Other associations select Custom fields group.
From the Custom fields group field, select the custom fields group to which you want to add a custom field.
Select View/edit.
Expand the subgroup to which you want to add a field.
Select Add custom field.

Complete the fields that display.

Field	Action
ACA displayable	This option controls the ability for residents to view custom fields in Citizen Access. Example: You can specify whether or not a resident can view the property frontage information on a planning application. Select Yes to give users full or read-only access to custom fields in Citizen Access, then set the Custom fields security (see Security policies) to full or read-only. Select No to hide the custom fields in Citizen Access. Use the Hidden option for expressions when the value from a field not displayed on the form becomes updated by the expression or the expression criteria uses the value.
ACA searchable	This option controls the ability for residents to search for custom fields in Citizen Access. Example: Residents can search for the property frontage information on a planning application. Select Yes to allow users to search on custom fields in Citizen Access. Select No to hide the custom fields on the search form. There are four combinations of settings for the ACA displayable and ACA searchable options: If you select Yes for both options, the custom field displays and is available for use in the search form. If you select Yes for ACA displayable, but No for ACA searchable, the custom field displays as read only in the search form. If you select No for ACA displayable and Yes for ACA searchable, the custom field does not display in the search form. This is not best practice. If you do not want the field to display in the search form, select No for both options.
Custom fields group code	Enter a unique code to identify the custom fields group that you are creating. If you are creating a subgroup for an existing group code, Civic Platform automatically populates this field with the group code that you are working with. This field is read-only when you are editing a subgroup or adding a field to a custom fields group.
Custom fields subgroup	Enter the name of the custom fields subgroup you are creating. This field is read-only when you are editing subgroup.
Custom lists group	Choose a custom lists group. You must create the custom lists group before you can choose it. For more information, see Create, edit, and delete custom lists and subgroups.
Default APO GIS layer	Enter the default APO GIS label.
Default value	Enter a default value for the field. If you are adding a custom fields group, this field defines the default value for the first field in your subgroup. Note: If you are setting up a drop-down list, you can add values to the drop-down list so that a user can choose between multiple values. For instructions, see Configure custom field and list drill-downs.
Display length	Specify the maximum number of characters that Civic Platform displays.
Display new custom field on existing records, meetings, contacts, and education/examination/continuing education	Choose Yes to make the new user-defined field, table, or sub-group of user-defined fields available to existing education, examination and/or continuing education records in addition to being available for new records. Choose No to apply the new user-defined objects to new records only.
Display order	Enter a number to determine the position of the field in a subgroup. If you are adding a custom fields group, this field determines the position of the first field in your subgroup. Example: To display the field before any other fields, enter 1.
Fee indicator	To use the field value in fee calculations, enter the unique 5-digit code that you use to identify this variable in a fee formula. You must use a value between 10100 and 10599 and use the format displayed: $fixxxxx$ Example: Enter $fi10101$
Field type	Choose the type of field. If you are adding a custom fields group, this field defines the type of the first field in your subgroup. For more information on field types, see Create and edit custom fields group. If the field type is a drop-down list, select Edit to update, add, or delete values from the drop-down list. For instructions, see Create and edit custom fields group.
1st field label	Enter the label of the field. If you are adding a custom fields group, this field defines the label for the first field in your subgroup. Example: If you want to prompt end-users to specify a date, enter the word "Date".
Field label alias	Enter an alias for the field created in 1st field label.
Group display order	Enter a number to specify the position of this custom fields group on an application. Example: If you want this a custom fields group to display in the second position, enter 2.
Justification	Use the drop-down list to determine the justification of the field value. Note: If you display Citizen Access in a Cyrillic font, which reads from the right side of the page to the left, you can specify a text justification that takes into consideration the font direction. The default setting uses left-alignment. If you cannot see any options, you must configure the related standard choice. For more information about the justification, see “Setting Custom Field to Right Justification” in the Internationalization Installation and Administrator Guide.
Location query	Select Yes to support populating the custom fields with the map data from multiple GIS layers. Select No to allow populating the custom fields only with the map data from the layer where the selected GIS object lies.
Max length	Specify the maximum number of characters (up to 4000) that the field accepts.
Required for fee calc	To require users to complete the Fee calculation fields, select Yes. Note: Fields required for Fee Calculation display a visual indicator ($) on an application form. You must configure FID 0242-Required for Fee Calculation to enable this feature.
Required flag	To require users to enter a value in this field, select Yes.
Searchable flag	To let users search for applications based on this field, select Yes.
Status	To let users see this group or this field in Civic Platform, select Enable or choose Enabled from the drop-down list; otherwise, select Disable or choose Disabled.
Supervisor edit only	Select Yes to make this information read-only to non-supervisor users after a user creates an application. For instructions, see Set permissions for custom fields and custom lists.
Unit or New unit	Enter any desired unit such as square feet, dollars, or miles that you want to attach to the field value. Choose from standard choices or enter a new unit. Note: If you are editing Custom fields subgroup, you cannot enter a new unit.

Select Save.

Edit a field in a custom fields group

After you create a Custom Fields Group, you might need to change it. You can add or delete fields, or change the field type, its display order, and its default value. However, you cannot change the group code, the group name, or the field labels when you edit the group. Changing a field label requires that you delete the field and add it again with the new label.

To edit a Custom Fields Group

From the Administration menu, select Administration > Record type definition.
Expand the appropriate module, then select the record type with which you want to work.
From the left menu, under Other associations select Custom fields group.
From the Custom fields group field, select the custom fields group to which you want to add a custom field.
Select View/edit.
Expand the subgroup that contains the field you to edit.
Select the field in the Field label column.

Update the following fields as necessary.

Field	Action
ACA displayable	This option controls the ability for residents to view custom fields in Citizen Access. Example: You can specify whether or not a resident can view the property frontage information on a planning application. Select Yes to give users full or read-only access to custom fields in Citizen Access, then set the Custom fields security (see Security policies) to full or read-only. Select No to hide the custom fields in Citizen Access. Use the Hidden option for expressions when the value from a field not displayed on the form becomes updated by the expression or the expression criteria uses the value.
ACA searchable	This option controls the ability for residents to search for custom fields in Citizen Access. Example: Residents can search for the property frontage information on a planning application. Select Yes to allow users to search on custom fields in Citizen Access. Select No to hide the custom fields on the search form. There are four combinations of settings for the ACA displayable and ACA searchable options: If you select Yes for both options, the custom field displays and is available for use in the search form. If you select Yes for ACA displayable, but No for ACA searchable, the custom field displays as read only in the search form. If you select No for ACA displayable and Yes for ACA searchable, the custom field does not display in the search form. This is not best practice. If you do not want the field to display in the search form, select No for both options.
Custom fields group code	Enter a unique code to identify the custom fields group that you are creating. If you are creating a subgroup for an existing group code, Civic Platform automatically populates this field with the group code that you are working with. This field is read-only when you are editing a subgroup or adding a field to a custom fields group.
Custom fields subgroup	Enter the name of the custom fields subgroup you are creating. This field is read-only when you are editing subgroup.
Custom lists group	Choose a custom lists group. You must create the custom lists group before you can choose it. For more information, see Create, edit, and delete custom lists and subgroups.
Default APO GIS layer	Enter the default APO GIS label.
Default value	Enter a default value for the field. If you are adding a custom fields group, this field defines the default value for the first field in your subgroup. Note: If you are setting up a drop-down list, you can add values to the drop-down list so that a user can choose between multiple values. For instructions, see Configure custom field and list drill-downs.
Display length	Specify the maximum number of characters that Civic Platform displays.
Display new custom field on existing records, meetings, contacts, and education/examination/continuing education	Choose Yes to make the new user-defined field, table, or sub-group of user-defined fields available to existing education, examination and/or continuing education records in addition to being available for new records. Choose No to apply the new user-defined objects to new records only.
Display order	Enter a number to determine the position of the field in a subgroup. If you are adding a custom fields group, this field determines the position of the first field in your subgroup. Example: To display the field before any other fields, enter 1.
Fee indicator	To use the field value in fee calculations, enter the unique 5-digit code that you use to identify this variable in a fee formula. You must use a value between 10100 and 10599 and use the format displayed: $fixxxxx$ Example: Enter $fi10101$
Field type	Choose the type of field. If you are adding a custom fields group, this field defines the type of the first field in your subgroup. For more information on field types, see Create and edit custom fields group. If the field type is a drop-down list, select Edit to update, add, or delete values from the drop-down list. For instructions, see Create and edit custom fields group.
1st field label	Enter the label of the field. If you are adding a custom fields group, this field defines the label for the first field in your subgroup. Example: If you want to prompt end-users to specify a date, enter the word "Date".
Field label alias	Enter an alias for the field created in 1st field label.
Group display order	Enter a number to specify the position of this custom fields group on an application. Example: If you want this a custom fields group to display in the second position, enter 2.
Justification	Use the drop-down list to determine the justification of the field value. Note: If you display Citizen Access in a Cyrillic font, which reads from the right side of the page to the left, you can specify a text justification that takes into consideration the font direction. The default setting uses left-alignment. If you cannot see any options, you must configure the related standard choice. For more information about the justification, see “Setting Custom Field to Right Justification” in the Internationalization Installation and Administrator Guide.
Location query	Select Yes to support populating the custom fields with the map data from multiple GIS layers. Select No to allow populating the custom fields only with the map data from the layer where the selected GIS object lies.
Max length	Specify the maximum number of characters (up to 4000) that the field accepts.
Required for fee calc	To require users to complete the Fee calculation fields, select Yes. Note: Fields required for Fee Calculation display a visual indicator ($) on an application form. You must configure FID 0242-Required for Fee Calculation to enable this feature.
Required flag	To require users to enter a value in this field, select Yes.
Searchable flag	To let users search for applications based on this field, select Yes.
Status	To let users see this group or this field in Civic Platform, select Enable or choose Enabled from the drop-down list; otherwise, select Disable or choose Disabled.
Supervisor edit only	Select Yes to make this information read-only to non-supervisor users after a user creates an application. For instructions, see Set permissions for custom fields and custom lists.
Unit or New unit	Enter any desired unit such as square feet, dollars, or miles that you want to attach to the field value. Choose from standard choices or enter a new unit. Note: If you are editing Custom fields subgroup, you cannot enter a new unit.

Select Update.
Do any of the following, as appropriate for your agency's objectives:
- Select Actions > Security next to the field to apply or update user access security permissions to it. For instructions, see Set permissions for custom fields and custom lists.
- Select Actions > Edit button next to the drop-down list type field to define the options in the drop-down list. (This option is only available when the field is configured as a drop down list type.) For instructions, see Set or remove drop-down list field values.
- Select Edit > Variable Mapping button next to the text field to map the field to a session variable or a SQL-defined variable. For instructions, see Map a field to a session or SQL-defined variable.

Set or remove drop-down list field values

After you create a custom fields group, you can add fields to the group.If you add drop-down list fields, you must then set the values that you want to include in the list. You can also specify a shared drop-down list, which already has preconfigured values. For information on how to implement shared drop-down lists, see Apply shared drop-down lists.

Users can choose from field values when completing an application. For example, if you add a field to enter contact information, you can provide a drop-down list of contact types. You can also edit existing drop-down list values or delete drop-down values that you no longer use.

To add or remove dropdown options

From the Administration menu, select Administration > Record type definition.
Expand the appropriate module, then select the record type with which you want to work.
From the left menu, under Other associations select Custom fields group.
From the Custom fields group field, select the custom fields group to which you want to add a custom field.
Select View/edit.
Expand the subgroup that contains the field you to edit.
Select Actions > Edit button next to the drop-down list type field to define the options in the drop-down list.

This option is only available when the field is configured as a drop down list type.
Choose one of the following:
- To add a new value, select Add option, enter the value in the Add a list option field, and select Add.
- To remove a value, select the check box next to the dropdown name and select Remove.

Apply shared drop-down lists

After you create a custom fields group, you can add a drop-down field to the group. If you add drop-down list fields, you must then set the values that you want to include in the list. You can implement a shared drop-down list, which already has preconfigured values.

For information on how to create a shared drop-down list, see Create shared drop-down lists.

To apply a shared drop-down list

From the Administration menu, select Administration > Record type definition.
Expand the appropriate module, then select the record type with which you want to work.
From the left menu, under Other associations select Custom fields group.
From the Custom fields group field, select the custom fields group to which you want to add a custom field.
Select View/edit.
Expand the subgroup that contains the field you to edit.
Select Actions > Edit button next to the drop-down list type field to define the options in the drop-down list.

This option is only available when the field is configured as a drop down list type.
Select the Use Shared Drop-down Lists option.
Select Add shared list options.
Navigate to the shared list you want and select it.

You can only select one shared drop-down list.
Select Add.

Map a field to a session or SQL-defined variable

Administrators can map custom fields to a session variable or SQL-defined variable. When you use the field as a template field in a report with the Save to EDMS option set to Yes, Civic Platform can retrieve the value of the template field based on the variable mapping for the field. If Civic Platform retrieves a blank field value from session information or SQL query results, or fails to retrieve any value, an alert displays and you must enter the field value manually.

Civic Platform provides you with a set of standard out-of-the-box session variables. This set of variables include frequently used parameters from Civic Platform such as Department, Module, or Service Provider Code. For more information and a list of these session variables, see Session variables when variable mapping.

To map a field to a session or SQL-defined variable

From the Administration menu, select Administration > Record type definition.
Expand the appropriate module, then select the record type with which you want to work.
From the left menu, under Other associations select Custom fields group.
From the Custom fields group field, select the custom fields group to which you want to add a custom field.
Select View/edit.
Expand the subgroup that contains the field you to edit.
Select Edit > Variable Mapping button next to the text field to map the field to a session variable or a SQL-defined variable.

This option is only available when the field is configured as a text type.
To map the custom field to a session variable, do the following:
1. From the Type drop-down list, select SessionVariable.
2. Select the session variable to which the custom field is mapped from the Value drop-down list. For a description of the session variables, see Session variables when variable mapping.
To map the custom field to an SQL variable, do the following:
1. From the Type drop-down list, select Variable.
2. Enter an SQL statement in the Value field to retrieve the field value at runtime.
To remove the relationship between the custom field and variable, leave the Type and Value fields blank on the Variable Mapping page.