Within your VolunteerMatters portal, an administrator with the "Configuration" administrative role can edit existing contact fields* and you can add new fields to the system. You are able to edit the field label, whether or not it is active, and for choose from a list type fields, you can modify the choices available for the field. Help text on fields is configured on the various contact views.
*NOTE: There are a number of built-in system fields that cannot be managed by an admin. Examples are Name, Birthdate, Mobile, Organization, etc.).
Adding New Fields
- Log into your VolunteerMatters system with the proper security access roles and then click on Configuration > Database.
- On the Contact Database Configuration page, click the "Manage Custom Fields" button ().
- This will open the "Contact Field Definitions" Configuration page. You will see the various Contact Fields already in your system. The display features four column headings: Key, Label, Type, Active. You can sort the list of fields using these headings as needed. The "Search Box" also provides a quick and easy way to filter the records available in the onscreen list. To add a new field to the system you will click the "New" button ().
- This will open the "Contact Field" creation page. On this initial page you will enter or select the:
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- Field Key - The field key is a unique value and meant to be human-readable. A recommended convention, is title case with words separated by an underscore. Spaces are not allowed. For example, if the field you are creating will have a label of "Special Field", the field key could be "Special_Field" (without quotes).This value cannot be changed.
- Contact Field Type - This determines the type of information held in the field. This may not be changed once created. The field types available are:
- Single Line Text
- Paragraph Text
- Choose One from a List
- Choose Multiple from a list
- Whole Number
- Decimal Number
- Address
- Telephone
- Date
- Label - The label as presented to anyone in the system. Admins or Volunteers. Avoid using the label as help text. Help text should be be added separately to volunteer forms detailed in the customize views solution.
- Field Key - The field key is a unique value and meant to be human-readable. A recommended convention, is title case with words separated by an underscore. Spaces are not allowed. For example, if the field you are creating will have a label of "Special Field", the field key could be "Special_Field" (without quotes).This value cannot be changed.
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- Once you enter those elements above you will click the "Save" button ().
- This will bring you to the main configuration page for the contact field. Depending on the field type you created, you may have different options available to you. All field types have the "Label" field and "Activate" toggle, but only "Choose One from a List (SelectOne)" and "Choose Multiple from a list (SelectMany)" allow you to customize the choices on the field. The "Choose Multiple from a list (SelectMany)" will also have the "Select Many UI" field which allows you to set the display of the choices.
Activate: Activating a field will make it available for use in views, forms, and lists. Note: deactivating a field will not necessarily remove it from current list views.
Choices: Choices for select-one or select-multiple fields. Choices are separated by a bar | (i.e. "US mail|Email|US Mail and Email|not at all") The "|" key is just above the Enter key on your keyboard. You must hold down the shift key. If you modify a choice, any contacts who have that choice will only have that original choice until someone edits their contact record or they edit their my profile page and saves. Then the original choice will be lost as it needs to match one of the existing choices to remain.
NOTE: PLEASE DO NOT ENTER A SPACE BEFORE OR AFTER THE "|" CHARACTER BETWEEN VALUES.
Select Many UI: This configuration option is for select-multiple fields only. It allows you to set the display of the choices on the various pages. The options are "Checkboxes", "Multi-Select", or "Multi-Select with Search". "Multi-Select" is the standard option used in the system. It displays the field as a drop-down and allows the user to just check off the items desired.
After you have made your necessary changes, click the "Save" button () and you will be returned to the "Contact Field Definitions" Configuration page.
Managing Existing Fields
- Log into your VolunteerMatters system with the proper security access roles and then click on Configuration > Database.
- On the Contact Database Configuration page, click the "Manage Custom Fields" button ().
- This will open the "Contact Field Definitions" Configuration page. You will see the various Contact Fields in your system. The display features four column headings: Key, Label, Type, Active. You can sort the list of fields using these headings as needed. The "Search Box" also provides a quick and easy way to filter the records available in the onscreen list.
- Locate the contact field you wish to edit and click on the "Edit" button ().
- This will open the "Contact Field" Configuration page. Depending on the field type you may have different options available to you. All field types will have the "Label" field and "Activate" toggle, but only "Choose One from a List (SelectOne)" and "Choose Multiple from a list (SelectMany)" allow you to customize the choices on the field. The "Choose Multiple from a list (SelectMany)" will also have the "Select Many UI" field which allows you to set the display of the choices.
Label: As presented to the user. Avoid using the label as help text. Help text can be added separately to volunteer forms via the contact views.
Activate: Activating a field will make it available for use in views, forms, and lists. Note: deactivating a field will not necessarily remove it from current views.
Choices: Choices for select-one or select-multiple fields. Choices are separated by a bar | (i.e. "US mail|Email|US Mail and Email|not at all") The "|" key is just above the Enter key on your keyboard. You must hold down the shift key. If you modify a choice, any contacts who have that choice will only have that original choice until someone edits their contact record or they edit their my profile page and saves. Then the original choice will be lost as it needs to match one of the existing choices to remain.
NOTE: PLEASE DO NOT ENTER A SPACE BEFORE OR AFTER THE "|" CHARACTER BETWEEN VALUES.
Select Many UI: This configuration option is for select-multiple fields only. It allows you to set the display of the choices on the various pages. The options are "Checkboxes", "Multi-Select", or "Multi-Select with Search". "Multi-Select" is the standard option used in the system. It displays the field as a drop-down and allows the user to just check off the items desired. - After you have made your necessary changes, click the "Save" button () and you will be returned to the "Contact Field Definitions" Configuration page.
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