User-Defined Fields (UDF) in Midnight Follow
Setting up User-Defined Fields (UDF) in Midnight
Within each module of Midnight, the ability exists to label and create custom fields which allow you to enter, search by, filter and report off data that may not be a standard field in the system. These user-defined fields allow you to record and manage information so that you may create custom reports and extrapolate data that your team needs.
Creating UDFs is done in the Admin tab (click the gear on the top-right hand corner of Midnight:
Select User-Defined Fields within the Admin Lists.
When the screen opens, you will use the Drop Down to select the Module you want to add UDF to.
Currently, User Defined Fields can be set with a specific data entry type. The Field Type controls this.
For Text, you can set an input mask to constrain users to a small set of options.
To set up a UDF:
Go to Admin > User Defined Fields
Select the module whose user defined fields you need to modify
Click the edit icon of the user defined field you wish to modify
When using the text option, in the Input Mask field, enter the mask as follows:
-
- Use a < character to begin the list of selections.
- Enter the selections (without spaces, unless a space is desired in the selection) separated by a | character
- Finish the mask with a > character
Make sure there are no spaces in between the options and separate each option with a pipe character |.
Mask Field Setup examples: When the user clicks inside the user defined field with an input mask, they have to select one of the options.
In the image below, there are two user defined fields with masks: UDF1 & UDF2. UDF1 one has a simple mask of "<Y|N>" which limits users to the choices of "Y" or "N". UDF2 has more options with the mask of "<Select|Provided|First Name|Prefix + Last Name|First Name + Last Name|Full Name>"
Once these are set up, when users set the focus to the UDF field in the application, a pop-up menu appears with the mask's options (see below). The user can then press the down or up arrow buttons to toggle through the possible options.
Field size: can be up to 255 characters for a field designated as Text. You can control how much information can be entered in the field.
Copy: Used on Estimate and Order level user defined fields, check this so the UDF will be copied when you copy the Order/Estimate.
Export: Used on Estimate and Order level user defined fields, this option can be used to allow data from the Estimate UDF to pass to the order.
Once you have completed the update, save your changes by clicking on the blue icon on the right of the line.
Once the user defined fields are set up, the data type cannot be changed, but, you have the ability to change the order the fields appear on screen.
More Resources:
Updating the On-Screen Sort Order of User-Defined Fields
Standard Service User-Defined Fields