Item

Description

customObject Involved Party

Milestone

These hyperlinks provide access to the custom object's Involved and Milestone object definitions. They are only displayed once you define these objects.

When you add a custom object, you cannot create Involved or Milestone objects for it until you save the custom object definition. When you save the custom object definition for the first time, you see the Create Involved and Create Milestone buttons (Create Involved and Create Milestone Buttons image).

Name

Type a name for the custom object. The maximum length is 50 alphanumeric characters.

Important: The name must not start with a number and cannot contain special characters.

This name appears in the end-user interface and names the corresponding Document area folder created for the object definition (see Resulting User Interface and Other Changes).

Any special characters entered in this field are automatically converted to hyphens in Document area folder names. For example, Matter:Issue appears as Matter-Issue.

Name in Plural

Type the plural form of the custom object name. The maximum length is 50 alphanumeric characters. The plural name appears in the end-user interface where appropriate.

Icon Image File

Select the image file to appear in the following locations when users access records of this object:

•Top of the record screen, next to the record name

•On the object's task bar buttons

•In the object's search screens

You must upload all custom image files to the System>Icons folder at the Top Level level in the Documents area. Otherwise, the default image is used. All default images are generated from the class files and are not located in the Icons folder. For more details, see Default Object Icons.

Unique Code

Enter a four-character alphanumeric combination to uniquely identify this custom object. You can type the unique code in upper or lowercase. However, it is saved and displayed in uppercase. When you save the custom object, the unique code is always displayed as read-only and you cannot change it.

The code must be unique for all objects, including Involved and Milestone objects, which are created from within custom objects.

The unique code is used as the tree position for the root category of the custom object in the custom block XML files, XML layer, API rules, and Document Generator.

Order

Type an integer to specify where you want the name of this custom object to appear in ordered lists in the end-user interface.

Each level in the parent-child hierarchies is sorted separately according to the order specified. The objects with the same display order are sorted alphabetically.

Default Selection Mechanism

Specify how the end user will select the object's records when they are referenced in other object records. For example, in the Parent field on the General tab of child projects, or in custom fields of type Custom Object.

The available options include:

•Drop-down list—Recommended for listing a small number of records.

•Search Module—Recommended for a large number of records, as it may take a long time to load the list.

Parent Custom Object

Select a custom object that must be set as a parent for the object you are defining.

Important: This is not a mandatory selection, as it depends on your business model.

For details, see Parent-Child Relations between Custom Objects.

Parent Custom Object Required

Select this check-box if having a parent custom object is mandatory for the custom object you are creating.

See also Parent-Child Relations between Custom Objects.

Do not show this child object definition in the Main menu

This field is available only for custom object definitions that require a parent.

Select this check-box if you do not want users to create and access the records of this object from the drop-down lists in the end-user interface, or to avoid unnecessary clutter in the menus.

This option does not affect user group rights to create or read these records. They can still do so from the respective parent records.

Do not show New button in related object block

Select this check-box if you want to hide the New button that provides a drop-down list of wizards in the related object block.

For more information about the drop-down lists of wizards, see Testing and Troubleshooting Wizards.

Contact-centric

Select this check-box to make the object contact-centric. When you select this check-box, the Role field appears.

Note: This setting is optional and should be based on your organization's needs.

For details, see Contact-Centric Custom Objects.

Role

Enter the role of the contact on which the custom object is dependent. This becomes a field label on the General tab of all object records in the end-user interface. For details see Contact-Centric Custom Objects.

This field appears only if the Contact-centric check-box is selected.

Single Object Instance Only

Select this check-box to specify that the custom object can have only one record in the end-user interface.

When the user clicks the link for the custom object, TeamConnect automatically opens the only record. If the record does not exist, the user must create a record first.