Unlike unique identifiers, such as record numbers and object attribute patterns, that serve to uniquely identify each record in the database, names in custom object records are intended to provide a description of each record that may or may not be unique.
Depending on your organization's naming conventions, you can assign names to custom object records manually or automatically. Using an automatic naming pattern for project record names is useful when:
•Your organization has project naming conventions. For example, each dispute record must be named after the contact of the person or company that your organization is representing, the contact of the opposing party, and the type of dispute.
•Naming patterns can be identified in your organization's project names, even if there are no specific naming requirements or conventions.
•Spelling, or other errors and inconsistencies in record names may severely affect the business process.
You can set the record naming options for a custom object through the Name tab of its object definition.
Project Naming Options on Name Tab
The following table describes the naming options.
With the auto naming feature for custom object records, you can construct the desired pattern according to the standards and conventions accepted in your organization.
Example
Consider an automatic naming pattern for a custom object called Loan where each record must be named after the contact who applied for the loan, the type of loan applied for, and the amount of money requested. The format for displaying this information would be: Applicant's LoanType - LoanAmount.
To create a pattern like this, do the following actions:
•The name of the applicant from one of the following elements:
oA custom field of type Involved that contains the applicant's name
oThe contact attribute that contains the main contact's (applicant's) name, which is available only in contact-centric custom objects
By default, all persons' names appear in the following format: Last Name, First Name.
•The default category of the custom object that contains the loan type
•The custom field that contains the loan amount information
•The following literals:
oApostrophe "s"
oHyphen
oThree spaces between the attributes and literals
Tip: Whenever you have spaces around literals, add these spaces together with their literals, for example, a space after the 's, and two spaces before and after the hyphen. They are added even if you do not see them in the item list.
When you add the information to the name pattern of the custom object, TeamConnect automatically creates the name for each record when the user saves it. This way, all records are named correctly and consistently with your organization standards, based on the attributes you select.
Points To Remember
Consider the following points when creating naming patterns for objects:
•The naming pattern of a record will reflect only those attributes that have values. If an attribute in a naming pattern has no value, it will not be displayed in the record name.
Tip: To ensure that all record names are properly displayed, you can make the attributes required. If you specify any custom fields, you must include them in your custom pages.
•Naming patterns must contain at least one attribute. They cannot consist only of literals.
•Project names support a maximum of 250 characters. If the data stored in the selected attributes and literals exceed 250 characters, the name of the project is truncated.
Tip: If you have added long strings to the naming pattern, consider abbreviating them.
•To have a person's name displayed in the naming pattern, specify a custom field of type Involved, or the contact attribute for contact-centric objects.
•By default, all person contacts' names will be displayed in the format Last Name, First Name. If you do not want to display the comma between the names or you want to change their order, you can use two attributes.
For example, instead of selecting the contact attribute for a contact-centric object, you have to add it twice and traverse further to select an attribute for each of the names:
•contact.firstName
•contact.name
You may define naming patterns by selecting the Automatically name custom object using a pattern of the object attributes option button on the Name tab of the custom object definition. For instructions, see Creating Auto Naming Patterns.
