Fields of the type Custom Object allow you to establish a non-hierarchical relationship between the current object definition, which can be system or custom, and another custom object definition. Hence, the name of the field type—Custom Object. This field type allows the user to select a related project record directly in the currently displayed record.
In the end-user interface, Custom Object fields appear as project search module fields or drop-down lists in the edit mode. See the Custom Field Types table for examples of these field types.
In the read-only mode, Custom Object fields appear as hyperlinks. By clicking the hyperlink, the user is linked directly to the identified record.
Contact Field with Hyperlink in Read-Only Mode
Points To Remember
Keep the following points in mind when working with Custom Object fields:
•The Custom Object field type is available when creating custom fields for both system and custom object definitions.
•You cannot select system object definitions or embedded custom object definitions when defining fields of the type Custom Object.
•Whether a Custom Object field appears as a search module or a drop-down list in the end-user interface depends on the Default Selection Mechanism specified on the General tab of the selected custom object definition.
The display format of the field may also be determined by the display tag attribute in the block file. For details, see Custom Object Field Tag Attributes.
•To limit the available records in a Custom Object field so that a user can select only related records, records in a certain phase, records with a certain default category, and so on, you must add a qualifier in the definition of the field. For more details, see Qualifiers for Custom Object Fields.
•If the field is to be displayed as a search module, you can select a specific search view to be displayed in the search module. Or, you can provide users with the ability to select which search view they want to use in the search module. For more details, see Search Views for Custom Object Fields.
•To specify the desired size for a Custom Object field, you have to use the size tag attribute with this field when including it in a form or block file. For details, see Custom Object Field Tag Attributes.
Data Entry Fields for Custom Fields of the Type Custom Object
Field
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Description
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Field Type
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Select Custom Object to define a custom field of type Custom Object, which allows users to select a project record belonging to the specified custom object definition.
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Custom Object List
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Select the custom object definition whose records users must be able to select in this custom field.
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Search View
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This field is only available if the custom object selected in the Custom Object List has search module set as its default selection mechanism on General tab of its object definition.
Select the search view that you want users to use in the search module for this field. For details about your other options, see Search Views for Custom Object Fields.
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Qualifier
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If necessary, define an expression in this field to filter the records available to users. You can define the qualifier by doing one of the following actions:
•Type a complete qualifier expression in this field, as described in Qualifiers for Custom Object Fields. •Use Object Navigator to help you create the path on each side of the expression, as described in Creating Qualifiers Using Object Navigator. This field is limited to 256 characters.
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Add Path using Object Navigator
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Select this check-box to add paths to your qualifier expression with the help of Object Navigator.
When this check-box is selected, several additional fields and buttons appear. For details, see Creating Qualifiers Using Object Navigator.
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1.In the Field Type column on the Custom Fields tab of the appropriate object definition, select Custom Object. Several additional fields appear, as shown in the following image.
 Object Definition Relationships 2.In the drop-down list which lists custom objects, select the custom object whose records the user must be able to select in the custom field. 3.If you want users to always use the same search view in the custom field, select that search view in the Search View drop-down list. 4.If you want users to be able to select which search view to use in the search module window for the custom field, then you must do the following actions: a.Select None in the Search View field when defining the custom field. This option is selected by default. b.Ensure that each search view that you want users to have available in search modules where they select this type of project is set to be available in search modules (see the General Tab on Search View Screens table). The available search views are listed in the user's search module in the Current View drop-down list, sorted according to each search view's Order.
5.If necessary, create a qualifier to filter the available records from which the user can make a selection. You can create the qualifier in one of two ways: oIn the Qualifier field, manually type the appropriate code to create a complete expression. For more details, see Qualifiers for Custom Object Fields. oSelect the Add Path using Object Navigator check-box. This gives you the option to use Object Navigator for each side of the expression. You will have to manually type the operator in the middle of the expression. For more details and instructions, see Creating Qualifiers Using Object Navigator. For more details on creating custom fields, see Creating Custom Fields.
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