A Text
box where you can type any text you like:
A drop-down List
from which you choose an item:
A Date
field where you choose a date:
When you add a new record to your database, you enter information in the fields that are in the database. These fields can be in a number of different formats. For example:
A Text
box where you can type any text you like:
A drop-down List
from which you choose an item:
A Date
field where you choose a date:
The fields you create appear in two places:
On the Detail page. The Detail page shows all the information for a single record in a database. For example, if you click your own name in the Members application, you see the Detail page for your own record. When you click Edit on the Detail page, you are given a chance to enter information into all of the fields.
In the views. A view shows a selected set of fields for multiple records. The database manager creates views that are of interest to the database users.
As the database manager, you can customize the fields that appear on the Detail page and specify the order in which they appear. You can also customize the field properties, including:
The name of the field
The description text that appears below the field
The type of field (for example Address, Checkbox, Text, or List)
Whether the field is required
Whether users can search for information in this field
You can add up to 64 fields to each database. Some field types are compound fields that consist of more than one part. For example, the Name field has three parts: First Name, Middle Name and Last Name. Name fields therefore use up three fields against the 64 field limit. Similarly, Address fields use up five fields, as they have five parts.
To add fields to your database:
On the Manage Database page, click Fields to display the Modify Fields page.
Click the New button in the Command Bar.
Specify the properties for the new field:
|
Field Name |
This is the label for the field.
|
|
Type |
Select the type of field you want to create. When you choose a type, the additional field properties you can set for this type appear at the bottom of the page. If you're not sure which field type to select, read about field type descriptions. After a field is saved, you cannot change its type.
|
|
Description |
This appears below the field and gives helpful information about the field.
|
|
Default Value |
If appropriate, set a default value for this field. When users create a new record in the database, this field is pre-populated with the value you enter here. Users can override the default, if they want to.
|
|
Required |
When you make a field required, users must enter a value in the field when creating a new record or editing an existing record. Required fields cannot be left empty.
|
|
Unique |
Make this field unique if you would like each value entered in the field to be unique within the entire database. When you make a name field unique, for example, users receive an error message when they try to create a new record using a name that already exists in the database. This prevents users from creating more than one record for the same person. If a user leaves this field blank, it is not tested for uniqueness. This is important to note if the field is not required. If you set the Unique property on a field that already has data in it, you will receive an error if the existing data is not unique. Click for a list of field types that do not support the Unique property.
|
|
Searchable |
Indicate whether you want to allow users to search on this field. If the Searchable option is off, this field will not be included in database searches. Learn More |
The database fields appear on the Detail, New and Edit pages for each record in the database. The Detail page is the page where a user can read all the detailed information for the record. The New page is the data entry form where a user who has permission to add data can enter a record. The Edit page is the page where a user who has permission to make edits can change the information in the record.
Database fields appear in the same order on all three pages. You can control this order on the Order Fields page. The field order is important for the usability your database. Try to put the most important, and thus most frequently read information at the top of the page. Also, try to keep logically related fields together on the page.
To reorder fields:
On the Manage Database page, click Fields.
Click the Order Fields button at the top of the page.
Click the field you want to move and click the
up and down arrows to adjust its position.
Click Save in the Command Bar.
You can change most of the field properties for fields in the database. For example, you can change the field label or make the field required.
To make changes to a field:
On the Manage Database page, click Fields.
Click the Edit icon 
beside the
field you'd like to modify, or just click on the field name.
Change the field properties, and then click Save.
Once a field is created, you cannot modify its type, as some data type changes would cause the existing data that is stored in the field to be lost. If you are not concerned with losing data and want to change a field's type property, you should delete the existing field then create a new one.
When you delete a field, you also delete all of the information stored in it.
You can only delete a field if it is not used by a view. Before deleting the field, remove it from all views, including the list of columns, the view filter, and the view sort definition. Click here for more information on modifying a view.
You also cannot delete a field that is the source of a database relation. You need to delete the database relation field first. Click here to learn more about database relations.
To delete a field:
On the Manage Database page, click Fields.
Click the delete
icon 
beside the field you'd like to remove.
On the confirmation screen, click OK.
Now that you've created fields for your database, you can define how you'd like to display information in your database.
Go to Creating database views.
When a user searches for records in a view, only those fields that have the Searchable property set are searched. A search begins with the user typing a string to search for and clicking Go!. The Database application then looks only at the searchable fields in each record displayed in the view. If any of the searchable fields contains any of the search words, the Database application returns the record in the search results. If the view contains a filter, only the filtered records are searched. Searching is not case-sensitive. When a user types multiple words in the search box, the Database application logically ORs the words together.
You can set or clear a field's Searchable property by editing the field definition. Click here to learn how. A database manager can quickly see which fields are searchable by clicking Fields on the Manage Database page for the database. The resulting list of fields includes a column with the Searchable property displayed.
TIP: If searching in your database seems slow, you can speed up the search process by clearing the Searchable property for fields that don't need to be searched. For example, if all contacts in your CRM database live in the United States, don't set the Searchable property for the Country field.
The following field types do not support the Unique property:
Address
Calculated
Checkbox
Contact List
Database Relation
File
Group List
Image
List
Member List
Text Multi-Line
Unique ID
