Custom Field Types

SBM provides a set of field types that you can use to create your own custom fields for data collection. Custom fields can be added to primary and auxiliary tables.

The following table lists available field types.

Icon Field Type Description
(the Binary Field icon) Binary/Trinary Binary/Trinary fields can store either two values or three values of your choosing. Binary fields can be displayed on forms as a drop-down list containing two values, as radio buttons that let users select one value or the other, or as a check box that users select or clear as needed. Trinary fields can be displayed as a drop-down list containing three values or as radio buttons that let users select one of the three values when submitting, updating, or transitioning items.
(the Date/Time Field icon) Date/Time Date/Time fields store dates and time values. Date/Time fields can be displayed as the date only, date and time, time only, or elapsed time. If you select the Elapsed Time option, you can also select the Stopwatch, Calculate Days, and Show Seconds options.
(the Folder icon) Folder Folder fields enable users to link a primary item or auxiliary item to a specified Public or Knowledge Base folder. If you enable searching for Folder fields, Value Find is enabled.
(the Multi-Group Field icon) Multi-Group Multi-Group fields let users select one or more groups to associate with an item. Users can select values from a drop-down list or set of check boxes. You can also use Multi-Group fields to establish secondary ownership for primary items by selecting the field on the General tab in the Property Editor for states. When you enable searching for Multi-Group fields, Value Find is enabled.
(the Multi-Relational Field icon) Multi-Relational Multi-Relational fields let users associate one or more values with a particular primary table or auxiliary table. For example, in an Incidents table, you could create a relationship to the Contacts table, letting users select one or more contacts in an incident. If you enable searching for Multi-Relational fields, Value Find and Relational Field Value Search are enabled.

For more information about Multi-Relational fields, see Relational Field Types.

(the Multi-Selection Field icon) Multi-Selection Multi-Selection fields let users select one or more values that you create for the field in SBM Composer. Users can select values from a drop-down list or set of check boxes. If you enable searching for Multi-Selection fields, Value Find is enabled.
(the Multi-User Field icon) Multi-User Multi-User fields let users select users, groups, or group members as values for the fields. The type of selections available depend on settings applied in SBM Composer. Users can select values from a drop-down list or set of check boxes. If you enable searching for Multi-User fields, Value Find is enabled.
(the Numeric Field icon) Numeric Numeric fields store integers, floating point values, or fixed precision values. Select the Show thousands separator check box to show the values in Numeric fields with commas. For example, after selecting this check box, a Numeric field value is displayed as 1,000 rather than 1000.
(the Single Relational Field icon) Single Relational Relational fields allow users to set up relationships between the different tables. Single Relational fields let users select one value to associate with a particular primary or auxiliary table. For example, you could create a problem relationship to an Issues table. Users can select values from a drop-down list or search for values using the Value Find. If you enable searching for Single Relational fields, Value Find and Relational Field Value Search are enabled.

For more information about Single Relational fields, see Relational Field Types.

(the Single Selection Field icon) Single Selection Single Selection fields let users select one value that you create for the field in SBM Composer. If you enable searching for Single Selection fields, Value Find is enabled.
(the Sub-Relational Field icon) Sub-Relational Sub-Relational fields allow access to additional fields in a related primary or auxiliary table. Sub-Relational fields are tied to a Single-Relational field already in an application. For example, if an Incidents table contains a Single-Relational field to an Issues table, you can include a Sub-Relational field of Owner. This lets users see the owner of a related issue within the incident. Sub-Relational fields are only available if Single Relational fields already exist for a particular table.

For more information about Sub-Relational fields, see Relational Field Types.

(the Summation Field icon) Summation Summation fields sum the values of weights of Single Selection fields or values for Numeric fields set as integers.
(the Text Field icon) Text Text fields can be of fixed length up to 255 Unicode characters, Memo type (whose length varies by DBMS), or a Journal type. Custom Text fields of fixed length can be configured to replace text characters with asterisks (*), which is useful for password entry fields.
(the User Field icon)

(the System User Field icon)

User User fields let users select a single user or group member to associate with an item. User fields are also used to establish primary ownership for primary items and can also be used to establish secondary ownership. Users can select a value from a drop-down list or search for values using the Value Find. System User fields, such as Owner and Submitter, are indicated by a red circle in the bottom left corner of the User field icon. If you enable searching for User fields, Value Find is enabled.