Selecting Forms for a Field

A field must be added to at least one form in order to be in use in Tracker. The fields PRN, Status, Reported By, Assigned To, Deleted and Product are required for all forms. The Forms option is not available for these fields in the Fields section.

To set the forms for a field:

1. Login to the workgroup as Admin
2. Click on the Admin icon
3. Click on the Fields link
4. Click on the Forms button to the left of the field
5. Any forms in which the field is already included will be listed in the Forms Using This Field column. Any forms in which the field is not yet included will be listed in the Available Forms column. The forms which are listed in the Available Forms column for selection are determined by the forms created in the Forms section.

   To add the field to a form, click on the form in the Available Forms column, then click on the Add button. To remove a field from a form, click on the form in the Forms Using This Field column and click on the Remove button.

6. Click OK to return to the Fields section

Removing and Re-adding Fields to a Form

When a field is removed from a form, all values in that field in the records created using that form will be removed. If later the field is re-added to the form, the field's value in all records created using the form will be set to its default (the old values from before the field was removed will not be preserved). Values of the field in records created using other forms will not be affected.

Effects on Existing Records when Adding and Removing Fields

When you add a field, all existing records will be given an initial value. For pulldown menus and release numbers, the current default value (refer to the Customizing Menu Items Help section) for the pulldown or release number is used as the initial value. For Date, Text, TextArea, and URL fields, the initial value is blank (no value). For integer and float fields, it is zero. For YesNo fields, it is the current default value (see Editing Field Attributes).

Fields that are removed from Tracker are no longer displayed, but they actually remain in the database. Additionally, when a field is removed, any references to the field (in Saved Queries, Report Layouts, and Task Fields) are removed. Records which are added after you have removed a field do not get a value for the removed (inactive) field.

If you have configured Dependent Pulldowns, removing one of the pulldowns removes the relationship between the two pulldown fields. If a parent pulldown is removed, the child option menu items become independent, and thus, are no longer limited by the value entered in the parent pulldown.

If you wish to have all records in the system start with the same value for this newly added field (for example, you have a special value to note that the value wasn't actually set when the record was first created), you can use the Edit Results function to update all records after you add the field. The Query Results Help section of the User Help Guide has for more information on the Edit Results function.

If a field is renamed (the Label property for the field is changed), the label for the field on the various pages (Add, Edit, Task, View, Query, etc.) will change to use the new label.

Deleting Fields

Before you can delete a field, you must first remove it from any forms in which it is being used.

To delete a field:

1. Login to the workgroup as Admin
2. Click on the Admin icon
3. Click on the Fields link
4. Click on the Forms button
5. Click on a form in the "Forms Using This Field" column, then click on the Remove button
6. Click OK to confirm this operation. Click OK again to confirm.
7. Click OK when the confirmation is displayed. Click OK again to return to Field list
8. Click on the Delete button to the left field you wish to remove. Click OK to confirm, click OK again to confirm, click OK when the confirmation page is displayed.