NetResults ProblemTracker
Customizing The Data Record

Overview

ProblemTracker allows you to customize the data record to your needs by adding and removing fields as necessary. In addition, you can specify the name displayed for all fields and other properties of each field such as whether a field is required or not and on which pages the field will appear.

Data Types

ProblemTracker allows you to use the following data types:

Integer
An integer numeric value. The default value for this field is "0". However, if the field is set to be required on the Add page, the default value when it appears on the Add page is "(blank)".

Float
A floating point number. The default value for this field is "0.0". However, if the field is set to be required on the Add page, the default value when it appears on the Add page is "(blank)".

Text
A text string up to 80 characters. By default, this field is blank until information is added.

BigText
A very large text string. The maximum size determined by the amount of data supported by the textarea type on your web browser, and the particular database in use. By default, this field is blank until information is added.

Url
A 255 character string that is a valid formatted URL. By default, this field is blank until information is added.

Date and Time
A string of the format MM/DD/YYYY HH:MM:SS AM/PM (US Default). ProblemTracker may also be configured to use the '-' and '.' delimiters as well as the "DD MM YYYY" and "YYYY MM DD" format for the date representation portion of this string. The time format can be represented in 12 hour or 24 hour formats. The representation of date and time formats within ProblemTracker on the localized settings for the database in use. The default value for this field type is controlled by the "Init for Add" option explained in the Editing Field Attributes section below.

Pulldown
A pulldown menu. You can customize all values in the menu. The default value for this field is determined in the Customizing Menu Values section.

Release Number
A combination of four pulldown menus. You can customize all values in the menu. The default value for this field is determined in the Customizing Menu Values section.

YesNo
A pulldown with the values Yes and No. The default value for this field is "Yes".

Adding and Removing Fields

It is often a good idea to create a backup of your database before making major changes such as modifying your fields as some modifications are irreversible other than by restoring backup copy of your database.

To add a new field to the data record:

  1. Login to the workgroup as Admin
  2. Click on the Admin icon
  3. Click on the Define Record button
  4. Select a field of the data type you wish to use in the Not In Use column, then click on the Add button
  5. Click on the Edit button to define the attributes of the field. The attributes available for each field are described in the Editing Field Attributes section below.

To remove a field from the data record:

  1. Login to the workgroup as Admin
  2. Click on the Admin icon
  3. Click on the Define Record button
  4. Click on the field you wish to remove in the In Usecolumn, then click on the Remove button

Effects on Existing Records when Adding and Removing Fields

When you add a field, existing records that do not have a value for this field (some may if the field was previously in use) will be given an initial value. For pulldown menus and release numbers, the current default value (see Option Menus) for the pulldown or release number is used as the initial value. For Date, Text, BigText, and URL fields, the initial value is blank (no value). For integer and float fields, it is zero. For YesNo fields, it is "Yes".

Fields that are removed from the data record 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 values become independent, and thus, are no longer limited by the value entered in the parent pulldown.

The fact that the removed field does not get a value when new records are added is important to remember if you wish to re-add this field in the future. If you add a previously removed field, any existing problem records that do not have a value for this field (records which were added when this field was inactive) will be initialized with the default value for the field (see above). Any existing records that already had a value for this field (records which were added when this field was active) will not be initialized (the old value is preserved). Therefore, all records that didn't have a value for the field now have a valid (default) value and records that did have a value are not changed. However, if you add a pulldown menu or release number field, it is recommended that you run the Check DB Values utility in the Option Menus section, to verify that all values for this field in existing records are now valid to ensure consistency in your database. To reach the Check DB Values utility, follow the yellow triangles which will be displayed in the Admin section.

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. Click here for more information on the Edit Results function (scroll to the section called "Query Results").

If a field is renamed (the Label property for the field is changed), there is no impact to existing data. The labels on the various pages (Add, Edit, Task, View, Query, etc.) will change to use the new "Label".

Editing Field Attributes

To edit the attributes for a field:

  1. Login to the workgroup as Admin
  2. Click on the Admin icon
  3. Click on the Define Record button
  4. Click on the field you wish to modify in the In Use column, then click on the Edit button
  5. Make changes to the attributes (details of the available options are explained below)
  6. Click on the OK button to save your changes

The following attributes may be specified:

Label
The name displayed for this field.

Record Order
Integer specifying the order that the record should be presented relative to the other fields on the pages on which the field is displayed. For example, a field displayed on the Add page with a value of 5 will be listed before a field with a value of 100.

Required for Add
Specifies whether the field is required to be modified by the user when it appears on the Add page. For Integer, Float, Text, TextArea, or Date types this means that a blank value will not be allowed. For pulldown fields, this means that the user must select a value other than the default value displayed on the form. You may wish to define the first element of a required pulldown with a value like "Please Select A Value" to indicate to the user that a non-default value must be selected before saving the new record. When this attribute is set to "Yes", the field visibility set for this field must be set such that the field is visible on the Add page to at least one user group.

Init for Add
Only valid for Date types. Specifies that the if the date field appears on the Add page, it should be automatically initialized to the current date/time when the Add button is clicked to save the new record. Fields with this attribute set to Yes will also be initialized if Add Similar operation is used to create a new record.

Include on Inet Page
Specifies whether the field should be presented on the form used to submit records anonymously (also known as the Anonymous Add page).

Copy Field Value For Next Add
When adding a new record using the Add page, a user has the option to click Add or Add & Copy to save the new record. Clicking on the Add button will save the new record, then return to the Add page with a "blank" form (all fields returned to default or blank values). Clicking on the Add & Copy button will save the new record, then return to the Add page with the values of the fields "copied" from the last record added. This allows the user to add another record with similar information as the last record added without having to re-type information into the fields. In order to have a field's value copied into the Add form after clicking on the Add & Copy button, the attribute Copy Field Value For Next Add must be set to Yes. Note: If all the fields that are active (present in the "In Use" column) have the "Copy Field Value For Next Add" attribute set to No, then the "Add & Copy button" button will not be displayed on the Add page.

Field Help
Enter a description of the field to be displayed on the Add, Edit, Task, and Inet pages of ProblemTracker (in the cases where the field is set to be visible on these pages). The field help icon will be displayed when a user has the option Display Field Help enabled in their personal preferences settings. The user can move the cursor over the field help icon to see more detail about the field (the information entered here in the Field Help section). This option can also be enabled in the default preferences set in the User Preferences section.

When a user has the Display Field Help option enabled, the field help icon will be displayed next to the fields on the Add, Edit, and Task pages. The user can move the cursor over the field icon to the left of the to see a description of the field.

AutoFill Item

The AutoFill feature is a method of automatically collecting information about a user's system (operating system, browser type and version, IP Address, etc.) and saving it within a newly added record. The information collected about the user's environment could be useful in resolving or processing the issue reported in the record. Text and URL type fields can be used to collect the information from a user's machine when the user submits a record using the Add or Inet pages.

By default, AutoFill is disabled for Text and URL type fields (the AutoFill fields are set to "blank" when disabled).

To enable the AutoFill feature for a Text or URL field:

  1. Login to the workgroup as Admin
  2. Click on the Admin icon
  3. Click on the Define Record button
  4. In the In Use column, click on a Text or URL type field. Or, click on a Text or URL type field in the Not In Use, then click on the Add button to move the field to the In Use column.
  5. Click on theEdit button
  6. Select a parameter to be collected in the AutoFill Item field. The parameters available for Text and URL type fields are described below.
  7. Select an Alternate Value to be used in cases where the value of the AutoFill item cannot be retrieved from the user's machine. Alternate Value can be one of the following:

    • 1 - <No Value>
      If the value of the AutoFill Item cannot be found, no value should be saved in this field as a replacement. The field will be blank in the newly saved record.

    • 2 - "Unknown"
      If the value of the AutoFill Item cannot be found, the string "Unknown" should be saved in this field for the newly added record.

    • 3 - <Raw Value>
      If the value of the AutoFill Item cannot be found, the raw data found in the location checked to retrieve the AutoFill Item.

  8. Click OK to save the changes

When a field with AutoFill enabled is visible on the Add or Inet pages, the user creating the new record has the ability to overwrite the values automatically filled in these fields. Information on setting a field's visibility on the Add page can be found in the Field Visibility section below.

Available AutoFill Items

The following parameters can be collected to automatically fill a Text type field.

Host Name
The TCP / IP host name of the machine the user is logged into when accessing ProblemTracker. Note: By default, the IIS web server will return the IP Address instead of the Host Name to increase performance for web hosting. If you wish to get the Host Name, please follow the steps in this Microsoft article, which would configure IIS to do a reverse DNS lookup. For more information, please review your IIS documentation.

IP Address
The IP Address of the machine the user is logged into when accessing ProblemTracker.

Operating System
The Operating System installed on the machine the user is logged into when accessing ProblemTracker.

Screen Size
The value of Screen Area in the user's Monitor Display settings.

Web Browser
The type and version of the browser(s) installed on the machine the user is logged into when accessing ProblemTracker.

A URL type field can be filled with the Last Browsed URL. The Last Browsed URL is the last URL the user visited before browsing to the ProblemTracker Login Page. The Last Browsed URL will only be set if the user clicks on a link to reach the ProblemTracker Login Page. If the user reaches the Login Page by using a bookmark or manually typing in the URL of the Login Page, the value of the Last Browsed URL field will be blank.

Editing Pulldown Attributes

When a field of pulldown format is edited, the Edit Pulldown Attributes section will be displayed below the Edit Field Attributes section. If you wish to configure a pulldown field to be dependent on another pulldown field, select the pulldown field which will act as the parent in the relationship between the fields in the Parent Pulldown field in this section. If the pulldown field for which you are editing the field attributes is to be the parent pulldown in the relationship, select <No Pulldown> in the Parent Pulldown field in the Edit Pulldown Attributes section.

Field Visibility

For a more detailed overview of Field Visibility, please review the Field Visibility portion of the User Groups Help section.

A field's visibility can be configured by user group for the following areas in ProblemTracker:

If you prefer to configure the field visibility options for each user group instead of modifying each field, review the information in the User Groups Help section.

If you wish to restrict the fields which are made visible in the Task operation, this is done while configuring task fields for a transition. The Customizing Workflow Help section provides details on configuring task fields.

Please note that when records are created using the Add Records via Email feature, the field visibility settings for the Add page are not enforced on these records when they are created in ProblemTracker.

To configure field visibility options for each field on the data record:

  1. Click on the field in the In Use column for which you wish to modify the visibility settings
  2. Click on the Edit button
  3. In the Group Visibility section, there are 4 areas listed. Within each area, select the groups to whom the field should be visible when performing the operation(s) listed. To make a field visible to all groups, click on the All button. A field can be made visible to all non-Restricted users by selecting the user group "Users" (since all non-Restricted users are members of this group). Similarly, a field can be made visible to all Restricted users by selecting the user group "RestrictedUsers". To remove the field such that it will not be visible to any groups, click on the None button or select the option <No Group>.

    Restricted user groups are not listed in the Edit Page list of the Field Visibility section because Restricted user groups do not have access to the Edit page.

  4. Click OK to save the changes

Field Visibility Exceptions for Required fields

When a field has the attribute Required on Add set to "Yes", but the field is not visible on the Add page for certain user groups, the newly added record will be saved with the field's default value. The defaults for each field type are listed in the Data Types section at the top of this page.

Certain fields in the data record are required, meaning that they cannot be removed from the data record. Some field visibility settings cannot be applied to these required fields.

PRN
This field is the record number assigned when a record is added to the database. Field visibility restrictions cannot be set for this field as it is a field that is displayed on ProblemTracker pages to distinguish the identity of each record.

Deleted
This field denotes whether a record has been deleted. By design, it does not appear on the Add page, and thus, field visibility for this field on the Add page cannot be set.