Setup Custom Fields Types in ACT!

by Rich Spitz

April, 1997

ACT! 3 has brought us new and expanded ways to input our data. It offers a number of additional field types — Currency, Date, Initial Caps, Lowercase, Numeric, Phone, Time, Uppercase, and URL Address — which you might want to use. These field types can be very beneficial because they help keep your database accurate and efficient.

Let me show you how you might use them. In our example, we’ll take a salesperson who uses ACT! to keep track of his accounts. In his database he needs to keep certain information such as:

• Account Short Name
• Social Security Number
• Account Number
• Status of the Account
• Type of Account
• Birthday

I will explain how to set up these fields so that there is least possibility of input error.

To set up each one of these fields, you need to open the Define Fields box by selecting Edit, Define Fields. In the Define Fields box, there are two tabs we will be referring to, the Attributes tab and the Drop-down tab.

Short Name Field

The first field we will customize is User 1. We want to rename this field Short Name, make it Uppercase, and limit its size to 8 characters. This is how you do it:

1. Select User 1 in the list of fields.
2. Enter Short Name in the Field Name box.
3. Select Uppercase in the Type field.
4. Enter 8 in the Size field.

When data is entered in this field, it will appear as "SPITZRIC."

ACT!Tip: If you want to "require" that an entry be made in any field, select Required in the Entry Rules box.

ACT!Tip: To get an ACT! explanation about any of these options, place your cursor in the desired box and press the right mouse button.

ACT!Tip: If you don’t want the drop-down list to be available, select the Drop-Down tab and disable the Allow Editing feature.

Social Security Field

Let’s make the User 2 field the Social Security number field. We’ll rename this field Social Security, and make it accept numbers in the Social Security format, ###-##-####. This is how you do it:

1. Select User 2 in the list of fields.
2. Enter Social Security in the Field Name box.
3. Select Character in the Type field.
4. Enter ###-##-#### in the Field Format field

When data is entered in this field, it will appear as "123-45-6789."

ACT!Tip: The Field Format placeholders are "#" for numeric, "@" for alphabetic, and "%" for alphanumeric.

ACT!Tip: You will see underlines appear in the fields when you use a specific Field Format

Account Number Field

Let’s make the User 3 field the Account Number field. We’ll rename this field Account Number, it will accept two characters and five numbers, in this format: AA-12345. This is how you do it:

1. Select User 3 in the list of fields.
2. Enter Account Number in the Field Name box.
3. Select Character in the Type field.
4. Enter @@-##### in the Field Format field.

When data is entered in this field, it will appear as "AA-12345."

Status Field

Let’s make the User 4 field the Status field. We want to rename this field Status, and give the user two choices from the drop-down menu: Active or Inactive. We also want to make it mandatory that data be entered. This is how you do it:

1. Select User 4 in the list of fields.
2. Enter Status in the Field Name box.
3. Select Character in the Type field.
4. Leave Field Format blank.
5. Select Only From Drop-down in the Entry Rules box.
6. Click the Drop-Down tab.
7. Add Active and Inactive to the drop-down menu.
8. Disable the Allow Editing feature.

When a new record is added to the database ACT! will insist that an entry be made from the drop-down menu before the record is saved. The user must select Active or Inactive.

ACT!Tip: Press the letter "A" or "I", and ACT! fills out the rest.

Birthday Field

To make the User 5 field a Birthday field, make the field type a Date field. Dates can be inserted from the drop-down calendar, or from the keyboard.

Create New Fields

ACT! 3 also enables you to create new fields. Once created, you can position them anywhere on the contact layout, and even give them their own contact tabs with the Layout Designer. ACT! 3 offers you a lot of flexibility and power.