Administering Column Headings

Posted21 June 2022

Updated4 May 2023

This article shows how to edit Column Headings (field definitions) and update User Defined Fields in the ResourceFirst Administration Center.

Overview

The characteristics and behavior of all fields in ResourceFirst are defined in the Column Headings page in Administration. Column Headings (AKA “fields”) can be defined for the following data view types:

Resources
Projects
Assignments
Teams
Phases & Milestones
Events

How To

Step 1: To administer Column Headings, click on Administration > Column Headings:

Step 2: Select a View Type at the top left of the page to display all fields for that type. The image below shows Project fields.

Referencing the image above, the following functionality is available:

Important! Don’t forget to click the Save icon on the top right to save any changes!

Title (Field Name)

You can click on any field in the Title column and rename it.

Field (Native Field Name)

This contains the native database field name, regardless of what you change the column name to.

Width

The column width specifies how wide the column should appear (in pixels) in views by default.

Note regarding Field Size: The actual User Defined Field sizes (number of characters) are set in the database. On request, your PDWare representative can expand a User Defined Field if needed (we don’t do this by default to save database space and data transfer speed).

UDF# (User Defined Fields)

There are also 200 user defined fields (initially named Field1, Field2, etc.) in the Resource and Project section. There are 30 user defined fields available in the Assignment section. User Defined Fields are indicated by a number in the UDF# column.

If you wish to have the User Defined Field be a list (i.e., with dropdown selection items), then you must also define the field as a List in Administration–>Lists->UDFs, along with its list items. See Administering Lists for details.

Data Type

You can set the data type for a field by clicking on a cell in the Data Type column and selecting the type from the dropdown. If you are considering changing the data type for fields other than UDFs, consult with PDWare Support.

Available types are as follows:

Text – Text format fields are treated as text even when a number is in the field. The field is displayed exactly as entered
Text Area – Text area fields enable the entry of long input while content is treated as text even when a number is in the field. The field is displayed exactly as entered. The field will display as a large text area.
GYR – The field will display as a Green-Yellow-Red color drop-down indicator. If the values do not correspond to G, Y, or R the field will be with no color and empty.
Number – Number is used for general display of numbers. The three types offered are Number, Currency, and Percentage. Currency and Percentage offer specialized formatting, including thousands separator and decimal places.
Date – This field will display as a date field, and offers multiple formatting options.
Check Box – The field will display as a check box. Valid values are true (will display as checked) or false (will display as unchecked). Invalid values will be treated as false.
Html – The field will display as a large text area with formatting enabled.
Hyperlink – The field will display as a single hyperlink, that when clicked on will open the destination in another tab.

Please consult with PDWare Support if you have questions about specific field data types.

Tool Tip

You can define “tool tip” text that will appear if a user hovers over a field on a form.

Filter Type

You can define what type of filter should be used if the user tried to filter a column when in a view. Available filter types are List (which produces a dropdown list to choose from), Text (which allows the user to do a text search on the field), Number (which limits the user to searching for a number). If List is used, there should be a corresponding list defined for the column in Administration > Lists. See Administering Lists for details.

External Read Only

If checked, the column is locked from updating by the user, as it is intended to be populated via an external system, and is available in ResourceFirst for read-only.

Hide and Edit Rights

You can specify data rights for the field as to which authority level (or higher) is needed to edit the field (Edit Right), and which authority level should have the field hidden (Hide Right).

For a table of the various Security Rights and what they mean, see the article Administering Rights and Privileges.

Required Field

You can mark a field as Required via the Required check box.

Post Edit and Validation Scripts

A Post Edit Script and/or Validation Script can be inserted for any field. These can be used to cause certain system actions to occur when a value in the field is entered/modified. Please contact PDWare Support for details.