Use Custom Fields in a Project

Home > selected Project > Settings > Custom Fields

Home > Settings drop-down > Project Settings > Custom Fields

When importing or exporting data, you may want to extend the Reef ECA metadata to include fields used by external applications so you can include these in a search or view within Reef ECA or provide them in exported data. For example, you might want to:

Add Custom Fields generated by parsing custom email headers on import.
Map a field discovered in a Load File to a Custom Field in a Load File Import template intended for use with other Load Files of the same type.
Add a Custom Field you mapped in a Load File Import template, as above, to a Metadata Search or Metadata View template so you can include it in a customized search or view.
Map a metadata field to a Custom Field in an Export Fields template customized for a particular application.

Users with the required permissions can use all Custom Fields that have been added to a Project when creating and maintaining the Project templates discussed above, as well as when generating a manifest.

Custom fields can be added to a Project at any time, and remain in place for the life of the Project. Custom Fields are also added when a Project is created, depending on the Custom Fields template selected in the Settings section. Custom Fields templates are created and maintained by the Organization Administrator; they can also be created by saving a Project's Custom Fields to a template. Regardless of origin, all templates are saved at the Organization level and are available to be selected at Project creation. By default, the Default Custom Fields Settings template is used for all new Projects.

To add a new Custom Field to a Project, use the New Custom Field option at the top of the page. Custom Field names are automatically prefixed with drcustom- and converted to lowercase; for example, if you enter the name MailHeaderID for a new Custom Field, it is named drcustom-mailheaderid. (The Description is optional, but it is a good practice to identify the purpose of each Custom Field you create, since you cannot edit or delete an existing Custom Field.) When working with Load File Import, Export Fields, Metadata Search or Metadata View templates at the Project level, any Custom Fields configured in the Project are available for mapping, appearing at the bottom of the metadata list; enter drcustom in the filter box to display them.

If you want to use a Custom Field you included in a Load File Import template in a freeform or other search of the imported Project data, surround the field name with single quotes.

To save a Project's current Custom Fields to a template, click the context menu icon () to the right of the Custom Fields entry in the navigation tree and select Save to Template. You can save to a new template or an existing one, but if the latter, the Custom Fields you save overwrite the fields already in the template.