Custom fields

Custom fields let an administrator extend MaxTrax with extra data points beyond the built-in ones — for example a classification, a reference code, or a project-specific attribute. You define each field once, and its values are then recorded against individual records and shown where those records are displayed.

Before you start

• Configuring custom fields is admin-only. You need a Corporate Administrator role or higher; MaxTrax shows “You need a Corporate Administrator role or higher to manage custom fields” otherwise.
• Definitions are a single shared catalog — they apply across your projects, not per project.

What a custom field is

Each field definition has:

• Code — a stable identifier for the field (for example, project.classification).
• Type — the kind of field (see Field types).
• Label — the human-readable name people see.
• Description — optional helper text.
• Position — controls the order fields are shown in.
• Required — whether a value is expected.

Code and type are permanent

Code and Type are permanent once a field is created. You can change the label, description, position, and required flag afterwards, but not the code or type — this keeps stored values from ever mismatching the field they belong to. If you need a different code or type, create a new field.

Which entities support custom fields

Custom-field values can be recorded against four kinds of record:

• ISO (isometric drawing)
• Weld
• Inspection
• Welder

Field types

The available types are Text, Number, Date, Select, MultiSelect, Checkboxes, RadioButtons, Table, FileUpload, and Password for data entry, plus the structural/display types Heading, Subheading, Label, Fieldset, Fieldsets, Resolve, and None. You pick the type when you create the field, and it can’t be changed later.

Configure a custom field

The Custom fields admin screen lists your definitions with their Code, Type, Label, Pos (position), Req (required), Status, and per-row actions.

The list is shown a page at a time (25 rows by default — change it with the rows-per-page control beside the pager), so on a project with hundreds of definitions the quickest way to find one is the Search fields box rather than paging through. Search looks at every definition on the project, not just the page you’re on, and the column headings sort the whole list the same way. Export downloads everything currently matching your search, not only the visible page.

1. Select New field. Enter a Code, choose a Type, and give it a Label (and an optional Description). Set whether it’s Required and its Position, then select Create.
2. To change a field, select Edit on its row and update the label, description, position, or required flag.
3. To retire a field, use the deactivate (trash) action. The field becomes Inactive but its history is kept. Toggle Show inactive to see retired fields, and use the restore action to reactivate one.

Note

Some fields are generated (marked with a Gen badge). For these, only the label and description are editable — “Generated field — only label and description are editable” — and they can’t be deactivated.

Where custom fields appear

Custom-field values appear in a Custom fields section on three screens:

• The weld drawer (select a weld in the weld matrix) — values recorded against that weld.
• Inspection detail — values recorded against that inspection.
• The ISO detail Info tab — values recorded against that ISO, as a read-only label-and-value list.

Every active field definition appears in order of its Position, so a field you add here shows up on those screens without any other change. When there are no fields, the section shows No custom fields defined.

Entering and editing values

On the weld drawer and inspection detail, fields of type Text, Number, Date, Select, MultiSelect, and Checkboxes can be filled in and saved with Save custom fields. You need the role that can change that record — an Editor or higher for welds, an NDE Associate or higher for inspections; otherwise the section is read-only.

• A field marked Required must have a value before you can save. A Checkboxes field with no options is a single tick box — unticked is a valid answer.
• A Select or MultiSelect value must be one of the field’s listed options.
• If someone else changed the record after you opened it, saving shows “These custom fields were changed since you opened them” with a Reload button. Reload shows their values and discards your unsaved edits; nothing is saved over their change.

Custom fields need a connection — they can’t be edited offline. A weld that hasn’t synced yet shows “Custom fields are available once this weld has synced to the server.”

Values you can see but not change

Some values are shown in a disabled box with a note explaining why:

• Removed field — read-only — the value’s field definition has since been deleted.
• Inactive field — read-only — the value belongs to a field that has been deactivated.
• System-generated — read-only — a generated field; its value is kept as it is when you save.
• Unsupported field type — shown as stored — a field of one of the other types (for example Table or RadioButtons); its stored value is shown as text and kept as it is when you save.

On the ISO Info tab, removed and inactive values are marked (removed field) and (inactive).

Because values are stored on the record itself, they travel with that record’s data and are available to exports and reports built from it.

Related

• Admin overview
• ISO detail — where ISO custom-field values are shown.
• Record an inspection