custom fields question - sort of

[florenceit]

I apologize if this is common knowledge or is otherwise clearly laid out somewhere,, i couldnt find an answer searching the forums.

One of my nonprofits has some unique field requirements and I'm wondering if it's possible for me to simply rename some existing fields for these new purposes withOUT customizing the db or any of sugar's php files on the open source version? We want to stay away from customization but would like a few extra number fields that can be searched on. Is this possible to rename field titles of some standard boxes in such a way that we can easily maintain that going forward with new releases?

if this is outlined somewhere a point in that direction so i can read it is much appreciated

thanks!

[Angel]

Yes, you can repurpose existing fields and change their labels. To change their labels, login as admin and access the studio in the admin control panel.

[florenceit]

Thank you angel, Im into the studio checking out the details!

[florenceit]

Hi
I have checked this out at your guidance an am pleased to see that this will do exactly as we need. I have 2 questions however:

I have relabeled an existing sugar field, and added it to a list and search view where it was not previously listed. Am I correct that this does not modify the db? One of my concerns if I were to roll out a series of these changes like this: would these changes be lost in upgrades? I suppose i should definitely document them in case db format changes are made sometime in the future. i never needed this functionality before but now that i do its extremely powerful.

also one weird thing i ran into: some fields dont show up as options in the toolbox. i ran across this a couple of times with different fields, not just one. for example i renamed the labels of a couple of fields, then when modifying the list or search view those fields were not choices to drag over. that was peculiar, so i used some other fields until it worked, im just curious if theres some limitation or i am seeing a bug or something.. as i mentioned i want to keep my customizations to a minimum to maintain compatibility so if some fields arent designed to be used that way i will work around it.


thanks!

[florenceit]

Can anyone verify this for me?

I have relabeled an existing sugar field, and added it to a list and search view where it was not previously listed. Am I correct that this does not modify the db? One of my concerns if I were to roll out a series of these changes like this: would these changes be lost in upgrades? I suppose i should definitely document them in case db format changes are made (by sugar) sometime in the future.