Dashlets are ruining my day: Or, using a Custom Field as a filter

**leenwebb** · 2006-12-20, 10:01 PM

Hi all,
I am trying to customize the MyContactsDashlet on my home page. I am not having any luck.

Here's what I'm going for: I have a custom field in Contacts called Status (AKA contact_status_c). It has three possible values, and I want the dashlet to only display Contacts whose status is "Awaiting Action".

In modules/Contacts/Dashlets/MyContactsDashlet/MyContactsDashlet.data.php , I added this line to the "Search Field" array at the top of the file:

Code:

'contact_status_c'=> array('default' => 'Awaiting Action'),

And when I try to view the homepage I get this error:

Code:

Warning: LayoutManager::require_once(include/generic/SugarWidgets/SugarWidgetFieldrelate.php)
[function.require-once]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in
/var/www/ucds/code/include/generic/LayoutManager.php on line 251

I'm not sure why it's looking for SugarWidgetFieldrelate.php, or why it thinks its class in that case is 'relate'.

On a whim, I take out the "Awaiting Action" so that it says

Code:

'contact_status_c'=> array('default' => ''),

Now the homepage loads, but when I go to the MyContacts dashlet edit screen, it says

Code:

"There was an error handling this request!"

Anyway, since it's a custom field, I thought maybe it could help if I gave the field a table name to go with it. (Don't look at me like that -- this exact thing has worked in sugar before!)

Code:

'contacts_cstm.contact_status_c'=> array('default' => ''),

Now if I try to edit the dashlet, the normal edit screen shows up. But in the place of a nice selection box where I can choose to filter by status, I get

Code:

-- Not Implemented --

I've read the dashlet wiki, and I have no idea what this "Not Implemented" business is, or why it would be so hard to add in a filter-able field to a dashlet. I have searched the forums and found a few other posts where this same issue was related, but never solved (or even really explored). Developers, experts, anyone?

Thanks

Eileen

P.S.! If the code reads:

Code:

'contacts_cstm.contact_status_c'=> array('default' => 'Awaiting Action'),

Then I get a whole different error on the homepage. Like so:

Code:

Fatal error: Call to undefined method SugarWidgetField::queryFilterStarts_With()
in /var/www/ucds/code/include/Dashlets/DashletGeneric.php on line 261

**Scott_Savage** · 2007-01-13, 05:29 AM

I am trying to do the exact same thing and am unfortunately getting the exact same results. I don't want to have to write my own dashlet to fix this problem...

Does anyone have any ideas?

**leenwebb** · 2007-01-13, 04:48 PM

Hi Scott,
I ended up solving my particular problem in a whole different way...

I'll preface by saying that I didn't want a 'sometimes' filter; I wanted an 'all-the-time' filter. I have a custom Contacts field called "Status", and I only wanted to display contacts with a particular status ('Awaiting Action'). So my solution is an all-the-time solution, as opposed to a filter you could turn on-or-off when necessary.

Anyway. Here's what I ended up doing: In include/dashlets/DashletGeneric.php, there is a function called 'buildWhere' (~line 225). It builds the query that populates the dashlet. I added this code into that function around line 270, before the 'return $returnArray' line :

Code:

// custom filters!  TAME THE WILD DASHLET!
$module = get_class($this);
		
if ($module == 'MyContactsDashlet'){
     array_push($returnArray,'contact_status_c="Awaiting Action"');

}

The $module variable grabs the dashlet name (since this function applies to all dashlets, and I only wanted to edit the MyContactsDashlet). Then the if() just adds in the extra restriction to the array that will eventually be turned into the 'where' part of the SQL statement.

I have no idea if this is upgrade-safe, or kosher, or whatever. But it works! Hopefully your dashlet editing will be relatively painless.

Good luck!
Eileen

**Scott_Savage** · 2007-01-14, 06:49 AM

Awesome thanks!!! This is exactly what I needed...

**jmaxwell** · 2007-01-25, 01:31 PM

Eileen, thanks for sharing the info. I will likely implement something similar on our installation too (coincidentally we are also in NH).

I think the reason you can't just add custom fields to the dashlet configuration file is for some reason the contacts_cstm table is not joined for the listview query, thus it doens't know where or how to find the custom field. If you can find a way to join that table to the query, all the custom fields should be searchable.

This is pretty wacky (big suprise! not...) on the part of sugar, since the custom fields ARE joined for the query to display the dashlet info. (e.g. you can choose custom fields to show in the dashlet list view from the dashlet configuration screen... but cant' choose custom fields for the search options... typical sugar.)

thanks
-Ed

**mergulhao83** · 2007-02-01, 07:55 PM

I've got the solution for the "'sometimes' filter". Adding filter with custom fields in the dashlets. Needs some code modification.

Here is the thread:
http://www.sugarcrm.com/forums/showthread.php?p=67044

Mergulhão

**mkenigson** · 2007-08-08, 11:58 PM

Originally Posted by leenwebb

Hi Scott,
I ended up solving my particular problem in a whole different way...

[snip]

I have no idea if this is upgrade-safe, or kosher, or whatever. But it works! Hopefully your dashlet editing will be relatively painless.

Good luck!
Eileen

Eileen,

Bless you! You just saved me hours or days of hunting and ripping hair out. If you're ever in Nashville look me up -- I owe you a decent meal!

Matt K.