The mysterious "email" field in Contacts

[callumd]

I am setting up a stripped down version of SugarCRM, but one module I am retaining is the Contacts.

Can someone please explain what the deal is with the "email" field? Although it appears in the all the Layout views, it doesn't appear as one of the fields for Contacts (Admin -> Developer Tools -> Studio -> Contacts -> Fields). What's going on there?

Also, while playing around with the Details view, I had to reposition the email field. I don't know what I did (I think I just dragged it to the Recycle Bin), but it has now vanished from the Details view (it is neither in the Toolbox list or the Layout).

How do I bring it back?

Thanks.

[salesagility]

goto admin>Studio > Contacts > Layouts > DetailView and click "View History" in the main panel - this will give you timestamped saved stages that you can roll back to.

[callumd]

Thanks salesagility, that solves the problem of getting email to appear in the Layouts again.

But why doesn't "email" appear as a Field in Contacts?

[Angel]

It is not a field per se. It is a reference point as e-mail addresses are stored as records in a separate table. There are various special fields within the system that behave in a similar manner. The primary/secondary address fields are another, notice you don't actually see the field primary_address_street, etc.

[DavidBLS]

Is there any way to create a custom field that behaves like an email field?

[callumd]

How do we control which "reference points" appear in each module?

[callumd]

Anyone?

Where can I see/configure the "reference points"? They look and act like fields until you go in to the Studio and try to look at the Fields in the module - and they don't show up.

Where are they? They have to be *somewhere*..

[Angel]

Take a look at <sugar>/include/SugarFields/Fields and you'll see different folders for the various field types in use. Each has a series of files that control its behavior and display.

[SugarDev.net]

You must understand that Studio is only an graphical overlay for the underlying system, and does not support everything that goes on in SugarCRM. Therefore, certain fields are hidden or are shown but not fully usable in Studio.

To replicate these fields you'll need to dive into the code.

[callumd]

Thanks for the responses guys, I'll have a dig around inside the code.

But one thing I still can't see is where such a field gets linked to a module.

Eg, the field "email address" appears in the Layouts for the module "Contacts", even though it is not actually a Field in that moduile. So, where is the setting that puts 'email address' as an available field in the Contacts layout? Is this set in a config file? In a database?