Share Text or Address Fields Between Modules

[cryobite]

Linux/Apache Centos 4.6
Apache/2.2.9 PHP/5.2.6
5.1.0RC


I am in the mortgage industry and I was testing the free 5.1.0RC version to see if this system would work for me before purchasing the monthy seat system with support. It seems to be pretty workable but has one big issue as I have found so I am not sure on the subscription. I need help from a good knowledgeable sugar client or tech.

I want to modify the Lead, Accounts, and Contacts tabs to suit the Mortgage industry

1. I am separating the leads tab from the Accounts and Contacts making it just for imported mortgage leads and distribution

2. I am creating a custom module to replace Accounts with Partners to add like title companies, appraisers etc that we deal with.

3. I want to make contacts a relative association to Partners, so I may enter the name of the contact and select the partner it associates with. In other words, when I add a rep for a certain partner or company in contacts, I want to be able to select the company/Partner he works for using like the Accounts button, or a renamed button called Company and when I choose the company he works for, it automatically adds all the address information and contact numbers for that company. Other than that contacts email and cell number which obviously would be different.

I have used the same custom field names in both Accounts and Contacts with the same description name etc and when I select the account name like a title companies name, it will not auto import the data to that contact. I tried using custom address fields I created in accounts and added in contacts with same field name and description, and it still does not work.

I am not sure if I want to waste a month to month fee on a system that is not user friendly and I need someone to tell me if this system can do standard field information carryovers from one form to another, other than the industry type fields, these do work fine when going from one form to the other, it’s the custom test entering fields that do not...


Any help appreciated...

Thank You....

[SugarDev.net]

Well, I'm afraid I need to keep this brief, partly because I want to sleep .

What you want to achieve is certainly possible, in a perfectly upgrade-safe way, with logic hooks. I'm not sure whether Sugar allows hooks when you host with them, but the system itself does support this.

you'll also need an expert, because this isn't something you can'T click together in sugar itself.

[eNick]

Unfortunately, this doesn't happen. Though you've happened to name the fields in your module the same as in the default modules, this isn't enough to trigger Sugar into thinking it should copy data automatically.


It would probably be a big problem if it did!

What you are suggesting would require a logic hook - which is a little piece of customisation catered for via sugar's extensibility framework. In other words, it's program code but not changes to the core program code. That's just where code that moves data around belongs in Sugar so that it remains upgrade safe. (Sorry if you know all this already).

Some of these issues, however, may be due to you kind of throwing away the accounts module to create your partners module when you could presumably have renamed Accounts to be Partners or Company and modified it to suit? In that case it would. For example, when you convert a lead to an Account/Contact it will copy that data to the Account/Contact. It's difficult to say more specifically with out understanding your business better.

I think your phrase "is not user friendly" is a little unfair. Clearly its a generic system aimed at a theoretical "normal business" (accepted that doesn't exist) which inevitably means some customisation and some compromise is going to be required.

This is all just my opinion and others may give you more information or have a different perspective on your problem. Certainly you will usually be able to get assistance to particular issues you face on this board.

I hope that helps some.

[cryobite]

Well, it’s a little off from what I need... I just want to make the accounts tab into a partner tab, where I can add all the title companies, appraisers etc that we can click on to get their information. I want to make the contacts area, just that...a contacts page and not a leads page so I can enter the employees that we will with for that company.. The leads tab will do a totally different function and work leads only, like a normal lead management system. I am however able to add a contact and when I do this, if I have entered an account/partner, I can select account in contacts and then select the account business name and it add it under the contact, but it will not auto populate the address fields because it says billing and shipping in the accounts module. I can add a custom address field in accounts and also in the contacts with the same field id but it still does not auto populate... Now if I add a custom accounts module and look at the field code for the account field, it will reference in the field code both the contacts field code and the accounts field code when looking at the field code for accounts, and when looking at the contacts field code for the account button, where it will allow you to select the account name, it has this same field code, but reversed... So, if I can figure out exactly how that field code works, I can create other manual text fields with the code linking it with another module like the accounts name field and then do the same in the other module so it will basically do the same, auto populate, correct?

[SugarDev.net]

It's really not that simple, I'm afraid. There's a small amount of programming needed for this functionality..

[magma]

i think it is very difficult