Data Fields
In ACB, admins are now able add, edit or delete data fields within Basic Forms blocks, Applications or by editing Concept definitions.
Adding Custom Fields
Basic Form
To create a new data field in a Basic Form block, you need to be in the front-end of the platform and navigate to the page and block you wish to add a field to. Enter Admin Mode and click on the Edit cog on the Basic Form block:
When the side panel opens up, simply click on Add custom field.
Applications
To create a new data field in an Application, you need to be in the Admin Dashboard and click on the Application tab on the left. Create a new application or search for an already created one using the Title. Click on the application you wish to edit.
Scroll down (if applicable) and click on Add a new field.
Concepts
To create a new data field in a Concept, you need to be in the Admin Dashboard and click on the Concepts tab on the left. Click on the Edit pencil icon for the concept you wish to edit.
When viewing the concept’s Definition, at the bottom of the Custom Fields section, click on Add a new field.
Creating New Fields
When any of the above buttons are pressed, the following menu of field options will appear:
When you select the field type that you want to add, various options for configuring the field will appear, depending on the field:
The following field options are available for you to create. Click on each image to display more information:
Text
A free-text field allowing users to enter a simple 1-word or 1-2 sentence answer.
Text Area
A free-text field allowing users to enter a longer, paragraph answer.
Number
A field that will allow users to enter only numbers. Not recommended for phone numbers as () and + are not allowed.
Dropdown
A field that will allow users to select one option from a dropdown list. Admins are able to add the Options for users to select.
Reordering fields
Whenever you have Options within a data field, you can reorder how they appear to users simply by clicking and holding down the = symbol and moving the order. This can also be applied to the fields within the Basic Form themselves and the order they appear to users:
Upload
Whenever you have Options, if you have a long list of items, you may upload a list of the items, rather than add them to the field one by one.
To upload a list, you first need to create a .csv file with the Labels and Backend Keys for the new list.
Next, open your Basic Form to edit and click on Upload:
This will open up a window where you will need to:
Radios
A multiple choice selection where users can select only one option.
Toggle
A on/off boolean switch for users to opt in or out of a particular option.
Checkboxes
A multiple choice selection where users can select as many options as they wish.
Display unchecked options
This particular option is selected by default for checkbox fields and allows users to see the options that have not yet been selected:
Deselecting this option will show only the fields that have been selected by the user:
Date
A date picker field for allowing users to select a specific date in time.
Year
A number field that allows users to enter a year i.e. no more than 4 numbers.
Heading
A formatting field that allows admins to separate out their fields with a new Header.
Paragraph
A formatting field that allows admins to add descriptive wording between or before fields. This is a very useful tool to use before fields that don’t have Placeholder text.
Geo location
Geolocation is an advanced field that will allow you to plot users’ longitude and latitude coordinates based on other fields. It requires other fields to be created with which to derive the coordinates from. We recommend that you use Country with City.
We do not recommend using Address Line 1 & 2 for a User Geolocation, as this would plot users to the street level of their address.
To create a geolocation, search within Dependencies for your City field, select it, and click +.
Do the same for your Country field:
A user needs only to update these two fields for the geolocation to automatically populate.
Geolocations cannot be directly edited by users, so we recommend storing this field in a Hidden Basic Form so as not to confuse the user experience.
File uploader
The File Uploader is a unique field in that it requires a corresponding block to allow other users to interact with it.
Once your File uploader field has been created and saved with a data key, you will need add a View files block:
When configuring this block, you will need to search and select the data key of your Field uploader.
The View files block will let other users view and download the files that have been uploaded.
Allow multiple files
Used only for the File uploader field, admins can specify whether a user can upload multiple files, or only one.
Repeater
A repeater field is used when you want to allow users to add multiple sets of the data fields. Examples of this are for education and employment records.
Repeaters are unique in that you first need to save your Label and Data key in order to add the repeated values.
Once defined, Save and then click into your Repeater to add or edit the values therein:
Item Label
By default, each set within a repeater is labelled Item 1, Item 2 etc.
Admins can change this option by clicking on Item Label, toggling on Use a Child for Repeater Label, and selecting the field they would like to label each set
Entry sorting
The repeater entries can be automatically sorted by a Date or Year field using the Entry Sorting option.
Simply select the date/year field that the entries should be ordered in, then select if they should appear in ascending or descending order.
Lastly, based on your Ascending or Descending selection, you’ll need to specify whether blank values should appear first or last. For example, if employment entries were ordered in Ascending order from the End Date, then blank values would be displayed first, as those are blank because they are ongoing.
Note: Core fields are by default set to arrange the entries in order of the Year Ended, in descending order.
Conditional
The Conditional field is an advanced field for allowing admins to create multiple options that, when selected by the user, opens a new selection of options, depending on what is originally selected.
If you have never created a conditional field before, you can watch our Tutorial Video for an example of how these are implemented.
Adding Existing Fields
Once fields have been created and are in use elsewhere on the system, admins are able to add them onto other concepts, applications and form blocks.
Basic Form
To add an existing data field within a Basic Form block, you need to be in the front-end of the platform and navigate to the page and block you wish to add a field to. Enter Admin Mode and click on the Edit cog on the Basic Form block:
When the side panel opens up, simply click on Add existing field.
This will open up the Fields Library, where you can search and add the data fields you wish:
Note: You can only add User data fields to a Basic Forms block, not Concept/Entity fields.
Applications
To add an existing data field within an Application, you need to be in the Admin Dashboard and click on the Application tab on the left. Create a new application or search for an already created one using the Title. Click on the application you wish to edit.
Scroll down (if applicable) and click on Add a new field and then select the Fields Library, where you can search and add the data fields you wish:
Concepts
To add an existing data field within a Concept, you need to be in the Admin Dashboard and click on the Concepts tab on the left. Click on the Edit pencil icon for the concept you wish to edit.
When viewing the concept’s Definition, at the bottom of the Custom Fields section, click on Add a new field and then select the Fields Library, where you can search and add the data fields you wish:
Note: You can only add Concept data fields, not User fields.
Notes
Core Fields
ACB comes with default data fields for its user profiles and concept definitions. These are often denoted with core_.
Core fields cannot be edited, nor can core fields be created without a developer.
If you need to edit a core field (such as our default Country list), the field will instead need to be recreated with a new data key.
Data Formatting
As an admin, you are able to input and format new data keys yourself. Therefore, it is important to agree as a team the naming conventions for your data keys, so that your export is using all the same formatting.
Examples of naming conventions:
For any questions not answered in these guides, please contact the Client Success Team via your Monday.com Support board.