Convert field to new enhanced List of Choices

Trumba has created a new way to store custom field values for list of choices fields which provides enhanced capabilities including Custom Field Icons and the ability to easily revise field values without editing individual events. This new field type will also be the basis of other future enhancements.

All new list of choices fields will be created with this new design. However older fields must be converted before you can take advantage of these new features.

What is different about the new list of choices field?

The new list of choices fields store the possible values in a separate data table and each text entry is given a unique ID number. When you select a value for an event, only this unique ID number is stored in the event. When the value needs to be displayed the system automatically looks up the value to display. One advantage of this approach is that updates to text values are automatically reflected on all events that reference that value.

There are other advantages of storing values in this way. In many cases there are other fields that make sense to display along with the text value, such as an image, phone number or web address. We have enhanced the new list of choices field to allow an image to be associated with each possible value and displayed in published views along with events. We call this feature Custom Field Icons and the feature can be used to quickly and easily add image icons to events based on the value you select for a list of choices field. For more information, see Custom Field Icons Help.

Trumba is working on extending this design to create a new feature called Custom Objects which will let you create rich data structures that describe the people, places and things that relate to your events.

Conversion process steps

When you execute the conversion process, it will perform the following actions:

1. The process first creates a list of all possible values used in the field. Values are gathered from your field definition and events.
2. For each value found, a new record is created and assigned a unique ID number.
3. Event values are translated from the text value to the new ID number.
4. The field definition is updated to reflect the new field type.

To convert your list of choices field

1. Under Tasks, click Define Fields.
2. Click your existing list of choices field.
3. On the Edit Custom Field form, click Convert Field to New Enhanced List of Choices next to the Field type selection.

   Note Only "List of choices" fields may be converted. If the link does not show up, this means your field does not need to be converted.

4. On the Convert Field to New Enhanced List of Choices form, click the Perform Conversion button
5. The process may take several minutes to complete.