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How to Move, Add and Hide Fields on a Form

While you customize a call's Details page or a customer's Overview, you arrange the form by dragging: fields and panels move around the form, come onto it from the Hidden items list on the right, and go back into that list when you hide them. To start, select the arrow beside Details or Overview in the sections rail and choose Customize this layout….

How do I move a field to a different place on the form?​

Press on the field, drag it to where you want it and let go; a highlighted bar shows where it will land before you release. This works for every item on the form while you are customizing: fields, panels such as Scheduled visits or the Map, groups, labels and separators.

  1. Start customizing with Customize this layout… in the list beside Details or Overview.
  2. Press on the field you want to move and start dragging. A small tag with the field's name follows the pointer.
  3. Move the pointer over the place you want it. Where it lands depends on which part of another item you are over:
    • near the left or right edge of an item, the field goes beside it, in the same row (the edge zone is the outer third of a narrow item, but only a short stretch at each end of a wide one, so check which side the highlighted bar is on before you let go);
    • over the middle of an item, the field goes above or below it, in a row of its own;
    • over a group's caption bar, the field goes to the end of that group;
    • over an empty group, which shows "Drop fields here", the field goes into it.
  4. Release to drop it, or press Escape to cancel the drag and leave everything where it was.

If you drag near the top or bottom edge of a scrolling area, it scrolls for you. When items share a row they split its width; see How to Change Captions and Field Settings on a Form for resizing.

You can also move an item with the keyboard: select it so it has the keyboard focus, then hold Alt and press an arrow key (Alt+Left, Alt+Right, Alt+Up, Alt+Down) to move it one place at a time. The keyboard keeps an item within the group or part of the form it is in; moving it into another group, or beside a field in another row, needs a drag.

How do I add a field that is not on the form?​

Find the field in the Hidden items list on the right of the screen, then drag it onto the form, or double-click it to add it at the end of the form. Selecting it and pressing Enter does the same as a double-click.

The Hidden items list shows, at the top, how many items are hidden out of how many the screen has in all. Under the Find a field… box it reminds you: "Drag onto the layout, or double-click to add at the end. Drop a layout item here to hide it."

The list is grouped under headings:

  • Layout — pieces that are not fields: Empty space, Separator, Splitter, Label and Group.
  • The screen's own sections — on the call screen Details, Analysis and Actions; on the customer screen Customer, Address & location, Notes, Credit & terms, Defaults & holds, Bank & direct debit, Docket & e-mail, Contacts, Engineers and Calls, in that order. A field is listed under the section it normally lives in, in alphabetical order, and a heading only appears while something under it is hidden. While you type in Find a field…, the Layout heading only shows the pieces whose names match.
  • Custom fields — your company's own fields, if it has any.

Under each name is what kind of control it is: Text, Multi-line text, Number, Amount, Date, Date and time, Drop-down, Check box, Grid, Photo, or Panel for a self-contained block such as Documents or Calls summary.

Type in Find a field… to narrow the list by name. If nothing matches you will see "Nothing matches" and what you typed; when every field is already placed, the list says "Every field is on the layout."

A field you bring onto the Overview from another section edits the same value that section shows. Change it in one place and the other shows the change; one Save saves it. The same is true on the call screen: an Analysis field placed on the Details page is the same value the Analysis page shows.

How do I hide a field I never use?​

Select the field and press Delete, or drag it onto the Hidden items list, or right-click it and choose Hide item. It leaves the form and appears in Hidden items, where you can bring it back at any time.

The four ways to hide the selected item, all while customizing:

  1. Press Delete (or Backspace) on the keyboard.
  2. Drag it onto the Hidden items panel on the right. The panel lights up while you are over it.
  3. Right-click it and choose Hide item. With several items selected the menu offers "Hide 3 items" and so on.
  4. Select Hide in the properties panel under Hidden items.

Hiding a group hides everything inside it, and all its fields return to the Hidden items list.

Hiding a field only takes it off the form. It does not clear the field's value on the call or customer, and it does not hide it on any other page: a switch you hide from the Overview, for example, is still on the Defaults & holds page.

Why can't I hide some fields?​

A few fields must stay on the form because a call or customer cannot be saved without them. If you try to hide one, it stays where it is and the form's message line says, for example, "Contact name is required and stays on the form."

The fields that always stay are:

  • on the call screen: Contact name, Type and Job group;
  • on the customer screen: Title, Code, Group, Trading terms and Currency.

These fields are never offered in the Hidden items list, and hiding a group that holds one of them is refused too, with the same message naming the field. If you hide several items at once, the others are hidden and only the required ones stay. You can still move, rename and resize them.

If you open a layout that was saved without one of these fields, ABM Service puts the field back at the foot of the form and says so, for example "“My layout” was saved without Contact name; it was put back on the form."

Why is a field drawn faded, or missing when I stop customizing?​

Some fields and panels only appear when they apply to what you are looking at. While customizing, ABM Service still draws them, faded, so you can arrange them, and pointing at one shows "Not shown at the moment". When you press Done they take no room until they apply.

Examples of fields that come and go:

  • Date on the call screen appears on a saved call, not on a new one.
  • Scheduled visits appears on a saved call, and on a new call once an engineer is chosen.
  • The Analysis fields (Priority, Job status, Work type, Cost centre) appear only if your company uses them, or if the call already has a value in one.
  • On the customer screen, Eircode and Delivery Eircode appear where the address is in Ireland or already has an Eircode, and the Contacts summary, Engineers summary, Calls summary and Credit summary appear once the customer has been saved.

The Actions panel is different: it is drawn on a new call too, and says "The actions are listed here after the call is saved."