Manage Related Information

The Manage Related Information feature acts as an action button-builder tool, to add, edit or delete action buttons in the Related Information section of a Record. The Manage Related Information icon appears when editing objects in Forms.

Compare to Actions and Actions in Workflows

How it Works

Action buttons can be created in a Related Information Section, based on a URL of any legitimate Page, Component, Action, etc. that can be created in the platform.

Add an Action Button

1. Click Designer > Data > Objects

   • Open the desired object
   • Click the Forms tab
   • Navigate to the desired section in the Related Information section and click the Manage Related Information icon

   File:Changerelatedobjectbuttonproperties.gif

2. Complete the following information:

   Add Button

   Select the "Add" radio button

   Button Title

   Label on the button

   Action URL

   Paste the URL of the desired action

   Post Button Action Path

   Choose the page to display after the action is executed

   Stay at new Object Page

   After action is executed on new object, display new object page

   Return to Parent Page

   After action is executed, return to the original page

   Post Button Action Path

   Choose the page to display after the action is executed

   Stay at new Object Page

   After action is executed on new object, display new object page

   Return to Parent Page

   After action is executed, return to the original page

3. Click [Save]
4. Optionally, [Delete] the action button

Edit an Action Button

1. Click Designer > Data > Objects

   • Open the desired object
   • Navigate to the desired section in the Related Information section and click the Manage Related Information icon

   

2. Complete the following information:

   Edit Button

   Select the "Edit" radio button

   Related Object Buttons

   Choose the related object button to display

   Button Title

   Label on the button

   Action URL

   Prepopulates, but can be modified if needed

   Post Button Action Path

   Choose the page to display after the action is executed

   Stay at new Object Page

   After action is executed on new object, display new object page

   Return to Parent Page

   After action is executed, return to the original page

3. Click [Save]
4. Optionally, [Delete] the action button

Creating an Action URL

About Action URLs

When any tab or action button is clicked in the UI, the screen refreshes to display a new page, as determined by the URL of the page. URLs can identify Objects or Records and can initiate Actions such as Add/Update/Delete.

When building URLs for Action buttons in a Related Information section, it is possible to:

• Execute a JavaScript action
• Launch a new page via URL

The new page can point to an external site, or it can perform these actions in the platform:

• Add a new record
• Pass field values of the current record as parameters to another page
• Pre-populate another record with data from the current record

Using Service Numbers to Build an Action URL

URLs are designed using Service Numbers, which are unique numbers associated with each Object and Action. A Service Number uses the (Service?t=) syntax.

Tip: To build a custom Action URL, best practice is to walk through the steps in the UI first, and take note of the Service?t=nnnn part of the URL. For example, click the Accounts tab. The last part of the URL is: Service?t=200&top_tab=accounts Or, click the [Add Action] button, and note that the last part of the URL now looks like this: Service?t=202&id=-1&a=add

Examples of Service Numbers in Objects and Actions

Service?t=200 Accounts
Service?t=202 New Account
Service?t=14 Tasks        
Service?t=72 Create Task 
Service?t=498 Custom Object 

Action URL Syntax

Add a Record

Here is the basic syntax for adding a new record:

Service?t=498&a=add&id=-1&object_id=nnnnnnnnnnnn

where:

• Service?t=498 - Service number; Specifies target is a custom object
• &a=add - Specifies the action: Add a record
• &id=-1 - Required. A value of "-1" is used for an add
• &object_id=nnnnnnnnnnnn - Object Identifier for the current object (Object name will not work.)

Note: An update could also be specified, using &a=update. In that case, &id specifies the ID of the record to update. (Since a particular record must be specified, this feature is rarely used.)

When users visit that URL, it launches the data entry form for that object, as determined by the user's Role on their Primary Team. Of course, that syntax is somewhat limited, because the form is completely empty -- not even the Lookup field in the related record is populated.

But by adding a little additional syntax, it is possible to pre-fill such fields. That is the subject of the next section.

Pre-filling Fields

To pre-fill the Lookup field in the related record form, add this syntax to the URL:

&prefill_data=1&related_to_xyz={id}

where:

• related_to_xyz - Name of the Lookup field in the related record, assuming the current object is "Xyz".
• {id} - The field containing the current record ID (id), in braces. Because the field name is in braces, its value is substituted. That puts the current record's ID into the related record's Lookup field, so that the related record points to this one.

Important: The braces {...} and other underlined characters in this syntax are literals. Type them in exactly as shown.

To pre-fill other fields, add this syntax:

&relatedRecordField={currentRecordField}

&relatedRecordField=value

where:

• relatedRecordField - Name of a field in the related record
• currentRecordField - Name of a field in the current record, within braces (its value is substituted)
• value - A literal value you specify. In effect, it is a constant baked into the code.

Example: Adding a Related Record

If you are tracking IT Assets, you might have a Computers object, with a related Software object to track the programs installed on each computer. As a general rule, each Computer you manage has the same operating system, with programs that come from the same company.

In that case, you might decide to pre-fill the name of the software company in the the Software records, using a value stored in the Computer record. (That field might be hidden, so that the "default" value never changes, or more likely, it will be specified for each Computer, depending on the kind of computer you are installing. In that case, the default value would be the one you install most often.)

In this example, assume that:

• "99987643526891" is the ID of the Computer object.
• "os_provider" is the field in the Computer record that contains the name of the Operating System provider
• "software_company" is the field in the Software record that records the name of the software provider

Service?t=498&id=-1&a=add&object_id=99987643526891 &prefill_data=1&related_to_software={id}&software_company={os_provider}

Passing Field Values to Other Pages

If the target URL is a different page (rather than a related-record form), you use the same "value substitution" syntax to pass values to that page:

http://yourTargetURL?param1={currentRecordField}&param2=value&...

where:

• yourTargetURL - The destination page
• param1, param2 - Parameter names
• currentRecordField - Name of a field in the current record, within braces (its value is substituted)
• value - A literal value you specify