Custom Objects And You

[DavidPetty]

Welcome to my little space in the corner on Link dedicated to custom objects in Archer,  Archer Custom Objects Forum - Archer Community ‌

With this little community I plan on writing documents on various aspects to custom objects along with sample code and how they work within Archer to add a little bit of flair to your applications.

I'll start this off with a little background on what custom objects are.

What are Custom Objects

Custom objects is a layout object that allows you add HTML and JavaScript to an application.  With custom objects you can use them to manipulate an application to perform actions that cannot be done with calculate fields or Rules/Actions (DDEs).  Custom object can implemented based on the state of the record; meaning that it could only run if the record is in View mode, Edit mode or both View and Edit mode and it executes with the same permissions as the user has that's viewing/editing the record.

With custom objects you could perform the following:

• Placing a button that could save the record, aside from the Save or Save and Close buttons located in the toolbar or set a values list, text, record permissions, date, numeric field.
• Hide the various buttons in the toolbar by default or based on conditions in the record.
• Populate fields with data by default or based on conditions in the record.
• Hide the Add New/Lookup links for cross-references and sub-form fields.
• For more advanced custom objects you can:
  • Use the REST or Web Services APIs to create or update records, initiate data feeds.
  • Call external APIs to pull data in.  Just be careful in that custom objects are stored in the browser as clear text and if you provide any credentials in the custom object the user could if savvy enough can find it. 

There are some concerns with custom objects to be aware of especially when it comes reading or updating fields in an application or questionnaire.  Archer uses the "field id" when it comes referencing fields in an application or questionnaire and these id's are specific to the environment.  So when you move an application or questionnaire to another environment the field id's will most likely be different and you would have to update those field id's each time you install a package.

Custom objects are limited just to the application/questionnaire meaning that they cannot be displayed in reports or notifications. All field interactions (reading/update) must be on the layout but can be hidden with Apply Conditional Layout action.  With private fields the custom objects has the same access as the user. Fields that are in a tab set that's not set as default are not accessible by custom objects.

[NasimBeg]

David Petty‌, Thanks for starting this off, its a great initiative an will be really helpful.

[AyaunaModlin2]

I am looking for guidance on creating a Custom Object that will display a Help Text table in the About Section.

[DavidPetty]

Ayuana if it's just HTML you can use a Text Box instead of a Custom Object.  You can build your table in any HTML editor, copy the HTML and in the Text Box click the <> in the toolbar and paste the HTML.

[AyaunaModlin2]

Thank you!

[RodEhrlich]

Are there any on demand courses that go over Custom Objects? Thank you.

[DavidPetty]

Unfortunately no.  Custom objects are basically the use of JavaScript that interacts with the browsers DOM to perform actions on behalf of the user.

[NehaAgarwal]

I have 10 questions on my application and I want to display a popup when a user has not answered any question while clicking a button to tell them which all questions they have not answered.

I cannot make the questions mandatory.

Is there a way to implement it without custom object?

[DavidPetty]

Other than making the questions required, there is no other way to incorporate a "button" on the layout to check to see if all the questions have been answered.

May I ask why you cannot make the questions required?  You could make the question required based on the status of a field.  For example if you have a values list called Submit with a single value of 'Yes' you could make the questions required when the user selects 'Yes' for that field.

[NehaAgarwal]

Thanks for the suggestion David.

I cannot make the questions mandatory as user will have to provide all the answers else they cannot save. 

The requirement is user is not forced to provide all the answers at once and to have a button via custom object which will inform the user how many questions are not answered.