How to add user fields and user tables

User fields are the data your company needs and Nori doesn't include: the order number from the customer's portal, an item's season, the driver who delivered. They show up on their screen, in lists, in reports and in the API. User tables hold your own lists (delivery areas, seasons…) to pick from in a field.

They are SAP Business One's UDFs and UDTs. You need the permission to define user fields and tables; the default roles don't have it, the Administrator does.

Add a field

1. Go to Administration › Customization › User fields.
2. On the left, choose where the field goes: Documents (header), Document lines, Business partners, Items, Payments or a user table.
3. Click New field.
4. Enter the Code (it starts with U_, as in SAP) and the Name people will see.
5. Choose the Type: Text, Whole number, Decimal number, Date, Yes / no, List of values or User table.
   • For a List of values, enter the Valid values with their description.
   • For User table, choose the Linked table: the field offers its rows and stores the chosen row's code.
6. Adjust the rest if you need to: Length, Default value, Required, Help, Order and Show in the list. On documents, Document types limits the field to some types; with none checked it applies to all.
7. Save.

The code can't change after it is created: it is the key of the stored values.

Where the field shows up

• Documents: on the User fields tab of every sales, purchasing and inventory document. They can be filled in even after the document is posted, because they don't change amounts or stock.
• Lines: as an optional column. In the document click Columns and check it. Required ones are always shown.
• Business partners and items: on the User fields tab of their record.
• Payments: when you record them. Afterwards they are read only.
• Lists: those with Show in the list appear as a column, and list, yes/no and table fields work as filters.

When you copy a document to another (order to delivery, delivery to invoice) the values travel with it.

A new required field doesn't stop counter sales: the POS, route sales and the API get its default value.

Hide or lock a field by role

Each user field behaves like any Nori field: in Administration › Customization › Forms and views you can hide it, make it read only or make it required for a role or a user. See Users, roles and permissions.

Create a user table

1. In User fields, next to User tables, click New table.
2. Enter a Code (letters, numbers and underscore; it can't change later) and a Name.
3. Choose the Type: No object for a simple list, or Master data.
4. Save. If each row needs more data besides code and name, add it under Table fields.
5. Click Open rows to enter the rows.

Rows are entered in Administration › Customization › User tables. A row already used by a record is deactivated instead of deleted.

With an ERP connected

• Import from the ERP lists the user fields and tables your ERP already has. The ones you choose are created in Nori with the same code, already mapped. Nori only reads them: it never creates or changes anything in the ERP.
• ERP field: the field on the same object in the ERP (in SAP, U_…). When a document, payment or partner is sent, its value travels in that field. Empty, the field is Nori's only.
• On items, which come from the ERP, a mapped field is filled when syncing down and can't be changed in Nori.
• A table with an ERP table gets its rows with Sync rows from ERP and isn't edited in Nori.

Why: in SAP adding a UDF changes the database and asks everyone to log off. In Nori the field appears when you save it, without stopping anyone.

Reports and API

• In the report designer and SQL access, user fields are in the udf column of each table; the data dictionary explains how to query them.
• The API returns and accepts udf on documents, lines, customers, items and payments.

If you don't see…

• The User fields menu: your role doesn't have the permission to define user fields. Ask your administrator.
• The field on a document: check that it is Active, that the document type is checked in Document types (or none is) and that it isn't hidden for your role in Forms and views.
• A line field's column: turn it on in Columns inside the document.
• Import from the ERP: it only appears with an ERP connected.
• To remove a field without losing data: deactivate it. If you delete it, values already entered are kept but no longer shown.