Adding, Editing or Deleting a Field into a Project

Modified on: Wed, 26 Jun, 2024 at 2:41 PM

What is a Field?

In the Dialog Insight app, a field is used to collect and store information about your contacts like the name, email, address, preferences, language, etc. The fields you choose to use will be the structure of the contact profile. You may edit the fields later, however, it is recommended to set the fields before building the tables and adding contacts to your project. The fields belong to a project, so you need to create a project first. Adding fields is among the first steps of creating a project.

About the Primary Key and Required Fields

Each project has one primary key (composed of one or several fields). Normally, you will use only one field, but you may use more than one, depending on your needs.The primary key prevents the existence of duplicate contacts in your database and ensures that a contact does not receive the same message twice. If there were the same contact twice, the system would keep the first occurrence of that contact in the import file and ignore the other occurrences. The email address is most commonly used as the primary key, but you may choose any other field, such as a client number or a combination of fields. Some other fields might be set to be mandatory, so that when a new contact is created, both primary key and mandatory fields must be filled. Defining the required fields and primary key from the beginning is recommended, as there are some constraints to editing the fields after the project is online (when the tables are built).

Where are the Fields?

To add, edit or delete fields, this is the starting point:

Adding a Field to a Project

There are two options to add a field: you may choose a predefined field from the library (you may edit it later if needed) or configure a new custom field.

Notes: When adding a new field into an online project (when the tables are built), it may not be defined as required if you already have added contacts. Also, you may not add or remove the primary key status from a field when the project is online.

In the project fields list, click on Create a field (on the section you want to add the field into):

Option 1: Adding a field from the library

Click the Library tab to display the list of predefined fields. Check the field(s) you want and click on Add.
**Note: The fields cannot be deleted through this window with the checkboxes (see Deleting a Project Field).

Option 2: Adding a custom field

Click the Custom tab, then fill out the form with the required information depending on your needs:

Field Format

Field Format	Options	Description
Text	Fixed length	The most common format used for fields where the value can include letters AND numbers.When this format is selected, you must also define the maximum length under the Length field.
	Email address	Format used only to enter an email address. To be valid, the email address must conform to the standard syntax, such as UserName@domain.com. Commonly used as the primary key for messages to be sent.
	Unlimited	Format used to add comment areas.
Number	Integer (1234)	Format that restrains the value to integer numbers, that is numbers with no sign or symbol such as commas, semi-colons, dollar signs, etc.
Number	Decimal (12.34)	Format intended to enter numbers with 4 decimals maximum. Only the decimal point is accepted as a separator; the comma is not valid for this use in the application.
Date and time		Format used to enter a date and a time, under the following format: YYYYMMDD HH:MM:SS (2009.01.25 12:01:23 = January 25, 2009 at 1 minute and 23 seconds past noon). Entering a time is not required; when the time is not specified, the value 00:00:00 is automatically added to the date. This format is useful to hold a Date of birth for example, which can be used to send birthday cards to your contacts.
True/False		Format used for fields where the answer is True or False. When no answer is provided, the False value is applied by default. This type of field can be useful to quickly create groups. For example, you might want to create a group of all contacts that have replied Yes to an invitation.

Input Format Fields

Field

Description

Type
Options
Choices

The type of input that is valid in the field, as well as the options or choices available, define the way the values will display in field, whether as a text box, a drop-down list, radio buttons or check boxes.

Input type	Description
Textbox (valid for all field formats, except for True/False fields)	Multiline (not checked) - Field containing a value shown as a text box on one single line. The number of characters that can be entered depends on the field length defined in the field parameters. Multiline (checked) - Field containing a value shown as a text box on multiple lines. The number of characters that can be entered depends on the field length defined in the field parameters.
Drop down list (valid for all field formats, except for Text -Email address fields)	Custom list - Field providing a choice of answers displayed as a drop-down list, where the values and labels are defined in the field edit window. Custom table - Field providing a choice of answers displayed as a drop-down list, where the values and labels are generated from the values contained in a custom table. NOTE - It can be a good idea to use a drop-down list or radio button format to define preset choices of values, instead of a freeform text box. Predefined values will help get better results when searching contacts or creating a group of contacts. For example, for the Sex field, it is recommanded to use a set of predefined values, such as Male, Female, Do not want to say, instead of freeform text box that could have multiple entries for the same value - Man, Woman, Male, Female, and any abbreviations thereof.
Radio button (valid for all field formats, except for Text - Email address fields)	Custom list - Field providing a choice of answers presented as radio buttons, where the values and labels are defined in the field edit window. Custom table - Field providing a choice of answers presented as radio buttons, where the values and labels are generated from the values contained in a custom table. NOTE - It can be a good idea to use a drop-down list or radio button format to define preset choices of values, instead of a freeform text box. Predefined values will help get better results when searching contacts or creating a group of contacts. For example, for the Sex field, it is recommanded to use a set of predefined values, such as Male, Female, Do not want to say, instead of freeform text box that could have multiple entries for the same value - Man, Woman, Male, Female, and any abbreviations thereof.
Checkbox (only valid for True/False fields)	Field that can provide multiple choices but where only one value can be selected by checking the corresponding box.

Editing a Project Field

In the project fields list, select the field you want to modify and click on Edit:

If the project is still in preparation and is not online, all the information on this field may be edited. However, after building the tables, some constraints will apply:

Editing constraints for an online project
Information to configure	May edit	Notes
Primary key	X
Required	It depends	If the input of this field is empty for any contact already added/imported, it is impossible to set this field as required (you will need to fill the input for every contact to make this change). On the other side, you may define a field as not required at any time.
Code	X
Label
Description
Format	X
Length (with the Text format)	It depends	Be aware that reducing the length below the length of inputs from the existing contacts is impossible (the system will prevent you from doing so). However, you may increase the length as you wish.
Default		This change will not apply to existing contacts.
Input format (Type, Options, Input hint)

For more information, read the article on custom fields.

Deleting a Project Field

Deleting a project field removes it from the contact profile and the data linked to this field in the project as well.

If the delete iconis disabled, this means the field may not be deleted.

Fields you may NEVER delete
The Email, Firstname and LastName fields. A field defined as a primary key or as required.

Organizing Fields with Sections

The fields and sections of a project may be organized as you wish. This way, the fields are easy to find and the related information is in the same place. You may drag and drop a field from one section to another.

The fields of the Identification section are generated by default (the section may be renamed when a project is created). Here are some possible actions with the sections:

Next Step

After adding fields, the next step in the project creation is to define the availability of the fields if you want some fields displayed upfront or hidden (it is an optional step). It may be relevant for your project to define the time zone and the available languages (you may set these configurations later). You may now click on Build tables to put your project online and start adding or importing contacts.

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