Types of fields in Dynamics CRM 2013

As you use fields in your customizations the first thing you need to understand are the types of fields you can create and edit and some of the system fields an entity may have. The following table summarizes field types available in Dynamics CRM 2013.

Field data type	Description
Single Line of Text	Up to 4000 characters of text can be in this field. You can set a maximum length to less than this. This field has several format options that will change the presentation of the text. These options are Email, Text, Text Area, URL and Ticker Symbol and Phone. For more information check Single line of text format options below.
Multiple Lines of Text	Up to 1,048,576 characters of text can be in this field. You can set a maximum length to less than this. When you add this field to the form you can specify the size of the field.
Option Set	This field provides a set of options. Each option has a number value and label. When added to a form this field uses a select control and only one option can be selected. When displayed in Advanced Find, you can use a picklist control to select multiple options to include in your search criteria.You may define a single global option set and configure multiple option set fields to use that single set of options.
Two Option	This field provides two options. Each option has a number value of 0 or 1 corresponding to a false or true value. Each option also has a label so that true or false values can be represented as “Yes” and “No”, “Hot” and “Cold”, “On” and “Off” or any pair of labels you want to display.Two option fields don’t provide format options at the field level. But when you add one to the form you can choose to display them as radio buttons, a check box, or a select list.
Whole Number	Integers with a value between -2,147,483,648 and 2,147,483,647 can be in this field. You can restrict the maximum or minimum values in this range. This field has format options None, Duration Time Zone, and Language that change depending on how the field is presented. Check Whole number format options below.
Floating Point Number	Up to 5 decimal points of precision can be used for values between -100,000,000,000 and -100,000,000,000 can be in this field.You can specify the level of precision and the maximum and minimum values.
Decimal Number	Up to 10 decimal points of precision can be used for values between -100,000,000,000 and -100,000,000,000 can be in this field.You can specify the level of precision and the maximum and minimum values.
Currency	Monetary values between -922,337,203,685,477 and 922,337,203,685,477 can be in this field. You can set a level of precision or choose to base the precision on a specific currency or a single standard precision used by the organization.
Date and Time	This field has format options to display Date Only or Date and Time.
Image	Each entity that supports images can have one image field. When an entity has an image field, it can be configured to display the image for the record in the application.
Lookup	A field that allows setting a reference to a single record of a specific type of entity. Some system lookup fields behave differently.

Single line of text format options: The following table provides information about the format options for single line of text fields.

Format Option	Description
Email	The text provides a mailto link to open the user’s email application.
Text	This option simply displays text.
Text Area	This format option can be used to display multiple lines of text. But with a limit of 4000 characters, the Multiple Lines of Text field is a better choice if large amounts of text are expected.
URL	The text provides a hyperlink to open the page specified. Any text that does not begin with a valid protocol will have “http://” prepended to it. Only HTTP, HTTPS, FTP , FTPS, ONENOTE and TEL protocols are allowed in this field.
Ticker Symbol	For most languages, the text will be enabled as a link to open the MSN Money website to show details about the stock price represented by the ticker symbol.For certain East Asian languages the window will open Bing search results for the ticker symbol.
Phone	In the web application, fields will be click-enabled to initiate calls using either Skype or Lync if a client for either is installed on your computer. The telephony provider choice is at the bottom of the General tab of System Settings.For Microsoft Dynamics CRM for tablets, Skype is the only available telephony provider.

Whole number format options: The following table provides information about the format options for whole number fields.

Format Option	Description
None	This option simply displays a number.
Duration	This format option can be used to display a list of duration options. But the data stored in the database is always a number of minutes. The field looks like a drop-down list and provides suggested options like 1 minute, 15 minutes, 30 minutes all the way up to 3 days. People can choose these options. However, people can also just type in a number of minutes and it resolves to that period of time. For example, type in 60 and it resolves to 1 hour. Or they can enter “1 hour” or “2 days” and it will resolve to display that time.The duration must be entered in the following format: “x minutes”, “x hours” or “x days”. Hours and days can also be entered using decimals, for example, “x.x hours” or “x.x days”.
Time Zone	This option displays a select list of time zones such as (GMT-12:00) International Date Line West and (GMT-08:00) Pacific Time (US & Canada). Each of these zones is stored as a number.
Language	This option displays a list of the languages provisioned for your organization.The values are displayed as a drop-down list of language names, but the data is stored as a number using LCID codes. Language codes are four-digit or five-digit locale IDs. Valid locale ID values can be found at Locale ID (LCID) Chart).

Currency: Currency fields allow for an organization to configure multiple currencies that can be used for records in the organization. When organizations have multiple currencies, they typically want to be able to perform calculations to provide values using their base currency. When you add a currency field to an entity that has no other currency fields, two additional fields are added:

• A lookup field called Currency that you can set to any active currency configured for your organization. You can configure multiple active currencies for your organization in Settings -> Business Management > Currencies. There you can specify the currency and an exchange rate with the base currency set for your organization. If you have multiple active currencies, you can add the currency field to the form and allow people to specify which currency should be applied to money values for this record. This will change the currency symbol that is shown for the currency fields in the form.  Individuals can also change their personal options to select a default currency for records they create.
• A decimal field called Exchange Rate that provides the exchange rate for a selected currency associated with the entity with respect to the base currency. If this field is added to the form, people can see the value but they can’t edit it. The exchange rate is stored with the currency.

For each currency field you add, another currency field is added with the prefix “_Base” on the name. This field stores the calculation of the value of the currency field you added and the base currency. Again, if this field is added to the form, it can’t be edited.

When you configure a currency field you can choose the precision value. There are essentially three options as shown in the following table.

Option	Description
Pricing Decimal Precision	This is a single organization precision to be used for prices found in Settings -> Administration -> System Settings -> General Tab.
Currency Precision	This option applies the precision defined for the currency in the record.
Specific precision values 0 – 4	These settings allow for defining a specific set precision.

Image: Check out about Image field in next post. 

 

Advertisement