An attribute defines a data field's name and type, for example, a serial number as a text field. The required attributes are selected for a device card, and their values are entered for each individual device, or Spot.
Changing an attribute means maintaining a shared data field. The change affects all fields that use it. If you only want to correct one device's serial number, edit the value in the Spot's details.
Before making a change
Maintain attributes in the browser. Open Assets and content → Folder tree → Attributes. Editing requires permission to edit attributes, and deleting requires separate deletion permission. View permission alone is not enough. If necessary, ask your organisation's administrator to check your permissions.
Find the attribute using the search field in the Name column. Before making a change, check the Used as Device card column. If there is one device card, its name opens its details; if there are several device cards, the Device cards... link opens a list. The column shows device card usage, and an empty column alone does not prove that the attribute has no Spot fields.
Find out what information has been stored in the field, and keep a copy of any values you need before changing the type or removing options. Spot fields in the Android and iOS apps use the same name, type, value and option list stored on the server. A change made in the browser therefore also affects the data used on mobile devices.
Edit an attribute
- Open the attribute by selecting its name or the pencil icon at the right end of the row.
- Change the Name if necessary. The name must be unique and can be up to 512 characters long. Choose a name that describes the same information in all device cards that use it.
- Check the Field type. The available types are Text, Date, Number, Email, Drop-down menu and Link.
- If the type is Drop-down menu, check the options as described below.
- Check the Is default checkbox. When selected, it protects the attribute from deletion; it does not define a default value for the Spot field. This protection is based on the currently saved setting, so clearing it removes this deletion restriction, but does not remove the restriction caused by Spot fields.
- Select Save and check that you see the notification Attribute updated. If saving fails, correct the reported problem and save again.
Renaming a field changes its shared name; it does not itself change the Spot's stored value. Changing the field type may cause existing values to be lost or change how they are interpreted. The application asks you to confirm the type change. If you need a new field for a different purpose, create a separate attribute for it.
In particular, changing the type to Drop-down menu clears, in the background, any Spot values that do not exactly match the new options. Values that match the options, and values that are already empty, are retained. This clearing behaviour has been verified; for other type changes, the general warning does not mean that all values are always deleted.
Change the drop-down menu options
In the Drop-down menu values section of the edit form, you can edit the option text. Add a row using the circled plus icon next to the first option, and remove an option using its minus icon. At least one option must remain.
Options must be unique and non-empty. Each option can be up to 50 characters long. Leading and trailing spaces are removed. Commas separate options, so do not use a comma in the text of an individual option.
The Paste values as list button lets you add several options separated by line breaks or commas. Selecting Save in the list adds them after the form's existing options. Check for duplicate options, then save the attribute itself as well.
When a drop-down menu is in use on Spots, make only one kind of change per save:
- Add options: existing Spot values are retained.
- Rename an option in the same position: values on Spots using the old option are replaced with the new option in that position. Keep the other options in their existing positions.
- Remove options: values on Spots using the removed options are cleared. The fields remain on the Spots.
- Change only the order: keep all option text unchanged. Spot values that match the existing options are retained.
For example, the options are Good, Satisfactory, Poor. When you change the text of the second option from Satisfactory to Fair, the value on Spots using it becomes Fair. The values Good and Poor are retained.
Do not combine renaming and reordering. Replacement values are determined by the options' positions, so combining these changes may be ambiguous or apply a replacement incorrectly. The server blocks ambiguous combinations. Save the renaming first, wait for the Spot values to update, and then make the order change separately.
Check the effect of the saved change
Check the name, type and options in the attribute list. Also open a Spot that uses the attribute and check the field name, available options and stored value. You can open a Spot in the browser by going to Assets and content → Assets, devices, tools and selecting its name.
Drop-down menu values are replaced and cleared in the background. Successfully saving the attribute does not yet show that the values on all Spots have been updated. Wait and reopen the details before making another change that affects values. If a value does not update after waiting and reopening the details, ask your administrator to investigate.
These background updates do not create ordinary value history events for Spot fields. Verify the result using the current value; the absence of a history event does not show that the value has not changed. Viewing the ordinary value history is described in Spot contacts and data field history.
Delete an attribute you no longer need
An attribute cannot be deleted if even one Spot field refers to it, even if the field's value is empty. The currently saved Is default setting also prevents deletion. Clearing a value does not remove the field or the deletion restriction. If deletion is blocked, investigate its usage first; do not delete device data just to remove the attribute from the list.
A device card field alone does not prevent an attribute from being deleted if there are no Spot fields and Is default is not selected. Successful deletion also removes the associated device card fields, folder extra fields and attribute lock references. This deletes the field; it does not hide it or reset its value.
- Find the attribute in the Attributes list and check its usage and the Is default setting.
- Select the trash icon at the right end of the row. The icon is shown based on deletion permission; its visibility does not guarantee that the attribute's usage allows deletion.
- Confirm deletion by selecting Yes only if the field is no longer needed.
- Check that the attribute disappears from the list. Also reopen the device cards and folder extra details where it was used, and verify that the field has been removed.
You can delete several attributes by selecting the checkboxes on their rows and opening Actions → Delete selected rows in the selection column header. Confirm deletion. Each attribute is deleted separately under the same usage restrictions, so some deletions may succeed while others are blocked. Check the result for each selected row.
Deleting an attribute and removing a field from one device card are different changes. If your aim is only to change a device card's structure, follow Creating a device card and arranging its fields. In that case too, assess whether existing values will be retained before removing a field.