Field Types
Before creating or modifying a field, you should be familiar with available field types.
Important: If you change a field type, you may lose data stored in that field if the data is not compatible with the new field type. For example, if you change a Text field to Long Integer, the entire value assigned to that field will be lost if it contains one or more non-numerical characters. However, changing a Long Integer field to Character will not cause data loss, because the numbers in the Long Integer field can be stored as text.
Text
The Text type is the most permissive type of field. Any text can be assigned to it. However, you can optionally constrain a text field to restrict the type or format of information stored in it.
List
A List field is limited to an administrator-defined list. In addition to determining which values will be valid for such a field, you can also determine the order in which the items will appear in the list and if users can choose a blank value from the list. Use list fields to limit a user to a set of predefined choices.
Number
A Number field allows for any numeric value and is the most permissive numeric field. Use this type to allow decimal numbers or if you do not care if the user inputs a decimal or integer number. You can optionally constrain a number field to restrict the range of values that can be stored in it.
Long Integer
Integer
Only number values can be specified for an Integer field. An integer value must fall within the following range: 0 to 64,999. All other values are invalid and will not be accepted. Note that this field type is included for compatibility with older versions of Laserfiche. We recommend using a Number field to store numerical data. You can optionally constrain an integer field to restrict the range of values that can be stored in it.
Date
The Date field type only allows date values formatted according to the short date format (e.g., 06/30/2024) defined by the workstation from which the field is being modified. This format can be viewed in the Regional and Language Options dialog box, available from the Control Panel.
Note: A user can specify a date with a two-digit year by configuring the appropriate settings in the Regional and Language Options dialog box.
Note: The format used to specify a date does not affect how the date is stored in the database.
Note: Date field values can range from January 1, 1753 to December 31, 9999.
Date/Time
A Date/Time field allows you to specify date/time values formatted using short date format followed by the time (e.g., 06/30/2024 06:00:00 PM). The time portion of a date/time field is optional. If a user only specifies a date for a date/time field, midnight will be automatically entered as the time .The order in which the month, day, and year should be specified is determined by the short date format configured on the workstation from which it is being set. This format can be viewed in the Regional and Language Options dialog box, available from the Control Panel.
Note: A user can specify a date with a two-digit year by configuring the appropriate settings in the Regional and Language Options dialog box.
Note: The format used to specify a date/time does not affect how the date/time is stored in the database.
Note: Date/Time field values can range from January 1, 1753 00:00:00 to December 31, 9999 23:59:59.
Time
A Time field allows you to specify time values formatted as: 06:00:00 PM.
Data
A Data field allows you to associate binary files with a field. This is primarily used in integrations.