Customization

Topics:

Customization

The Customization module can be used to add new specimen and property fields, as well as edit existing ones. The types of fields available for customization are:

  • Requisition fields - Requisition property fields.
  • Subject Fields - For databases which have the Subjects module, this field set allows general, database-wide subject fields to be managed.
  • Consent fields - For databases which have the Consent module, this field set allows general, database-wide consent form fields to be managed.
  • Study fields - Study property fields.
  • Specimen fields - All vial and sample fields.
  • Shipment fields - Shipment property fields.
  • Batch fields - Data Entry batch property fields.

The fields added in Customization are general and apply everywhere the category exists. For example, while subject-specific fields created in the Subject module will only be shown in the study they were created for, the Subject fields created in Customization will be available with every subject. The same is true for the Consent fields listed in Customization.

The field list for each type can be viewed or edited from the manager. Fields can be added, deleted or assigned verifiers from the editor. Verifiers can be added or deleted from the editor to define the criteria which produces an error or warning for a specified field.

All fields shown in the Customization editor have a properties page which displays editable and non-editable data on the field. Some properties are non-editable once the field has been created and saved, while other properties are editable. Every field displays the following properties: Field Label, Description, Field Type, Is Active, and Is Required. All fields will have the following non-editable history fields displayed: Date Created, Date Last Modified, Created By, and Column Name.

Users must have permission to access this module.

The following options are available from the Customization manager: 

  • View - Opens the highlighted field set in view mode.  No data can be edited.
  • Edit - Edits the highlighted field set. Existing custom fields and verifiers may be edited and new ones may be added. Users may also double-click on the field set name itself.

Field Types

Available custom field types are described below:

Character Type

The Size and Valid Characters boxes will be displayed.
  • By default, characters fields allow up to 255 characters. Users can elect to allow more or less characters via this property. The following system fields can also have the allowable character size adjusted:
    • Subject ID (up to 50 characters)
    • Current Label (up to 100 characters)
    • Study Name (up to 265 characters)
    • Study ID (up to 50 characters)
    • Universal Subject ID (up to 111 characters)
  • Valid characters include: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 0123456789`~!@#$%^&*()-_+=[]\\{}|;:'"<>?,./ÀÈÌÒÙÁÉÍÓÚÃÑÕÂÊÎÔÛÄËÏÜÖàáâãäèéêëìíîïñòóôõöùúûüýÿÝŸ¿ÇçæƪºØøÅåߌœÞþÐðŠšŽžȼȽ÷£¤¥±¡°µ¼½¾©®•§™–—¶‡†•‰°ƒ€¬›‹«»

Date Type

The Date Format box and Allow Future Dates checkbox will be displayed.

Boolean Type

The Value Properties section will not be displayed.

Choice Type

The Format Name box will be displayed with options to Edit an existing code list or Create a new one. Selecting this Field Type requires a code list to be selected or created, which users will be able to select a value from.

Decimal Type

The Minimum, Maximum and Decimal Places boxes will be displayed.

Integer Type

The Minimum and Maximum boxes will be displayed.

Multi-Choice Type

The Format Name box will be displayed with options to Edit an existing code list or Create a new one. Selecting this Field Type requires a code list to be selected or created, which users will be able to select multiple values from.

Scientific Notation Type

The Minimum Exponent, Maximum Exponent and Decimal Places boxes as well as the Allow Negatives checkbox will be displayed.

Atachment Type

The Value Properties section will not be displayed.

Time Type

The Value Properties section will not be displayed. When entering data, the Time field is accepts values entered in the form "0000" and automatically alters it to the form "00:00".

Create Custom Fields

To add fields in the Customization Editor:

  1. Press the Add Field button.Add Field
  2. Fill in the Field Properties:
    • Field Label - This field is required.
    • Description
    • Field Type - This field is required. The type selected will determine an additional section added to this page.
    • Is Required
    • Is Active
    • Display Order
    • Column NameField Properties
  3.  Under the Field Properties panel, the Value Properties section may contain additional, required fields determined by the Field Type chosen. See the field types table above.
    • For the Specimen fields group, there is an additional tab of information that may be edited when adding a new field. The Requisition Properties tab shows options for the field in requisition tasks
      • Non MSC Vial is Editable - For this field, non multi-specimen container vials will be editable in Blind Completion, RTI, or Modify tasks
      • MSC Vial is Editable - For this field, multi-specimen container vials will be editable in Aliquot, Process, Blind Completion, RTI, or Modify tasks
      • Parent is Editable - This field may be edited for parent specimens in Aliquot, Process or Microarray Completion tasks
      • Child is Editable - This field may be edited for child specimens in Aliquot, Process or Microarray Completion tasks
      • Microarray is Editable - For this field, Microarrays are editable in Microarray Completion tasks.
      • Copy from Parent to Child - For this field, Parents data can be copied to children in Aliquot, Process or Microarray Completion tasks.
      • Automatically Remove Value - For this field, the value will be removed during Blind Completion, Return to Inventory or Modify tasks.
      • Automatically Remove Parent Value - For this field, the vaule will be removed from the parent specimens in Aliquot, Process and Microarray Completion tasks.

    Example: Professor Charles wants to capture additional data about all of the specimens entered into his database. He creates a new decimal type field in the specimen fields section of the Customization Manager called “Dopamine Levels”.


    To delete a field in the Customization Editor:

    1. Select the field to delete.
    2. Press the Delete Field button. The Delete? dialog will be displayed.delete field
    3. Press Yes to delete the field or No to exit the dialog without deleting the field.

    Create Custom Verifiers

    To add verifiers in the Customization Editor:

    1. Select the Add Verifiers button.add verifier
    2. Fill in the Properties section:
      • Name - This field is required.
      • Severity - The user can choose from Warning or Error. The field is set to Warning by default.
      • Message - This is the message that will be displayed to users when the error or warning is shown.
    3. Select Criteria used to display the warning or error. The search box displayed in this section is similar to the Standard Search dialog.

    Example: Professor Charles realizes that his “Dopamine Levels” field needs to have a value, but only for brain tissue specimens. He sets up a verifier which displays an error message if the Material Type is Brain Tissue and the Dopamine Levels field has no value. He uses the “Test” button to verify that the field works as he intended.


    To delete verifiers:

    1. Select the verifier.
    2. Press the Delete Verifiers button. The Delete? dialog will open.delete verifier
    3. Select Yes to delete the field or No to exit the dialog without deleting the field.

    Once any changes have been made, press the Save button to save the fields and verifiers. If a custom verifier includes criteria based on a system generated field, a dialog will open notifying the user that warnings and errors on these fields may not be resolvable, since the fields are not editable. Select OK to continue or Cancel to return to the editor without saving.