What can custom fields do?

RT Users
1

Hi all,
I’m planning to add a “type” field globally. Initially, this will be a list
containing “discussion”, “problem”, and, maybe, “critical issue”. What I’m
wondering, though, is whether the selection of a value from this list can
do anything? That is, could selecting “discussion” force the priority to 0,
while “critical” would force it to 40? I hope so, so I can add a “severity”
dropdown list, letting users select from five importance levels and not
worry about–or mis-type–the actual number.

Could I use this field in searches, like “type:problem”? What else can
custom fields do, if anything, or are they really only for searching and
letting users see details the default RT doesn’t include?

Alex Hall
Automatic Distributors, IT department
ahall@autodist.com

2

Hi Alex,

Hi all,
I’m planning to add a “type” field globally. Initially, this will be a list
containing “discussion”, “problem”, and, maybe, “critical issue”. What I’m
wondering, though, is whether the selection of a value from this list can do
anything? That is, could selecting “discussion” force the priority to 0,
while “critical” would force it to 40? I hope so, so I can add a “severity”
dropdown list, letting users select from five importance levels and not
worry about–or mis-type–the actual number.

Perhaps you could leverage this extension:

Could I use this field in searches, like “type:problem”?

Yes.

What else can

custom fields do, if anything, or are they really only for searching and
letting users see details the default RT doesn’t include?

They are custom data that is associated with tickets, users, queues,
articles, assets, etc. You can make use of them in whatever way makes
sense for your organization.

-m