Server Administration > Item Fields > Understanding Fields
Understanding Fields
PTC RV&S comes with a standard set of default fields that are visible to all item types and all users. Fields are categories of data that can be associated with items. You can also create custom fields in PTC RV&S.
When naming a field, PTC RV&S also allows you to use a secondary name to be displayed on the interface. This secondary name, known as the display name, can be helpful in simplifying information presented to the user.
Any changes you make within the Fields dialog box are implemented in the database immediately; you cannot cancel them. If you create a field with an incorrect type, you cannot change its type. You can remedy the problem by renaming the field, making it invisible for all types, or deleting it if there are no references.
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There are special considerations if you rename a default field that is referenced in an item type property. Item type properties are used to define solution-specific behavior.
Several of the default fields are used specifically in the document model structure.
Standard PTC RV&S fields that you can include in your workflow are as follows:
Field Name
Editable?
Description
Assigned User
Yes
User responsible for item.
Assigned Group
Yes
Group responsible for item.
Attachment
Yes
Attachment(s) included with the item. For more information about creating attachments in items, see the User documentation.
Backward Relationships
Yes
Related parent items. For more information about reparenting items, see the User documentation.
Bookmarks
No
Stores bookmark metadata for long text fields with rich content enabled.
This field is used in the document model and is managed by PTC RV&S. It is visible from the CLI, API, and PTC RV&S Administration Client in all item types and is not editable.
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This field cannot be used as the target of a custom FVA field.
For more information on inserting bookmarks and cross-references in documents, see the User documentation.
Category
Yes
FVA field that displays the value from the Shared Category field in a node item.
For more information about item types in the document model, Working in Types View.
Contained By
No
Describes the linkage from child to parent and defines the contents and structure of a document.
For more information about item types in the document model, Working in Types View.
Contains
No
Describes the linkage from parent to child and defines the contents and structure of a document.
For more information about item types in the document model, Working in Types View.
Created By
No
User who created item.
Created Date
No
Date item was created.
Subsegment Name
No
Name of the document item name that references the segment. The subdocument name is derived from the Summary field on the referencing node. You can edit Summary directly on a node or a segment.
For more information about item types in the document model, Working in Types View.
Custom Fields
Yes
The Custom Fields fields allow a user to create and use a customized field on an item with back projects enabled.
For more information about Custom Fields field, see Custom Fields and Custom Field Values.
Custom Field Values
Yes
The Custom Field Values fields provide a way to set values for the custom fields defined on a project backing item.
For more information about Custom Field Values field, see Custom Fields and Custom Field Values.
Document ID
No
ID of the document item in which content is contained.
For more information about item types in the document model, Working in Types View.
Forward Relationships
Yes
Related child items. For more information on item relationships, see the User documentation.
ID
No
Unique ID assigned to each item upon creation.
In Documents
No
Displays all of the versioned documents that the versioned node is part of.
The In Documents field is useful for the following reasons:
• Users can use the field to identify versioned content that is not contained in a document.
Once such content is identified, users can determine if any action must be taken to correct traces or version the parent document.
• From the versioned item itself, the field provides users with a quick method to access and open a document that the node is contained in.
Note the following:
• The field type is Query Backed Relationship (qbr).
• This field can only be added to the Visible Fields list for a type if the type has the Document Model role set to Node.
• This field only displays on versioned nodes.
• The following field attributes cannot be edited: Data Type, Query (hidden), and Field Correlation (hidden).
• As with other QBR fields, to prevent a potential performance impact, it is not recommended that this field be added as a column in views.
• To configure this field’s location on items, modify the item presentation template.
• If a user does not have permission to view an item within the field (or the items for the project), the item ID is displayed in the list with no other field values visible.
Incoming OSLC Link
Yes
An optional field that stores a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) required for navigating to an externally referenced object.
This is a specialized field to be used with PTC RV&S OSLC Server only.
Input Revision Date
Yes
Date of the last significant modification to this document item or, if a node, to the shared item that backs it.
Item Significant Edit Date on Shared Item
No
FVA field on nodes that displays the value of the Input Revision Date from the Shared Item that is related to the Node item via the References relationship field.
Modified By
No
User who last modified item.
Modified Date
No
Date item was last changed.
Notes
Yes
Special notes about the item.
Outgoing OSLC Links
No
The Outgoing OSLC Links field stores an OSLC link created with an external object.
For more information on the Outgoing OSLC Links field, see the PTC RV&S OSLC Client guide.
Parameters
Yes
Lists the valid parameters for an item. For more information, see Using Parameters and Parameter Values Fields.
Parameter Values
Yes
Specifies the values for the parameters. For more information, see Using Parameters and Parameter Values Fields.
Project
No
Project item belongs to. Projects are groupings of related items.
Referenced Bookmarks
No
Stores bookmark metadata for FVA fields that display values from long text fields with rich content enabled.
This field is used in the document model and is managed by PTC RV&S. It is visible from the CLI, API, and PTC RV&S Administration Client in Node item types only and is not editable.
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This field cannot re-target a different field, such as a short text field.
For more information on inserting bookmarks and cross-references in documents, see the User documentation.
Referenced By
No
Describes the linkage from shared item to node, or document root to node.
For more information about item types in the document model, Working in Types View.
Referenced Item Type
Yes
Shared item type as exposed through the node reference.
For more information about item types in the document model, Working in Types View.
Reference Mode
No
Controls how document items are versioned, branched, and reused.
References
No
Describes the linkage from node to shared item, or node to document root.
Revision
No
Identifies the most recent revision of this item, for example, 1.0.
Value is calculated and set by the PTC RV&S server: when a revision increment occurs. Field is blank if item has never been revisioned.
The revision schema is set in the mksis.im.initialRevisionMajor and mksis.initialRevisionMinor properties located in Workflows and Documents > Configuration > Properties.
Field is only visible if item type has the attribute May have revisions (for item revisioning) or May have versions (for document versioning) enabled, and then it is a required field.
For more information on item revisioning, see Item Revisioning. For more information on document versioning, see “Document Versions”.
Revision Increment Date
No
Date and time of the most recent revision increment of this item.
Value is calculated and set by the PTC RV&S server: when a revision increment occurs. Value is blank if item has never been revisioned.
Field is only visible if item type has the attribute May have revisions (for item revisioning) or May have versions (for document versioning) enabled, and then it is a required field.
For more information on item revisioning, see Item Revisioning. For more information on document versioning, see “Document Versions”.
Root ID
No
ID of the original ancestor of a document item. Same as the item ID if an original artifact.
Shared By
No
Establishes an explicit sharing linkage between two node items.
Node items participating in a Shares/Shared By relationship always point to the same shared item.
Edits to shared node fields also appear on the items listed.
For more information on nodes and shared items, see Setting Up Documents.
Shared Category
Yes
Defines the type of document or shared item. Values are constrained by field relationships (constraints).
For more information about item types in the document model, Working in Types View.
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Shared Category fields are always mandatory.
Shared Test Steps
Yes
Related test steps for a test case. Test steps are items with a test management role of Test Step. For more information, see Setting the Test Management Role for Types.
A test step shared with another test case cannot be edited, but it can be copied and replaced with the new version.
Shares
No
Establishes an explicit sharing linkage between two node items.
Node items participating in a Shares/Shared By relationship always point to the same shared item.
Shared node fields can only be edited on the item listed.
For more information on nodes and shared items, see Setting Up Documents.
Signature Comment
No
Any comments entered as part of electronic signature. For more information, see Setting Up and Customizing Electronic Signatures:.
Signed By
No
User who provided electronic signature when item was changed. For more information, see Setting Up and Customizing Electronic Signatures.
Significant Change Since Item Revision
No
Indicates if significant edit fields were changed since the item was last revisioned. For a node, it includes changes to the referenced shared item.
The value is calculated and set by revision operations. When significant changes exist (Significant Edit Date is greater than Revision Increment Date) the value is true. When significant changes do not exist, the value is false.
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If an item or node enabled for revisioning has never been revisioned, (and thus, the Revision Increment Date is blank), the Significant Change Since Item Revision is set to true with the assumption that, until the type is revisioned, edits may exist.
Field is only visible if item type has the attribute May have revisions (for item revisioning) or May have versions (for document versioning) enabled, and then it is a required field.
For more information on item revisioning, see Item Revisioning. For more information on document versioning, see “Document Versions”.
Significant Edit Date
No
Date of last significant edit to item. Value is calculated and set by the PTC RV&S server when an item edit results in a change to a significant edit field:
• For document item types (segments, nodes, and shared items), a significant edit field is defined by the Significant Edit Fields list defined on the type. For nodes, if either the node or shared item is changed significantly, the Significant Edit Date is the most recent of either the node's significant edit date or the shared item’s significant edit date.
• For non-document item types, every field is considered a significant edit field; thus, all edits to non-document types are considered significant.
Field is only visible if item type has the attribute May have revisions (for item revisioning) or May have versions (for document versioning) enabled, and then it is a required field.
For more information on item revisioning, see Item Revisioning. For more information on document versioning, see “Document Versions”.
The Significant Edit Date field is synonymous with the Revision Date field in previous releases of PTC RV&S.
State
Yes
Step or stage of workflow process.
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When creating an item type with the PTC RV&S Administration Client GUI, the State field is set as a visible field by default. The State field is not:
• enforced on the server. It can be removed from the item type.
• added during an item type edit, if not already set as a visible field.
• set as a visible field when creating an item type using the CLI, unless explicitly set using the --visibleFields option.
• added as a visible field when copying an item type, unless already set as a visible field in the source item type.
Summary
Yes
Brief summary of item, up to 250 alphanumeric characters.
Tests As Of Date
Yes
Date on test session that determines which test cases display for test documents in the test result editor. Test cases added to test documents after this date are not displayed.
Test Cases
Yes
Related test cases that shared test steps belong to.
Tests
Yes
Related test documents or test cases. When you add a related item to this field, a dialog box displays, allowing you to select a test document, or select individual test cases from a test document.
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You cannot create new items to add as related items.
Test documents can be test suite or test group documents. Test suites have a document model of Segment and a test management role of Test Suite. Test group documents have a document model of Segment and a segment setting of Group Document. Test cases have a document node of Node and a test management role of Test Case.
For more information on the document model, see Setting Up Documents. For more information about test management roles, see Setting the Test Management Role for Types.
As of Integrity Lifecycle Manager 12.0, you can add versioned test items to the Tests field. You can add these test items through the Finder window, CLI, or API. For more information, see Adding a Planned Test and the CLI man pages for the im createissue and im editissue commands.
Tests For
Yes
Related item that the test document or test case belongs to.
As of Integrity Lifecycle Manager 12.0 and later, the Tests For field is available by default in the Version Edit Fields list for the Test Case or Test Suite test management roles. For more information on version edit fields, see “Version Edit Fields” in the Customizing Document Content topic.
Test Steps
No
FVA field that displays information from the Shared Test Steps field in a related test case.
Type
No
Item type that pertains to particular workflow.
Version Description
Yes
Logging text field that is available to users to enter in a version description when performing a check in of a document or content.
Note the following:
• This field is automatically visible on node types and segment types,
• This field is only editable on versioned items.
• By default, this field is not visible for live content.
• Rich Content cannot be enabled for this field.
• By default, this field appears as a column in the Versions field.
Versions
No
Displays all versions that have been created for a live content item or document.
This field can provide users with a quick way to open a version of content or a document. That method is a quick alternative to looking for that version from the history.
Note the following:
• The field type is Query Backed Relationship (qbr).
• This field can only be added to the Visible Fields list for a type if the type has the Document Model role set to either Segment or Node.
• This field only displays on live items.
• The following field attributes cannot be edited: Data Type, Query (hidden), and Field Correlation (hidden).
• As with other QBR fields, to prevent a potential performance impact, it is not recommended that this field be added as a column in views.
• To configure this field’s location on items, modify the item presentation template.
Key Considerations
• PTC RV&S comes with a set of standard fields that are visible to all item types and all users.
• Field visibility rules based on item type are defined when creating a type. For more information, see Setting Field Visibility for Types.
• When naming a field, PTC RV&S allows you to use a secondary name (the display name) that appears on the GUI.
• Although a document version represents a record of a document at a specific point in the document's history, some fields in the individual item versions may continue to update based on the field definition. These are known as live fields, indicated by the live field icon ().
For computed fields, your administrator can configure whether or not they update based on the computed field definition.
The following fields always update based on the field definition:
◦ item backed picklist fields
◦ query backed relationship fields
◦ phase fields (an icon displays if the referenced field is configured to update based on the field definition)
◦ range fields
◦ field value attribute fields (an icon displays if the referenced field is configured to update based on the field definition, which can include any of the above fields, a field on a live item, or where the backing relationship is editable)
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The live field icon () displays based on the current field configuration, not the field configuration at the time of versioning. For example, changing a field configuration to be editable or allow updates after versioning displays a live field icon in all item versions.
• It is recommended not to create a field with the following names because if any of these fields are present in a Type, viewing or editing of corresponding items will not work properly in the Refreshed Web Interface. This may result in the page getting loaded continuously.
◦ MaskID
◦ queryname
◦ fieldlist
◦ orderby
◦ asof
◦ skip
◦ top
◦ count
◦ query
◦ errorCode
◦ errorMessage
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