Concepts - Attributes

Attributes are variables, or general pieces of information, that relate to customers, locations, users, lists and list entries. These include user’s initials, customer's address, location site code, list entry’s product type and supplier codes. Some of these attributes are standard and can be used by everybody, but many more are tailored to a particular implementation and will vary from system to system. The latter need to be set up by magic5 support.

	Values for attributes are entered when creating an instance of the object to which they are attached. They can subsequently be edited by modifying the records to which they are attached.
	Attributes can be displayed on a mobile device but not usually modified (although there is a template action that specifically allows customer, location and user to be updated). They can also be output on PDFs and other report formats.
	Only one attribute value can be held in an attribute at any one time.
	Attributes can be used to great effect within the Conditions that are available on most magic5 components. For example, a device could use a customer attribute of ‘on stop’ to prevent chargeable work being added.
	Attributes can also be used in calculated fields. For example, a device could use a customer attribute of discount in a calculated field to create an invoice total.
	Many attributes are free text but others can be list entries or dates.
	Attributes can be referenced in Template action conditions and can also be updated by the same, or other, actions. For example, a location might have ‘last visit report’ attribute which gets updated by a server action when a form is processed for that location or may a 'first visit date' attribute which is checked to see whether it has already been entered and, if not, adds this visit date.
	Attributes can also be used within Job definition actions which will be implemented when jobs are created by an administrator. For example, job numbers could incorporate a location code, or warning notes could be attached (eg "this customer requires a level 2 qualification engineer").

Templates

Item Types Explained

Template Actions

Job definitions