When adding custom fields, what do the visibility settings mean?
Environment:
Custom Fields
Oracle B2C Service
Resolution:
Important! It is best practice to add and deploy custom fields during off-peak hours. When custom fields are added, update statements must be performed against the corresponding database table (these changes can also be subject to failover and replication depending on the table size). During the time of the updates, the records in the table are inaccessible. As a result, your staff members will not be able to open or save records associated with the table that is locked. In addition, depending on the type of field being added, your end-users may have difficulty submitting assistance requests through the Ask a Question page.
For example, when adding a contact custom field, the contacts table is locked to allow the custom field to be added in to all of your contact records. As a result, staff are unable to open or save incidents since the contact information is opened along with the incident record.
When configuring custom fields, the visibility options determine where custom fields are visible on the administrative and end-user pages and whether or not the field can be edited by the staff member or the end-user.
Specific visibility settings depend on the type of custom field you are configuring. The visibility options also depend on which components of Oracle B2C Service are enabled for use, including B2C Service Chat, Oracle B2C Service Outreach, and Oracle RightNow Opportunity Tracking Cloud Service.
Visibility is also designated by interface. The use of custom fields in views and reports is dependent on the visibility of the custom field for the interface. If the custom field is not visible to the interface, then they cannot be used as filters or columns in reports or views (if applicable to the version).
For a comprehensive list of visibility options based on the type of custom field, refer to:
- The 'Setting custom field visibility' section in online documentation for the version your site is running. To access Oracle B2C Service manuals and documentation online, refer to the Documentation for Oracle B2C Service Products.
- Online help from within your Oracle B2C Service console. From the console, select Help > Help Contents. Then expand Common > Custom Fields > Setting custom field visibility.
Additional resources for visibility information include:
