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What Is a Field?

Components and references can have user-defined fields in Ardoq, allowing you to add critical metadata.

Kristine Marhilevica avatar
Written by Kristine Marhilevica
Updated over a week ago

A Component or Reference might have many Fields, but they are both a part of the workspace’s model and belong to a component or reference type.

You may want to add important pieces of information that are searchable or filtered as custom fields. For example, for a server, you would add an IP-address. For an application, you would probably add a Maintainer or system owner.

When a thing is identifiable by a single field value it can be a field; but when that field value itself has dependent field values it needs to be broken out as a separate component connected via a reference. Example: A Server component has a field on it called 'Operating System' e.g Windows, Linux. But when you want to record the support dates of the Operating System, then Operating System needs to be a component in its own right.

All components have some standard Fields, such as "type" and "last modified." When you are editing a component or reference, you can easily add additional fields. You can do this by clicking the “Add Field” button within the field area in the Pages View. This will add the Field to all components or references of that type.

You can manage and edit fields from the main menu. Here you can create, edit and delete fields:

  1. Click the Menu on the top right of the screen.

  2. Under “Workspace”, you will find “Manage Fields.”

Ardoq manage fields

You can also edit or add new fields while editing a component or reference. Right-click the object and click “Edit properties” to bring up the following editor menu:

Ardoq edit property

Edit Field

On the Manage Fields screen, you can edit or delete existing fields, or add new ones:

Ardoq fields types

Field Types

Use field types to easily store different types of data about your components and references.

Field type

Description

Text

Stores alphanumeric characters of variable length.

Number

Stores numerical values

Email

Stores email addresses

Text paragraph

Stores longer pieces of text, often used for notes or descriptions

Date time

Stores a single date (e.g. creation date)

Checkbox

Stores true or false values, often used for checklists or to indicate completion of a task.

List

Allows users to select from a predefined list of options.

Select multiple list

Allows users to select multiple options from a predefined list.

User

References a user within the Ardoq platform.

URL

Stores web addresses

Date range

Stores a start and end time

Calculated field

Stores values derived from multiple inputs. E.g. Calculates and stores the health score derived from adding up the business and technical fit scores of applications. Learn more about calculated fields in this KB article.

Number Field Formatting

Number fields are displayed according to the user's selected locale. In addition, the number field can either be formatted as a plain number or as a currency. When creating or editing a number field, there is a drop-down where the formatting can be defined.

Ardoq number formatting

Visualizations Adjusted By Field Values

Fields that use numerical values can change the visualizations, such as the Treemap. Click the “By custom field” and select the field from the drop-down menu. Your visualization will then automatically be recalculated according to represent the field you selected.

For fields that apply to both the parent and the child, the visualization will present the accumulated value:

Ardoq visualizations

FAQ

  • Is there any reserved field type?

Yes, Ardoq has a reserved field type that cannot be changed. Some of them are listed in table below for your reference:

description
_order
last-updated
_id
children
mustBeSaved
color
parent
ardoq-entity-type
lastModifiedByName
name
createdByEmail
type
created
rootWorkspace
source
displayText
typeId
returnValue

isPublic
targetWorkspace
created-by
last-modified-by
id
shape
order
image
origin
lastModifiedByEmail
target
component-key
version
_version
ardoq
createdByName
model

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If you have questions or need more information, browse our Knowledge Base or reach out to us from our website or using in-app chat.

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