Enable dynamic creation for reference fields

When dynamic creation is enabled, entering a nonexistent value in a reference field creates a new record on the referenced table instead of returning an error.

Before you begin

Role required: personalize_dictionary

About this task

By default, a user must enter a value in a reference field that matches an existing record in the table that the reference field refers to. For example, the Caller field in an Incident must have a value that is an existing user. You can enable dynamic creation to create a new record on the referenced table when a user enter a nonexistent value in a reference field instead of returning an error.

Procedure

1. Right-click the field label in the form and select Configure Dictionary.

2. Populate the following fields (you may need to configure the Dictionary form):

   • dynamic_creation: Select the check box.
   • dynamic_creation_script: Enter a script that dynamically creates the record.
   • Click Update.

   Examples:

   You could use the following dynamic_creation_script to create a record on the referenced table.

   current.name = value;
   current.insert();
   

   Note: The parent object can be used to access anything from the parent record.

   You could create a script include named MyUserReferenceCreator with the following contents:

   var MyUserReferenceCreator = Class.create();
   MyUserReferenceCreator.prototype = {
       initialize: function() {
       },
   
       create: function(current, value) {
           current.name=value;
           return current.insert();
       },
   
       type: 'MyUserReferenceCreator'
   }
   

   When the script include is created, the following dynamic_creation_script generates a new location for an invalid reference field value:

   new MyUserReferenceCreator().create(current, value);
   

Related topics

Configuring the form layout