Curriculum: Custom types and fields

Every object in Curriculum (course/module, study, assessment, person, and so on) is built from a main custom type plus a number of additional sections (sub-types). Each of these has its own list of fields.

Administrators can add their own fields to any of them. A common example is a Teaching language dropdown on a module, which is used as the example throughout this guide.

Go to Administration -> Objects -> Custom types and fields.

The page lists all object types, each with its technical code (for example Course module, Assessment assessment, Academic year academic-year). Under every object you see its custom types: the main type first, followed by the additional sections.

• Use the search box and the Active filter at the top right to find a type quickly.
• Click + Add to create a new custom type for an object.

For example, Course (module) contains:

• Course module: the main type, holding the core module fields.
• Additional sections such as Additional additional, Adhoc offering, Applicant, Appraisal, Bibliography, Capacity, Delivery, Description, Division, Document, Education week, Effort and more.

Click a custom type to open it. Every type has four tabs: General, Custom fields, Sections and Export types. Use the dropdown at the top right to jump straight to another custom type of the same object (for example from Course to Additional, Delivery or Effort).

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General tab

Settings for the type as a whole: labels (EN / NL / SV), Sequence, Comments, Message within changes, Create possible, Action after create (for example Start process in popup on the main Course type), Delete possible, Approve automatically, Visible during search and Generate code.

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Custom fields tab

The list of fields in this type, with the columns Name, Labels, Type, Subtype, Pattern, Visible, Read only, Required, Editable, Security, Sequence and Section.

• Fields shown in bold have been added for your environment (for example reasonForCreating and deliveryModes on Course -> Additional).
• Fields shown in grey are system fields (for example academicYearId, changeType, created, entity, id, values and version).
• The main Course type holds the core module fields, such as startDate, endDate, code, contactHours, englishName, facultyId (ENTITY -> Faculty), organisationId and publicationDate.

In this example, a dropdown field Teaching language is added to the Additional section of a course.

1. Go to Administration -> Custom types and fields and open Course (module) -> Additional.
2. Open the Custom fields tab and click + Add.
3. Enter the Name: the technical name, written in camelCase without spaces (for example teachingLanguage).
4. Enter the Labels users will see, per language (EN: Teaching language; NL and SV as needed).
5. Choose the Value type. The options include Element, Entity, Entity Reference, Enumeration, Minutes, Number, Reference and String (the default).
6. For a dropdown based on a reference list, choose Reference. A required Subtype field appears: select the reference list to use (here Teaching language). Reference lists are maintained under Administration -> Reference types.
7. Adjust the other settings if needed (see the next section). Visible is switched on by default.
8. Click Save. The message The data has been saved appears and the field is added to the list with Type REFERENCE and Subtype Teaching language.

The Add/Edit field dialog contains the settings below. Descriptions in italics are taken from the on-screen hints.

1. Go to Faculties, select a faculty and open the Modules tab.
2. Open a module (for example SJ101 Introduction to Journalism).
3. Open the tab that shows the Additional section. Depending on your configuration this may be called something else, for example Extra.
4. The new field Teaching language appears as a dropdown with the values from the reference list (for example Dutch, English, French and Swedish).