Making custom attributes available in the Instance Editor

When you create an instance of a class, you can use custom attributes to record information that is not available in the out-of-the-box attributes. For example, for each computer, you want to record the name of the department that is using the computer. In this case, you must create a custom field of Text data type for the Computer System custom object. This custom field stores the name of the department.

In CMDB 1.0, after creating a custom field, you must make it available in the Instance Editor for the custom field of the Computer System class. When you create an instance of the Computer System class, you can enter the name of the department that is using this instance in the custom attribute. For more information, see Creating custom fields for a CI class object.

To make custom attributes available in the Instance Editor

1. Click the Remedyforce Administration tab.
2. On the Home page, click the Configure CMDB tile, and from the menu, select CMDB Custom Attributes.
3. In the left navigation pane, select the class whose custom fields you want to display in the Instance Editor.
   All the classes available in the BMC Remedyforce data model are displayed in the left pane. When you select a class in the left navigation pane, the custom fields of the selected class appear in the right pane in the Available Attributes list. Additionally, the ClassID and SuperClass of the selected class are displayed in the header of the right pane. The header also displays whether the selected class is an abstract class.
4. In the Available Attributes list, select the custom attributes that must be displayed in the Instance Editor.
   Consider the following points when you make custom attributes available in the Instance Editor:
   
   • Custom fields of Lookup Relationship data type do not appear on the Custom tab of the Instance Editor.
   • Custom fields of Text Area (Rich) data type appear as Text Area (Long) fields on the Custom tab of the Instance Editor.
   • When a custom field is added to a superclass, it appears on the Custom tab of the Instance Editor when you create an instance of either the superclass or the subclass. However, this field does not appear in the Available Attributes list when you select the subclass in the left pane. The Available Attributes list displays only those custom fields that are added for the selected class.
     
     For example, you have created the following custom fields for these classes:
     System class: Operating System Type
     Computer System class: Operating System Type, Computer Type
     Printer class: Operating System Type, Computer Type, Printer Type
     
     In the data model, the System class is the superclass of the Computer System class and the Computer System class is the superclass of the Printer class. When you select the Computer System class in the left pane, it displays only the Computer Type custom field in the Available Attributes list. It does not display the Operating System Type custom field. When you select the Printer class in the left pane, it displays only the Printer Type custom field in the Available Attributes list. It does not display the Operating System Type and Computer Type custom fields.
5. To move the selected custom attributes from the Available Attributes list to the Selected Attributes list, click the right arrow.
6. (Optional) To move the selected custom attributes from the Selected Attributes list to the Available Attributes list to prevent the selected custom attributes from appearing in the Instance Editor when you create an instance of the class, click the left arrow.
7. Click Save.