Task fields
Extend Tasks with your own fields, and see them wherever tasks are listed, edited, filtered and charted.
Tasks are a data object like any other, which means you can extend them. If your process needs a Review deadline on every task or a Desk that owns it, you add it as a field instead of squeezing it into a label or a description. The field then shows up wherever tasks appear: as a column, in the task's properties, in filters and sorts, and as a series on a canvas.
The fields SPARK ships with are a different matter. They are the schema the application itself reads and writes, so they are locked.
Open the field settings
- In the left sidebar, open the Settings tab (⌘⇧S on a Mac, Ctrl+Shift+S elsewhere).
- Under Features, select Task Fields.
Or, from any task, click Manage fields under the last field in its Properties; it opens the same page in a new tab.
The Task Fields page splits into two sections:
- Custom, the fields you added, with a New button. Once it holds fields, its heading counts them.
- Standard fields, the ones SPARK provides, with their count. Read-only, with the note Provided by Spark. They can be displayed and filtered, but not renamed or archived.
Standard fields cannot be renamed, retyped or archived, and that is enforced by the API rather than only hidden in the interface. A task's Status will always mean what the rest of SPARK expects it to mean.
Add a field
- In the Custom section, click New. The New attribute dialog opens.
- Give the field a Name and pick its Type.
- Configure the type if it needs it, for example the linked object on a relationship, or the values on a select.
- Click Create.
The types available here are narrower than on your own data objects: String, Number, Boolean, Date, Select, Multi-select, User, Relationship and File. There is no Formula type, and status, priority and labels are already standard fields. For what each type stores, see Attribute types.
A new field lands in the default task view straight away, so it is available in the column picker, filters and sorts without any further step.
Edit, format, archive and restore
Each custom field has a ⋯ menu:
- Edit field changes its name and description. The type is locked once the field exists, the same rule as anywhere else in SPARK.
- Display configuration formats a number field: decimals, separators, a prefix or a suffix. See Format how a number displays.
- Archive hides the field everywhere it appears. The confirmation says it plainly: The field is hidden everywhere it appears. Its values are kept and come back if you restore it.
- Restore brings an archived field back. Archived fields carry an Archived badge and sort below the live ones.
Where a custom field appears
Once a field exists, it is available on every surface that reads tasks:
| Surface | How it shows up |
|---|---|
| The Tasks table | As a column you can add per view from Display, and drag into position |
| A task's page | As a row in its Properties, with the editor its type calls for |
| The New task dialog | As a field to fill in when the task is created |
| Filter and Sort | As an attribute to filter or sort on, like any standard field |
| Canvas table, chart and KPI widgets | As a column or a series, since Tasks are a selectable data source |
| Workflows | As a field a Create Task or Save Record step can write |
Each saved view picks its own columns, so the field being available does not mean every view suddenly shows it. A view that shows one of your fields gets a header row naming it, since a task row only explains its standard values by itself. See Task views.
Tasks are also tracked like every other table: Created By and Updated By record who made a task and who changed it last, beside Created At and Updated At.
Fields the Exception Framework adds
The first time a workflow's Generate Exceptions step runs, it adds the fields an exception's task carries to your Tasks, as custom fields: Exception, Exception Type, Exception Level, Share Class, Sub Fund, Window Start, Window End, Trigger Count, Largest Size bp of NAV, Summary, Additional Context, Occurrence, Previous Exception and Explanation. They then appear in this page's Custom section like any field you added, and an exception's task fills them in. See NGT Exception Framework.
Attach a file through a File field
A File field on a task holds references to files already in the workspace. It differs from the task's Files tab, which holds files uploaded into the task or chosen for it (see Attach files to a task): a File field is one of your own properties, with a name and a place in views, filters and exports.
Click the field in the task's Properties and the Select files dialog opens: Click the files to use, to preview and select them. Filter or sort the workspace's files, click one to preview it beside the list and select it, click more to add them, and confirm with Select. Unticking every file and clicking Select clears the field.
This is a link, not a copy. The file stays on the Files page, keeps its labels, and remains available to previews and workflows. See Organize files.