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Create an object

An object is the kind of record you want to keep — the blank form. To make one, go to the Custom data overview and click New. Fill in the form and click Save.

The fields you fill in​

Only two are required (marked with a red asterisk). The rest are optional.

  • Name (required) — what you call this object, e.g. "Inspections". This is what you'll see in menus and lists.
  • Display name — how each saved entry is labelled in lists. If you leave it blank, a sensible default is used. (You can get fancy and build the label from the entry's own fields, but you don't have to.)
  • Description — a short note about what the object is for.
  • System code (required) — a short code SHIPM8 uses behind the scenes to recognise this object. Use only letters, numbers, and underscores (for example inspections). You set this once when creating — it can't be changed later, so keep it simple. The app warns you if a code is already taken.
  • Group — an optional heading you can use to group related objects together.

A few switches​

  • Enable or disable availability — turn the object on or off. Turn it on when it's ready for people to use.
  • Enable drag-and-drop sorting — lets people reorder entries by dragging them.
  • Allow this object to link with another object — only needed if you want other records to point at this one. If you turn it on, pick which fields can be used for that link. You can leave this off to start.
  • Display fields — choose which fields show up as the main columns when entries are listed. You can set this later, once you've added some fields.

Save​

Click Save. Your new object appears in the overview. Next, give it some boxes to fill in — see Add a field.

You can skip the rest

Below these settings the screen shows several advanced configuration sections (how entries are added, edited, deleted, exported, searched, and so on). These are for administrators fine-tuning behaviour — you can leave them on their defaults and your object will still work. See Manage & advanced for a short overview if you're curious.