Abacus Consulting, LLC

Do you want to be able to see what user created a record on a Time Matters® form, or do you need to see other "Hidden" fields, such as CreateDate or CreatedBy on the main Matter form?

Using a Calculated Field to Display Hidden Values 

Time Matters contains a number of "Hidden" values such as Created By, Create Date, Create Time, Modify Date, and Modify Time.  Some of these values can be viewed using the Record Properties  page.  It is easy enough to select these fields and display them on a list view using a QuickTab, but often it is desirable to display this information on a form field as well.

This is easily accomplished using a calculated field.  On any form (as always, it is preferable to edit a Form Style rather than the default form), Right-Click on a field and select Customize Field.  Select Calculated as the field type.  For the formula result format, select text.  Click the Edit Formula button.  In the Edit formula dialog, configure the first line as a field and choose the field you would like displayed on the form (such as Created By).  Select Appended as the operator.  Configure the second line as Text and leave the adjacent text box empty.

Click OK twice and Time Matters will ask you if you want to recalculate the database.  Answer Yes, and in a few moments, you will be returned to the form with your new field.  An added bonus is that calculated fields are "read only" thus no one will be able to make any unwanted changes to them.  Some applications of this technique are displaying the user/secretary who created a document on a document record thus reserving the staff field for the "owner" of the record.