Improving visibility by setting required fields to bold and red
Microsoft Dynamics GP provides an option for each user to identify the required fields on any form. By activating this setting, users can get a definitive visual cue indicating the minimum required fields on any form. This recipe shows you how to turn Required Fields bold red and what the end result looks like in both the desktop and in the web client (which was introduced in Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 R2).
Getting ready
Prior to changing the appearance of required fields, the Show Required Fields feature needs to be turned on—first in the desktop client and then in the web client as well. To activate this feature in either the desktop client or the web client, perform the following steps:
- Select Help (the white question mark on a blue background in the upper-right corner) from the main home page of Dynamics GP.
- Ensure that Show Required Fields has a check mark next to it. If it does not, click on the Show Required Fields item to turn this option on.
How to do it...
To improve the visibility of the required fields, follow these steps:
- The shortcut bar is the vertical bar on the top-left side of the screen when the Home button is selected on the left-hand side. From the shortcut bar, click on User Preferences, and then click on the Display button to open the User Display Preferences window; if you don't have User Preferences in the shortcut bar, click on the Microsoft Dynamics GP menu and then click on User Preferences.
- In the bottom-right corner, under the Required Fields heading, set Font Color equal to Red and Font Style equal to Bold:
- Click on Apply to accept the changes and close the window, and then click on OK to close User Preferences. Now, any windows that allow data entry will show their required fields in the desktop client in bold red, as shown in the following screenshot:
How it works...
Dynamics GP contains identifiers behind the scenes to mark fields as required. Dynamics GP uses these identifiers to change the color of the field name. Highlighting the required fields provides a quick visual cue in order to ensure that at least the minimum amount of data is entered prior to saving a form. This will save hours of time by preventing annoying messages indicating that the required fields have not been completed, especially since there is no indicator as to what field is missing.
There's more...
By default, activating Show Required Fields simply sets the required fields to black and regular. That is, it doesn't distinguish them at all. This is important because if Show Required Fields is off completely, Dynamics GP will prompt users to turn it on but that won't appear to have any effect.
There are some areas in Dynamics GP where required fields are not marked in red and bold despite this feature being properly applied. In almost all cases, these required fields occur in the grid section of a transaction entry form. This area of a form has a heading at the top and a grid that allows multiple entries under one heading. The nature of the programming behind the grid format prevents Dynamics GP from properly highlighting these fields, and unfortunately, there is no way to force a field inside the grid to reflect the Show Required Fields setting.
When a user receives a warning that a required field is missing but all the required fields appear to be correctly filled in, they should examine the fields in the grid for missing information. The most common culprits are the Unit of Measure and Site ID fields.
Modifier with VBA
With the available Modifier with VBA utility for Dynamics GP, an administrator or developer can make additional fields required, and in most cases, Dynamics GP will properly apply the red and bold formatting automatically. More information on Modifier with VBA is available from the manuals in Dynamics GP or from an authorized Microsoft Dynamics partner.
