Fields

Introduction

In NocoBase, a Field is a business attribute in a Collection. It describes the information that can be stored in a record and how that information is entered, displayed, filtered, and used in business logic.

Definition	Description
Data it stores	For example, text, numbers, dates, files, statuses, relations, or JSON.
How pages use it	For example, Input, DatePicker, Select, attachment upload, or a relation selector for data entry and display.
How it participates in business capabilities	Fields are used by blocks, filters, sorting, permissions, workflows, APIs, and data import and export.

A Field can correspond to:

An actual database column in the main database
An existing database column in an external database
A field in a database view
A field returned by an SQL query
A field in a REST API response
A relation field, system field, or virtual field in a collection

Think of a Field as one attribute of a business object. For example:

Business object	Fields
Customer	Customer name, mobile number, customer level, and owner
Order	Order number, order amount, order status, and customer
Contract	Contract name, signing date, contract attachments, and approval status
Task	Task title, due date, priority, and assignee
File	File name, size, MIME type, and URL

Use cases

The following field categories help you decide which kind of field to choose. Open the relevant field documentation for configuration, type mapping, and cautions.

Field category	Use cases
Text fields	Store names, numbers, descriptions, contact information, links, and similar content.
Rich text fields	Store longer content such as article bodies, documentation, processing plans, and code snippets.
Number fields	Store quantities, amounts, scores, percentages, and other numerical values.
Date and time fields	Store timestamps, dates, times, and timestamps from external systems.
Status and option fields	Store values from a fixed range, such as enabled state, order status, customer level, and customer tags.
Attachment fields	Upload files or store external-file addresses.
Relation fields	Express connections between collections, such as an order belonging to a customer, a customer having orders, or a user being related to roles.
Identifier and code fields	Store internal primary keys, synchronized external IDs, public-access identifiers, and business codes.
Geometric fields	Store spatial or geographic information, such as store locations, delivery routes, and service areas.
System fields	Store system information maintained by NocoBase or the database, such as IDs, creation time, creator, and update time.
Other fields	Handle field needs that do not directly belong to other categories, such as sorting, formulas, and JSON.

Field interface types

NocoBase groups fields into the following categories from the Field interface perspective:

Field data types

Each Field interface has a default data type. For example, a field with the Number interface uses double by default, but it can also use float, decimal, and other data types. The currently supported data types are:

Field type mapping

The process for adding a field to a main data source is:

Select a Field interface type.
Configure a data type available for the selected interface.

The field-mapping process for an external data source is:

Map the external database column type automatically to the corresponding Field type and UI type (Field interface).
Change to a more suitable data type and interface type when needed.