Create a User-Defined Table (UDT)

You can customize your system by creating customized UDT. When you create user-defined fields (UDFs), you can validate them against the UDT file. You can also use UDT fields as data sources for other UDFs.

This procedure applies only to some modules.

To create a user-defined table (UDT)

Select Custom Office Main menu > User-Defined Field and Table Maintenance.
Select the module and click the Add a User-Defined Table button.
In the Add User-Defined Table window, in the Table Name field, enter the name of the UDT. For more information, see Add User-Defined Table - Fields.
The Description field is automatically populated with the entry in the Table Name field. Change the description of the UDT if necessary.
In the Key Field Name field, enter the name of the field that is used as the key into the table. The Description field is automatically populated with the entry in the Key Field Name field. Change the description of the key field if necessary.
In the Key Field Length field, enter the length of the field that is used as the key into the UDT. Click OK.

The UDT is created. After you click OK, the User-Defined Fields window appears. You can use this window to add fields to the UDT. For more information, see Create a User-Defined Field (UDF). Once you have defined all the fields for the UDT, you can maintain the data in the UDT using User-Defined Table Maintenance. For more information, see Maintain User-Defined Table (UDT) Data. You can also change the order of fields in the UDT grid, and add the UDT to the Desktop. For more information, see Set UDT Grid Order Entry and Add UDT to Desktop.

Example - Creating a UDT to maintain project code information.

In the following example, a UDT was created for company ABX to store information about General Ledger projects, including project codes, project descriptions, and project supervisors. All General Ledger projects for company ABX have a 10-character project code.

The following information was entered in the Add User-Defined Table window:

Field	Entry
Table Name	GL_UDT_PROJECTS
Description	GL Projects (UDT)
Key Field Name	UDF_PROJECT_CODE
Key Field Description	Project Code
Key Field Length	10

After the table was created, in the Add Field window, a Description UDF and a Supervisor UDF were added to the UDT to maintain project description and supervisor data.

In the User-Defined Table Maintenance window, all project codes were entered in the Project Code UDF column. The corresponding project descriptions and supervisors for each project were entered in the Description and Supervisor UDF columns, as follows:

Project Code	Description	Supervisor
01234567	LA	Alice
01234568	Irvine	Steve
01234569	Phoenix	Mark
01234570	Detroit	Jane
01234571	Tempe	Bob

For the GL General Journal Detail table, a Project Code field UDF was created using the Add Field window, and was set to validate against the project code UDT. This new UDF was then added to the Lines tab grid of the General Journal Entry panel in General Ledger. The Description and Supervisor UDFs were also added as display-only fields.

During data entry in General Journal Entry, all entries in the Project Code field are now validated against the project code UDT. When a valid entry is made, the Description and Supervisor fields are populated with the description and supervisor information corresponding to the project code in the UDT. For example, if 01234568 is entered in the Project Code field, Irvine appears in the Description field and Steve appears in the Supervisor field.