DynaGroups and Dynafields

What are DynaGroups and Dynafields?

A DynaGroup is a reusable “label sheet” that names a set of extra fields (like “Color”, “Warranty Type”, “Is Refrigerated”). A Dynafield is one of those extra fields as it actually appears on a real record — for example, on an Item card. When you assign a DynaGroup to a record, its Dynafields “borrow” the names from that DynaGroup and, for some field types, only let you pick from an approved list of values. Change the DynaGroup, and the same fields relabel themselves and offer a different list — no new fields, no development work required.

Why does this exist?

Different product lines need different extra information. A tire needs a “Tread Pattern” field; a generator needs a “Fuel Type” field. Instead of building a brand-new field for every possible attribute, the system gives every Item (and Customer, Equipment Model, Rental Configuration, Maintenance Contract, etc.) a fixed set of general-purpose “slots”. A DynaGroup decides what each slot is called and what’s allowed in it for a particular product line — the slots themselves never change.

The three building blocks 

flowchart LR
    A["DynaGroup<br/>(the template)"] -->|assigned to| B["Item / Customer / Equipment Model / etc.<br/>(the record)"]
    A -->|names & restricts| C["Dynafields on that record<br/>(Dynacode01, Dynaboolean01, ...)"]
    D["DynaGroup Values<br/>(the allowed picklist)"] -->|feeds| C
  1. DynaGroup — the template. It has a Code (e.g. TIRES), a Description, and named “slots” grouped by type (see below). Setup pages: DynaGroup List / DynaGroup Card.
  2. DynaGroup Values — the picklist of allowed entries for each slot of a DynaGroup (e.g. slot “Option 1” of TIRES allows RADIAL, BIAS). Maintained on the DynaGroup Value Worksheet — see the companion guide, Dyna Group Value Worksheet.
  3. Dynafields — the actual fields you see and fill in on a record’s card (Item, Customer, Equipment Model, …). They’re always there, but they only make sense once a DynaGroup is assigned — the DynaGroup tells them what to be called and what values to accept.

Where do DynaGroups get assigned?

A record gets one DynaGroup assigned through a DynaGroup field on that record. Once assigned, all the Dynafields on that record use that DynaGroup’s slot names and picklists. Records that support this today include:

  • Items (and Item Templates)
  • Customers
  • Equipment Models (and Equipment Objects, which inherit from their model)
  • Rental Configurations / Requested Rental Configurations / Rental Contracts
  • Maintenance Contracts, Maintenance Contract Types, Maintenance Price Headers
  • Claims

Use the DynaGroup - Where Used factbox on the Dyna Group Value Worksheet to see, for a specific Dyna Group, exactly which of these tables currently reference it.

What kinds of Dynafields are there?

Every record that supports Dyna Groups exposes the same fixed set of slots. A Dyna Group only needs to name the slots it actually uses — leave the rest blank and they simply won’t show up as usable options.

Slot type Example field names on a record What it’s for Restricted to a picklist?
Code options (Option 1–9) Dynacode01–Dynacode09 Short codes with a controlled list of choices Yes — via Dyna Group Values
Free text options (Option 10–34) Dynacode10–Dynacode34 Free-form short text, no controlled list No
Booleans (Boolean Option 1–5) Dynaboolean01–Dynaboolean05 Simple yes/no switches No — it’s just a checkbox
Decimals (Decimal Option 1–9) Dynadecimal01–Dynadecimal09 Numeric values (2 decimal places) No
Dates (Date 1–6) — Date values No
Selection Decimals (Selection Decimal 1–9) — Numeric values with a controlled list Yes — via Dyna Group Values
Equipment Model options (Equipment Model Option 1–9) — Same idea as Code options, but a separate range reserved for Equipment Models Yes — via Dyna Group Values

The naming (“Option 1”, “Dynacode01”, etc.) is purely internal plumbing. What the user actually sees is whatever caption you typed into that slot on the Dyna Group Card — see the next section.

The “magic” behind the relabeling

This is the part that looks like magic but is just a lookup:

  1. On the Dyna Group Card, you type a name into a slot — e.g. Option 1 = Color.
  2. On the record (say, an Item), the corresponding Dynafield (Dynacode01) is wired to read its on-screen label from whichever Dyna Group is assigned to that Item.
  3. So the same physical field shows as “Color” on a paint-related Item, and as “Fuel Type” on a generator Item that uses a different Dyna Group — because each Item points at a different Dyna Group.

For Code options and Selection Decimals, the same trick also restricts which values you’re allowed to type: the field’s lookup is filtered to only the Dyna Group Values entries recorded for that specific slot of that specific Dyna Group. Pick a different Dyna Group and you get a different label and a different picklist.

Free text, Boolean, and Decimal slots are only relabeled — they never restrict the value you can enter, since there’s no matching Dyna Group Values picklist for them.

Special case: Equipment Models

Equipment Models use a dedicated range of slots (labeled “Equipment Model Option 1” through “Equipment Model Option 9”) instead of the regular Option 1–9 range. This keeps Equipment Model attributes from colliding with, for example, Item attributes even when both happen to share the same Dyna Group. You don’t need to do anything differently — the Dyna Group Value Worksheet and DynaField Factbox already show these as clearly labeled “Equipment Model Option” entries.

Setting things up end to end

  1. Create the Dyna Group. Open the Dyna Group List, create a new Dyna Group with a Code and Description.
  2. Name the slots you need. On the Dyna Group Card, fill in only the slots that are relevant (e.g. Option 1 = Color, Boolean Option 1 = Is Refrigerated). Leave everything else blank.
  3. Define the allowed values (Code options, Selection Decimals, and Equipment Model options). Use the Dyna Group Value Worksheet to add the picklist entries for each named slot (e.g. Color → RED, BLUE, GREEN).
  4. Assign the Dyna Group to a record. On the Item, Customer, Equipment Model, etc., set the Dyna Group field to the Dyna Group you just built.
  5. Fill in the Dynafields. The Dynafields on that record now show your custom labels; Code option, Selection Decimal, and Equipment Model option fields restrict input to the values from step 3.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: I renamed a slot on the Dyna Group Card. Does that change historical data? No — renaming only changes the caption shown to users. The underlying value stored on the record doesn’t change.

Q: Can two different records (e.g. an Item and a Customer) use the same Dyna Group? Yes. A Dyna Group is just a shared template — any number of records can point at the same one and they’ll all show the same slot names and picklists.

Q: I assigned a Dyna Group but the Dynafields still show generic names like “Dynacode01”. Check that the corresponding slot (e.g. Option 1) actually has a name typed in on the Dyna Group Card. A blank slot name falls back to the generic internal field name.

Q: Why can’t I type just anything into a Dynacode field? Code option and Selection Decimal fields are deliberately restricted to the values defined in the Dyna Group Value Worksheet for that slot — this keeps the picklist consistent across everyone using the same Dyna Group. If you need a genuinely free-form field, use one of the Free text option slots (Option 10–34) instead.

Q: How do I find out which slots are actually defined for a Dyna Group before I start adding values? Use the DynaField Factbox (or Dynafields Factbox) shown alongside the Dyna Group Value Worksheet — it lists every slot that currently has a caption.

Q: How do I know which tables use a given Dyna Group before I change it? Use the DynaGroup - Where Used panel on the Dyna Group Value Worksheet.

See also

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