Most of you know that you can change the field size of any value by going into the database configuration and changing the size to either are larger or smaller number. But in doing this, sometimes the field on the screen doesn’t change in width if your field size changes are very minimal. If you change a ALN field size from 5 to 30, then you may notice that the text box on the screen is longer. Well sometimes, you just want the text box field size to be longer without having to make the actual database field size larger. For example, the workorder description field is 100, but the text box field on the workorder module can maybe fit 40 characters. Now you don’t want to change the database field to 200 just so you can see more characters in the text box. Well, there is an easier way to expand the text box field to accommodate this.

There is a config file located under <maximo root>/applications/maximo/properties directory called field-size-config.xml. You can make changes to this file according to your needs.

Field Sizes are set to make the screens more uniform and easier to read, ranges are used to set lengths and allow for commonality. The width of visible fields on the screen is based on the size of the field in the database.

For string-type fields (ALN, UPPER, LOWER), these are the sizes:

If the database size is 1 or 2, then the screen size is 2.

If the database size is 3 through 30, then the screen size is 10.

If the database size is greater than 30, then the screen size is 40.

For all maxtypes, the first range starts with either a below or an upper number and all proceeding ranges starts with an upper number. There is no functional differences between the words below and upper. However, all values must be added in an ascending order. The first integer value within the range is the database value and the second integer value is the screen size value.

For example, for the maxtype of ALN

<maxtype name=”aln”>

<range below=”2″ size=”2″/>

<range upper=”30″ size=”10″/>

<range upper=”31″ size=”40″/>

</maxtype>

Additional ranges can be added for the field types.

<maxtype name=”aln”>

<range below=”2″ size=”2″/>

<range upper=”8″ size=”3″/>

<range upper=”30″ size=”10″/>

<range upper=”31″ size=”40″/>

</maxtype>

If the database value is greater than 2 or less than or equal to 8, the screen will display 3 characters.

From the field-size-config.xml file, the following tag designates the maximum length of all maxtypes. It overrides the actual length if greater.

• <field_size_maximum>64</field_size_maximum>

The following tags are used for the maxtype: date, datetime and time:

• <date_field_size>8</date_field_size>
• <date_time_field_size>17</date_time_field_size>
• <time_field_size>8</time_field_size>

The following tags are obsolete within the file:

• <field_padding>35</field_padding>
• <field_size_factor>1</field_size_factor>
• <field_size_maximum>64</field_size_maximum>
• <tablecol_size_factor>2.25</tablecol_size_factor>
• <tablecol_size_default>65</tablecol_size_default>

Changing Field Sizes in Individual Fields

Individual text boxes can have also custom sizes set. In the presentation xml adding width=”npx” allows local override of field display size using a defined pixel width.

For example, using the status field within the wotrack.xml file

<textbox id=”headerA_8″ dataattribute=”status”/>

<textbox id=”headerA_8″ dataattribute=”status” width=”8″/>

In this example, the status field will display a textbox of 8 pixels instead of the 10 pixels which is stated in the XML file.

Changing Field Sizes to Display the Database Length of an Attribute

Individual text boxes can have the default database length of the attribute. In the presentation xml adding usefieldsizegroups=”false” allows the field from using the defined range.

For example, using the status field within the wotrack.xml file

<textbox id=”headerA_8″ dataattribute=”status”/>

<textbox id=”headerA_8″ dataattribute=”status” usefieldsizegroups=”false” />

In this example, the status field will display a textbox of 16 pixels which is the defined value for the attribute in the database.

* Note: Field size changes made to the field-size-config.xml file and any application XML files are not supported in upgrades and patch releases. Any changes must be maintained by the client.