Custom Fields Page

Owned by Sophia
Last updated: Jul 16, 2024
2 min read

Custom Fields are used in OpenEMPI to enhance the discriminatory capacity of fields from the entity model by transforming the value of a field from your data source into a new value that can help improve the system’s ability in accurately identifying and linking together duplicate records. The value is transformed using a transformation function that is applied on the base field to generate the custom field.

The Custom Fields page presents all the custom fields that are currently configured on your instance. In the figure below there is a custom field defined called “familyNysiis” that is based on the “familyName” field as the source field and the application of the NYSIIS transformation function.

To add a new custom field, click on the “Add Custom Field” button and enter the required information on the form that is presented to you. The “Source Field Name” drop-down lists all the fields that are defined in the currently selected entity as well as any other custom fields that have already been defined. The fact that you can base a custom field on an existing custom field, implies that you can chain transformation functions to shape the value of a field in the most appropriate manner.

Some transformation functions have parameters that you must provide to configure the operation of the transformation function. For example, the “ChangeCaseFunction” transforms the source field “middleName” to the new custom field “middleNameLow” by applying the “ChangeCaseFunction” and the parameter “case” set to the value “lower”, causing the custom field to have values consisting of only lower-case letters.

Starting with version 4.3.3 of OpenEMPI, you have the option to override the custom field settings for the currently selected entity with those of another entity. This feature makes it easy to configure a new entity that has a similar data model as an existing entity by simply copying the configuration settings from the existing entity. To replace the configuration settings of the current entity, select the Replace Custom Fields option from the More Options menu.

The dialog that pops-up, allows you to select the entity that will be the source of the configuration information for the currently selected entity.