4.1 Custom Forms, Fields, Records, and Subtabs

What Each SuiteBuilder Element Does

SuiteBuilder is NetSuite's point-and-click customization layer. The SuiteCloud glossary describes it as the features for creating custom objects such as fields, forms, record types, transaction types, and form layouts. SuiteFoundation asks which object does which job.

A custom field stores a value standard fields do not. A custom form decides which fields and subtabs a role sees, and which form opens by default. A custom record type is a new record for data that is not a standard entity, item, CRM record, or transaction. A subtab groups fields on a form. Custom transaction types belong here because questions also test their numbering and their fields.

Custom Fields

Create a custom field at Customization > Lists, Records, & Fields, in the family that matches the record: entity, CRM, transaction body, transaction column, item, or other record. An employee birthday is an entity field with Employee checked on Applies To. The form can show it, hide it, or make it mandatory.

Field Types That Exams Mix Together

The field type controls what can be stored.

A Date field stores a calendar date. Help's example is a projected start date. A birthday is a Date: month, day, and year, with no clock time.

A Date/Time field stores a date and a time together, down to the second, for a timestamp such as a client handoff.

A Time of Day field stores a time only. Help's example is Best Time To Call. It cannot hold a birth date.

Those values display in the user's NetSuite time zone from Home > Set Preferences. That page is a personal preference, not where an administrator assigns a form to a role.

Record is Parent is a relationship. On a List/Record or Multiple Select field, after you select the parent record type, check Record is Parent. Child records then appear as a sublist on the parent, on the subtab you choose. The box does not store a date. On the field's Access subtab, role, department, and subsidiary can differ, and Help grants the highest level.

Custom Forms

A custom form is the layout for entering or viewing a record. Entry forms cover employees, customers, and projects. Transaction forms cover invoices and purchase orders. From Customization > Forms > Entry Forms or Transaction Forms, choose which fields and subtabs appear, their labels, and which fields are mandatory.

Preferred Forms

A preferred form is what NetSuite selects in the Custom Form field when that role creates a record or transaction. Form is Preferred on the custom form, and the Preferred box on the custom forms list, set the default when the role does not name a form. For one role, open Setup > Users/Roles > Manage Roles, edit the role, and use the Forms subtab. The role overrides the list page.

Enabled makes the form available. If every form for that record type is cleared, the role uses the standard form. Preferred is only the default. Check Restricted when the preferred form should be the only form the role can use. Enabled and Restricted are not offered for Customer Center roles.

Help's warning is the tested rule: if you set preferred forms without restrictions, employees can still change the form while entering a transaction or record. Preferred means the form that opens first. Restricted removes the other choices. Home > Set Preferences holds personal options such as time zone. It does not assign a preferred form.

Employee Center is the exception: only one form is available to that role, and the form on the role takes precedence. A consultant role can still switch until Restricted is checked.

Store Form with Record

Store Form with Record remembers the form used to create the record. Later views and edits open that stored form instead of the viewer's preferred form.

The box is not on every custom form. On a custom entry form it is present and cleared by default. On custom transaction forms it appears only for some types, checked by default for that subset. For other transaction types the box is absent because NetSuite always stores the custom form with the record. Purchase orders, sales orders, invoices, and item receipts always store the form. Checks, journal entries, and expense reports are among the types where you can turn storage off.

Enabled controls which forms a role may pick while entering. Storage controls which layout opens an existing record. If a custom form is stored with a record, users see that form even when it is not enabled for their role.

Custom Record Types

A custom record type, created at Customization > Lists, Records, & Fields > Record Types > New, is a new record with its own fields and forms. Use it when the data is not a standard entity, item, CRM record, or transaction. Professional licenses, each with an issuer, a number, and an expiration, fit a custom record, and Record is Parent can show those rows on the employee. This objective does not cover scripting the record.

Subtabs

A subtab groups fields on a form. Add one at Customization > Forms > Subtabs, then select it on the field's Display subtab. A subtab stores nothing. Birthday on a Personal subtab is still the Date field. A child-record sublist can sit on a standard subtab or on a custom subtab of the parent.

Custom Transaction Types

A custom transaction type is a new transaction, created at Customization > Lists, Records, & Fields > Transaction Types > New. You name it, set an ID, and choose a transaction style, which controls how each instance is entered. After you save, you can add custom fields and create custom entry forms.

Every transaction type, including a custom one, uses document numbers and transaction numbers. Document Numbers on the type is where you configure autonumbering, so the type can use auto-generated document numbers. Transaction numbers are the internal gapless sequence generated on save, and users cannot overwrite them. Those transaction-number fields can also be edited at Setup > Company > Auto-Generated Numbers.

The CSV Import Assistant can import instances when custom transactions are enabled and at least one custom transaction type exists. The type can have more than one custom entry form, and it can carry custom body fields. A Lines sublist appears or not based on the type's list style.

Side-by-Side Comparison

Birthday and a Switchable Project Form

Create an entity field, apply it to Employee, and set the type to Date. Place it on a Personal subtab of the employee form. Customize the project entry form and mark it preferred for the Consultant role at Setup > Users/Roles > Manage Roles on the Forms subtab. Leave Restricted clear while the layout is under review. A consultant then sees that form first and can still choose another form in the Custom Form field. Check Restricted when that form should be the only one the role can use.

On the project entry form, Store Form with Record starts cleared. If you check it, a saved project reopens on that form, including for someone whose role does not have the form enabled.