Custom Sections
Address Fields
An address field holds an address the way contacts do: found from a postcode, kept as separate lines, and placed on a map. Use it wherever a record has a place attached to it, such as a job's site, a delivery address or a property.
A plain text field can hold an address too, but ORCA can't do much with it beyond showing the words. An address field knows its postcode and where it is, so it can link to a map, and features like the Site Clock can use its exact position.
Adding One to a Template
In Settings > Page Templates, open the template and add a field with the type Address. Address fields are available on custom section templates.
You can have more than one on a template, for example a delivery address and an invoice address. Each keeps its own value.
Filling It In
On the record form, the field starts with a search box:
- Type a postcode or the start of an address and press Find.
- Pick the right address from the list.
- The lines fill in: Address line 1, Address line 2, Town, County and Postcode. Edit any of them if the match isn't quite right.
Once there's a postcode, a small map appears with a pin. The pin starts in the middle of the postcode, which on a large site can be a few hundred metres from the door. Drag it to where it should be, such as the site entrance, and ORCA remembers that it was placed by hand. Picking a different address puts the pin back on the new postcode, and Remove the pin clears it.
On the Record
The record page shows the address over several lines with a Map link that opens it in Google Maps. If the pin was dragged by hand, it says so underneath.
Everywhere else (the list view, search, reports, exports and formulas) sees the address as a single readable line, the same way a text field would show it.
Turning a Text Field Into an Address Field
If a template already has addresses typed into a text field, the ORCA team can convert it in place. Each value is split into lines with the postcode picked out, and the readable line stays exactly as it was, so nothing changes for anyone on the day. Pins can be added later, record by record, from the form. Get in touch through Feedback if you'd like a field converted.
Through the API
Address fields can be written through the ORCA API either as an object with the separate parts, or as a plain line of text, in which case ORCA picks out the postcode and keeps the rest as typed.
Related
- Accounts : companies have the same postcode finder, filling their own address lines
- Creating Templates : adding fields and choosing their type
- Site Clock : using a job's address as its site for clock on and off
- Working with Records : how fields show on the record page