Custom Field UI - hidden if unset - independent of rw/ro

[whtkam]

NetBox version

v3.5.7

Feature type

Change to existing functionality

Proposed functionality

I have many custom fields which only apply to a part of e.g. devices. With the "UI visibility" = "Hidden(if unset)" you can keep the UI clean for each device and you only see those that are set for the device. The problem and hence the feature reqest the "if unset" option should be independent of "Read/Write" or "Read only" option.

UI visibility:

• Read/Write
• Read/Write(if unset)
• Read-only
• Read-only(if unset)
• Hidden

or maybe with a checkbox

UI visibility:

• Read/Write

• Read-only

• Hidden

• Hidden if unset

Use case

I have custom fields that are Ready-only but I don't want them to appear in the UI on every device as they have no meaning for those devices. So it would be good if I could select read-only and "hidden if unset". Maybe there is another way to achieve this, but I haven't found any.

Database changes

No response

External dependencies

No response

[github-actions]

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[jeremystretch]

I'm going to propose replacing the current ui_visibility field with two new fields:

• ui_editable (boolean): True or false
• ui_visible (choice): Always, if set, hidden

The former will control whether the custom field value can be modified using the web UI; the later will control whether a custom field is displayed in the web UI. As with the current field, neither will have any impact on REST or GraphQL API operation.

This will obviously result in a breaking API change, but we'll be able to migrate existing custom fields automatically.

[jeremystretch]

Thinking about this further, it might make sense to give ui_editable three options:

• Yes
• No
• Hidden

Selecting "no" would still include the custom field in the object edit form with a read-only (disabled) widget. Selecting "hidden" would omit it completely.

[sleepinggenius2]

I just ran into this yesterday and was surprised that setting a custom field to readonly still showed it in the add/edit form, just in a readonly state. To me, the proposed No and Hidden options for ui_editable would be the same thing, but I'm curious what others' use case is for showing readonly fields within the add/edit form, if their value cannot be changed there.

Regardless, the proposed Hidden option would certainly be an improvement over the current situation, as there is apparently no way currently to have a field show in the UI, but not on the edit screen, so if you have big JSON fields that can only set by script/API, you have to keep scrolling over them every time you want to add/edit an object.

[jeremystretch]

I'm curious what others' use case is for showing readonly fields within the add/edit form, if their value cannot be changed there.

For me it's about providing consistency. A user may be confused if they see a custom field displayed in the UI but absent in the object edit form. Rendering it as a disabled form field provides assurance that the field is not "missing." Some administrators still may prefer to omit it from the form anyway, so we provide both options.

[cpund]

Could I suggest another option to ui_visible? It'd be nice to have a field hidden when viewing (not editing) a device? While not a huge necessity, it's nice to clean out some cruft when just viewing the device. My use case for this is when creating a device, I've got a custom field that stores the SolarWinds NodeID of a device. This field powers the custom link to link directly to the monitoring page for the device. Something like this custom field doesn't need to be shown when just viewing a device.

Edit: Re-readings things, maybe I'm still waking up and the intention for this was when viewing a device, not editing. In which case, sounds like my input is already covered.

[mmahacek]

What about these settings?

• ui_editmode (choice): Read/Write, Read-Only, hidden
• ui_viewmode (choice): Always, if set, hidden