Facets

A facet is something you want to search your reports by: a vehicle registration, an asset tag, a site code, a customer reference. FieldPal can’t guess which of the fields on your forms matter for searching, so a facet is how you tell it. You create the facet once, then point the matching field on each report template at it. Different templates can call the field different things (Registration on one, Vehicle Registration on another) and a single search in the Reports register still finds them all. Matching ignores spacing, punctuation and capitals, so AB12 CDE and ab12cde count as the same vehicle.

​

Step 1: Open the Facets page

In the left-hand sidebar, click Facets, in the Knowledge group below Connections. The page explains what facets are and lists any you have already created.

​

Step 2: Create a facet

Click New facet. Enter:

• Name: what you want to search by, for example Vehicle Reg
• Description (optional): what the facet is for, so the next admin knows why it exists

Click Create facet. The facet appears in the list. The grey text next to its name is its identifier. This never changes, even if you rename the facet later, so existing search results are unaffected by a rename.

​

Step 3: Point a template field at the facet

Go to Report templates and open the template that captures the value, for example a vehicle inspection form. Click the field that holds it (here, Registration Number) to open the field editor. Scroll down to Searchable by and choose your facet from the list. Click Apply, then Save the template. Repeat this for every template that records the same thing. Each template can use its own field name. Only fields that hold a single value can be made searchable: short text, long text, combo box, radio group, RAG, checkbox and scan fields. Photo, file and section fields can’t.

​

Step 4: Check which fields are linked

Back on the Facets page, click Fields next to a facet to see every template field pointing at it. Click the template name to open it, or Unlink to stop that field feeding the facet.

​

Step 5: Search your reports

Open Reports and type the value into the search box at the top of the filter panel, for example a registration. The register shows every report carrying that value, whichever template it was filed on. The matching value is shown on each report row.

​

Editing or deleting a facet

Click Edit to change a facet’s name or description. Renaming is safe: reports already indexed stay in the facet. Click Delete to remove a facet. You will be asked to confirm. Your reports keep all their data; you just lose the ability to search by that facet, and any fields pointing at it stop feeding anything.

​

Tips

• Create one facet per real-world thing, not one per template. The point is that Vehicle Reg finds reports from your MOT form, your damage form and your handover form in one search.
• Set up facets before a new template goes live, so every report filed on it is searchable from day one.
• Search combines with the filters on the left, so set Date filed to All and Status to Any if you want every report on a vehicle, not just recent ones.