Yellow is the New Blog

For as long as I can remember (possibly 2001) I've always maintained some variation on a SmartIcon toolbar button that a former coworker called the "magic button": it allows new fields to be added to a document and existing fields to be overridden or deleted from the document, either while editing the document or while it's selected in a view. I've seen various approaches to this basic concept over the years, and each time I install Notes on another computer, I either consult the Google to find one I've used before or just reconstruct it from memory. It finally occurred to me that if I just posted the one I'm currently using here, not only would it be easier for me to find later, but some of you might find it useful as well. So here's the current incarnation of said magic button:

targetField := @Prompt([OkCancelEditCombo]; "Select Field"; "Select a field to override:"; ""; @DocFields );
updateTypes := "Text":"Number":"Time":"Delete Field";
updateType := @Prompt([OkCancelList]; "Select Type"; "Choose a type or action:"; "Text"; updateTypes );
@If(updateType = "Delete Field"; @Return(@SetField(targetField;@DeleteField)); "" );
newValue := @Prompt([OkCancelEdit];"New Value";"Enter the new value:"; @Text(@GetField(targetField )));
newTypeValue := @Select(@TextToNumber(@Replace(updateType; @Subset(updateTypes;3);"1":"2":"3" )); newValue; @TextToNumber(newValue); @TextToTime(newValue));
@SetField(targetField; newTypeValue)

I'm sure you can decipher the above, but here's what it does:

1. Asks you which field you want to override. Type in a new one if you're adding a field. I've seen other versions where something like "---NEW---" is included in the field list prompt, and if you select that, it asks for the new field name... figured I might as well skip that extra step by just using [OkCancelEditCombo].
2. Asks what data type the new value will be (text, number or time), with an option to delete the field instead - in which case the formula just deletes the field and exits.
   
3. Asks what the new value will be, defaulting to the current value (if any).
4. If the new value's data type is not text, converts the value to the selected type.
5. Writes the new field value to the document.
   

This little button has saved me oodles of time over the years...