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Display fields

Display fields show extra data about a described diagram element at a glance — RACI parties; Risks, Performance Indicators, Controls, and Opportunities; other relationships (Benefit, Goals, Requirement); described-object and diagram-element custom properties; and shape numbers.

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This page describes the New Display Fields experience — an Early Access feature available on iGrafx Cloud only; see Early Access and General Access for how an administrator enables it. The basic Display Fields are available on-premises too, but don't support custom properties.

Prerequisites​

Steps​

Choose the mode: all shapes or selected shapes​

The mode depends on what you've selected:

  • All Shapes mode — with nothing selected, changes apply to every shape (existing and new). All-Shape fields can't be moved per shape, and you can't turn an All-Shape field off for individual shapes. Describes, notes, and links indicators exist only at this level.
  • Shapes mode — with one or more shapes selected, fields are added and configured only for those shapes.

Turning the same field on in both modes can show duplicate data, with a few exceptions.

Add or remove fields​

Open the Display Fields panel and select a field to add it. The search bar at the top filters fields as you type (case-insensitive); Esc or the X clears it. Sections with an expander are containers — expand them individually, or use the expand-all icon next to the search bar to toggle all sections at once.

By default, Show items with no data is off, so a field with no data doesn't appear on the diagram until data is set or you enable that toggle.

Configure a field​

Select Configure at the bottom of the panel to see the active fields list. Select one field, or Ctrl-click several. The configuration section lets you:

  • Indicator — turn the field into an indicator (followed by its label). Disabled for fields that can only be indicators (notes, links, describes, shape numbers).
  • Label — on by default; toggle off to hide the label.
  • Items with no data — off by default; controls whether the field shows when it has no data.
  • Default collapse limit — for relationship fields (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed, Supported By) and custom-property relations. Defaults to 999 (expanded). Set it lower to collapse a field on load when it has that many relationships or more. Available in All Shapes mode only, 1–999. Double-clicking an expanded field collapses it (for example Responsible (2)); double-clicking again re-expands.
  • Placement — select a dot in the placement table to move the field to that position on the selected (or all) shapes.

When fields disagree on a toggle, it shows indeterminate; clicking it turns the toggle on for all selected fields. When a selected field doesn't support an option, the toggle shows disabled — unselect that field to change the option for the others.

Show shape numbers​

Enter shape-number mode via its icon, then use Toggle Shape Number Visibility (All) or the visibility wand on specific shapes; select the icon again to exit. Visible shape numbers become fields in the active fields list (in shapes mode), so you can place them with the placement table or by dragging.

Position and merge fields​

Each shape has eight positional slots (shown in the placement table). Fields fill them in order; once all are filled, new fields stack at the first location. Shape fields (not All-Shape fields) can be dragged to other slots after adding.

To merge fields of the same type into one location: on the Configure page, Ctrl-click the fields and select a placement dot. The label, indicator, and data stay separate within the merged field. To un-merge, select a field in the merged shape and pick a different placement dot. Merge order follows the selection order. Relationship fields in a merged field can't be expanded or collapsed — remove and re-add them, and change the default collapse limit if you want the state to persist.