Conventions for Naming Custom Objects

When creating a custom object, such as a custom field, custom record, custom list, and so on, you can assign a unique alphanumeric ID. Establish naming conventions for your customizations to help users identify the correct object. Think about the custom object's purpose and location before assigning an ID. Make sure your custom object IDs are meaningful to your users. If you don't enter an ID, the system will automatically create one when you save the custom object.

If your company name is First Software and your team decides to use the prefix “_fs_” with all custom objects, your list of custom objects would resemble the following:

• custentity_fs_travel_approval_limit

• custitem_fs_gift_wrap_price

• custrecord_fs_system_role

When you create an ID for a custom object, the system automatically prepends the file name with a standard string of text. This string varies by custom object type and can't be changed. As a best practice, you should enter a unique ID name that begins with an underscore. Including the underscore provides a separation between the prepended string of text and your ID.

When planning your naming conventions for custom object IDs, consider including a prefix. For instance, you may want to identify all custom fields by the department to which the custom field applies. We’ll assume your company has the following departments: Marketing, Customer Support, Service, and Sales. When creating the unique IDs for each department, you should add prefixes such as _mktg for Marketing, _cs for Customer Support, _serv for Service, and _sales for Sales. For example, you want to create a new Keyboard Style item field to be used by the Sales department. The automatic prepended string of text for custom item fields is custitem, and you enter an ID of _sales_keyboard_style. If we follow the naming conventions mentioned previously, the final ID for the custom field would be custitem_sales_keyboard_style.

The following table lists the prepended string used for each custom object type ID or Script ID. It also shows the character limit for the ID or Script ID field.

General Notices