How to work with newly added field in NetSuite in CloudExtend Excel for NetSuite

Ever wondered why a few of the fields recently added by NetSuite never shows up in CloudExtend Excel for NetSuite(CENS) fields page? Is it blocking you from using the product? Here is a simple workaround to get CENS working with a few of the fields missing.

We all know NetSuite does bi-yearly releases in which it keeps adding cool features. However, SuiteTalk Web Services are slow to adopt some of these new feature releases. So not all fields that you see on NetSuite UI are available to work with using SOAP requests. Due to this, you might not be able to use the apps using WebServices for certain fields/records. This is a request that comes up very frequently from our CENS customers. They’ll find that a useful field added by a NetSuite release, isn’t available for them to use in Excel. Most often, this is a case of the field not being ported to SuiteTalk WebServices.

But this should not stop us. Yes, we can work with these fields with a simple 4 step workaround. Let’s see how this can be achieved.

Workaround

We all know that CENS support working with custom fields. So let's use this feature to get the app work with missing standard fields

To demonstrate the problem, I am going with a field Vendor Return Variance Account of Inventory Item.

Vendor Return Variance Account field under the Account tab

Step 1. Verify WebServices support

CENS is currently running on the 2018.1 WDSL version. If you are not seeing any of the standard fields in the CloudExtend template, you can make sure if API supports it by going to the Schema browser of NetSuite. Navigate to the record you are working with and it will list all the fields that are supported via WebServices. Don’t be surprised to see that the field you are looking for is most likely not listed there.

Step 2. Create an alternative custom field

Now that we know the field is not supported by NetSuite WebServices, we will start with our workaround. Create a custom field for the Item record that stores the value of the Vendor Return Variance Account. The type of field will be the same as the standard field, in this case, it's a List type field populated with Account values.

Sample custom field configuration

We are halfway our workaround. Yay!!!

Step 3. Create a NetSuite workflow

Go to Customization > Workflow > Workflows > New

Give it some name and select the record type. In this case, it will be Item. We might have to select the subtype based on the record type you select. In this case, it will be Inventory Part

Now we need to tell when this workflow should run. In our use case, we have to run this workflow when the user tries to Create or Update an Inventory Item. So we will select Event-Based initiation.

And in Event Definition,

1. Check both On Create and On View or Update
2. Select Trigger Type as Before Record Submit
3. Select Create and Edit in Event Types
4. Select User Interface, and SOAP Web Services in Contexts

Initially, Release Status would be testing. Once you validate the workflow once, you can change this to Released.

With the above information, save the workflow.

Step 4. Adding Actions to the workflow

Once the workflow is created, we need to tell what should happen when the workflow executes. We can do that by adding Actions to the workflow

By default, the newly added workflow will have a State. Double click on that state to edit it and give it some name.

Click on the New Action button to add an action to the workflow

1. Select the type as Set Field Value
2. Select Trigger Type to Before Record Submit
3. SelectCreate, andEditin Event Types
4. Select User Interface, and SOAP Web Services in Contexts

Sample Action configuration

In parameters,

1. Select the field. In this case Vendor Return Variance Account
2. Select From Field for Value and select Current Record and the custom field that we created above to populate values from.

Sample Parameter configuration

Save this action and you are done. You can start using this custom field both on UI and CENS app and it will populate the value for the actual field Vendor Return Variance Account

Using the field in the app

In the CENS, select the custom field you have created above and you can perform all the operations similar to any other record

Edit template page in CloudExtend Excel for NetSuite

Any time you create a record or update it, set the value of the Custom field created above and on click of the Upsert button, it will populate the value of the standard field in NetSuite.