Layton ServiceDesk - Workflows - Change Length of User-Defined Field

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Overview

In the interests of data integrity, there is no way to do modify the character length of a user-defined field in Layton ServiceDesk. It can be changed using Management Studio. This is a workaround that you should be careful to follow, as it involves temporarily disabling a safety feature.

Procedure

1. Take Layton ServiceDesk Offline, to Prevent Users Using it:
   1. On the Layton ServiceDesk server, launch the Windows Services Console.
   2. Click World Wide Web Publishing Service.
   3. Click Stop the service to stop the service.
2. Launch Management Studio and connect to your database.
3. Back up your database.
4. Disable Safety Feature:
   1. From the Tools menu, select Options. The Options dialog will open.
   2. In the left-hand column, click Designers.
   3. Uncheck the option Prevent saving changes that require table re-creation.
   4. Click the OK button to close the dialog.
5. Database Modification:
   1. In the left-hand column, expand SERVER > Databases > Layton ServiceDesk > Tables.
   2. Right-click the dbo.request table and select Design.
   3. Click the usr_NAME column to be modified. User-defined columns begin with the string usr_. Do not modify a system (sys_) column, as this will break on future updates!
   4. In the Column Properties pane, change the Length to the desired number of characters. This only applies to text columns.
   5. Click the Close button for the table. You will get a confirmation dialog. Click the Yes button.
   6. A Save dialog will open, warning that a number of tables will be saved. These tables are related to the request table, and thus need to be modified. Click the Yes button. The table will close.
6. Verification:
   1. If you would like to verify the change, expand dbo.request > Columns. Find the usr_NAME column. The length will be expressed as (nvarchar(LENGTH).
7. Re-Enable Safety Feature:
   1. From the Tools menu, select Options. The Options dialog will open.
   2. In the left-hand column, click Designers.
   3. Check the option Prevent saving changes that require table re-creation.
   4. Click the OK button to close the dialog.
8. Get Layton ServiceDesk Back Online:
   1. On the Layton ServiceDesk server, launch the Windows Services Console.
   2. Click World Wide Web Publishing Service.
   3. Click Start the service to start the service.