Multiple instances of custom data for CiviCase - how difficult?

[nickholden]

The custom data field set options for a set associated with a Case object do not allow for multiple records. Custom field sets associated with a contact do allow multiple records.

Does anyone have a handle on what would be involved in making this consistent, so that CiviCase entities could have a custom data field set which could be applied multiple times to a specific case?

Thanks

[Donald Lobo]

the multiple record feature is restricted to contacts only for now.

i suspect to expand this and allow for all objects (including case) would be great and super useful. A rough estimate would be 50-75 hours to go in and generalize those changes across all objects. Doing it only for case wont save you a whole lot more. The above figure includes unit tests, documentation and future maintainance

lobo

[petednz]

Nick - have you ruled out getting the outcome you want by adding multiple Activities to the Case? We looked at this at one point and found that the reporting/analysis against 'multiple records' looked easier going via activities than custom fields.

[nickholden]

Interesting idea. Can you add custom data to an activity? Our use case is quite complex - the 'case' in our deployment represents an enrolment of a patient into an observational study, and we use activities to track the various tests and follow ups which nurses conduct, as well as any correspondence with the study subjects.

Our current need is to be able to add a set of data whenever a patient suffers a 'Serious Adverse Event' while on the research study. We need to capture the date of the event, the 'category' of the event (defined by the regulatory bodies), some notes and details, and also some monitoring data.

Most patients will have no adverse events at all, but some will have one, and a few might have several events during their involvement in a single study. We thought a 'one or more' use of a custom data field set would model this most effectively, but your suggestion might be a good one.

Might see if activities works for us.

[xavier]

You can have custom data on activities.

I like Pete's suggestion, seems to fit nicely.

X+

[Donald Lobo]

in this case activities might be a better match

but in general, would be good to improve custom fields and add some more functionality. They've not had much love or care since 2.x

lobo