Directories

A directory is a collection of reference data entries. Directories hold the shared lookup values that other records — deals, documents, counterparties, proposals — point to through link fields.

Common examples: cities, industries, payment terms, contract templates, service categories. Every directory type is defined by the administrator through the entity type system.

What this page describes is the mechanism. The specific kinds — document types, fields, statuses — are defined for your organization; yours may differ. See the entity system.

When to use a directory

Use a directory when you need a controlled list of values that:

carries its own fields (not just a name — for example, a city directory where each entry also stores a region and a country),
is referenced by records of other entity types through link fields,
needs to be maintained independently of the records that reference it.

If you only need flat labels for filtering and reporting — without custom fields or cross-record references — criteria are a simpler choice.

Directory types

A directory type defines the schema for one kind of reference data. Each directory type belongs to the Directory super type and carries its own set of custom fields organized into groups.

System directory types

CityScreen Deals reserves two system directory types — one for digital inventory definitions and one for printed inventory definitions. These types back the inventory catalogs and cannot be deleted. Users cannot create entries against a system directory type; the application rejects the attempt.

Every other directory type is custom — defined by the administrator.

Creating a directory type

Directory types are created in the Entities section, inside the Directories folder. The process is the same as for any entity type: choose a display name, a machine name, add field groups and fields, then save.

See entity types for the full procedure, including machine-name rules, field groups, and archiving.

The Directories section

Directories have a dedicated section in the main navigation.

Layout

The Directories section opens with a tab bar across the top. The first tab, All, shows entries from every directory type together. Each directory type that the current employee has read permission for appears as an additional tab, filtering the list to entries of that type alone.

Browsing entries

The entry list shows columns for the entry name, directory type, and assignee by default. Custom-field columns defined on the directory type are available through the column picker and can be shown or hidden per user. The chosen column set is remembered in the browser.

Entries can be filtered by name and by custom-field values using the filter panel. The list is sortable by any visible column.

Creating an entry

To create a new directory entry, use the Create action from the list page. The creation form presents:

Directory type: Required. Select from the directory types the current employee has update permission for. Once saved, the directory type of an entry cannot be changed.
Name: Required. A display name for the entry.
Assignee: An employee responsible for this entry. When creating a new entry, the assignee defaults to the current employee.
Employee groups: One or more employee groups associated with the entry. Used for permission scoping (own / group / any).
Description: Optional free text.

Below the system fields, the form renders the custom fields defined on the selected directory type, organized into their field groups.

Viewing and editing an entry

Selecting an entry from the list opens its detail view, which displays the system fields and all custom-field values. The Edit action opens the same form used for creation, except that the directory type is displayed as read-only text and cannot be changed.

Deleting entries

Entries can be deleted individually from the list or in batch. Individual deletion uses the delete button on the entry’s row; batch deletion uses the checkbox column and the batch-delete action.

Both paths present a confirmation dialog before deleting. Deletion is permission-gated — the employee must have delete permission for the entry’s directory type.

How other records reference directory entries

Other entity types reference directory entries through link fields. When an administrator adds a link field to a document type, counterparty type, or any other entity type and sets its target to a directory type, users filling in that field see a picker populated with entries from that directory type.

Selecting a linked directory entry can trigger auto-fill: if the parent entity type has expression fields that reference the linked entry’s fields, those values are computed and populated automatically. See data types for how link and expression fields work together.

Export

The list page provides an XLSX export action. The export includes the currently filtered set of entries with their system fields (id, name, description, created, updated) and all custom-field values.

The export action is controlled by a separate export permission.

Directory entries are created one at a time in the interface or through the API.

Permissions

Directory permissions are granted per directory type, following the same model as other entity types. An employee may have access to one directory type and no access to another.

Permissions operate at three scopes — own, group, and any — based on the entry’s assignee and employee groups. Field-level permissions can further restrict which custom fields an employee may view or edit on entries of a given directory type.

See roles and permissions for how entity-type-level and field-level permissions are configured.

Entity types — creating and editing entity type schemas, including directory types
Data types — the nine field types, including link fields that reference directory entries
Nested entities — repeating-row structures available inside directory types
Criteria — flat classification labels, an alternative to directories for simple categorization
Counterparty types — another entity super type with a similar structure