This article discusses the process of how to make changes to text interface fields in Terra Dotta Study Abroad. Offices should reference the Text Interface Fields for Terra Dotta Study Abroad article for specific identifiers for use in the Applicant Experience and the Admin Console as classic text interface fields are not supported in these experiences. 

Overview

The Terra Dotta interface comes with a default set of text and instructions. At times, the text interface is customizable to be more intuitive and instructive for your office's specific implementation of the software.

• Text Interface: Getting Started
• Locating a Text Field
• Editing a Text Field
• Removing All Text from a Text Field

Text Interface: Getting Started

Much of the text interface in Terra Dotta can be customized by using the text interface tool located under Maintenance > Text Interface. Most public, applicant, and administrative interfaces have numeric marker/identifier placeholders for their text elements which are used to assist in locating the text to be edited on your site.

Before amending any text via the text interface tool, it is recommended that you review the following best practices and notes:

• Have an internal discussion with your office on the purpose of changing the text interface and the desired goals from taking such action. The more changes that are made to the default settings of the software, the further removed the site becomes from its original state. When Terra Dotta introduces software updates with each release cycle, these enhancements and new features are designed with the software's original state in mind.
• If any text interface fields are altered on your site, it is recommended that you track these changes in an internal document in order to ensure a record is available of all modifications made. Terra Dotta does not track client text interface edits.

An admin will need the "Maintenance: Text Interface" permission in order to make edits to the text interface.

Locating a Text Field

There are two ways to locate a text field in Terra Dotta for the purpose of making edits: "&Markers" and keyword search.

Using "&Markers"
The ampersand symbol "&" and the word "Markers" can be paired together and added to the end of your page URL to locate the numerical identifier associated with the text you wish to customize. Follow these steps:

1) Log in to your site as an admin with the proper permissions to edit the text interface.
2) Navigate to the site page which contains the default text you wish to edit.
3) Add "&Markers" to the end of your URL (do not include the quotation marks).




4) Hit "Enter" on your keyboard. Any text interface that can be modified will now display as numbers (known as the numeric "identifiers") instead of as default text. 
Note the numeric identifier of the text interface field you would like to edit.





5) Refresh the page (click the refresh button on the top of your web page) to see the numerical identifier and text together.






6) Refresh the page again to see nothing (both the identifier and text will be nullified).




7) Refresh the page one more time to return back to the normal text interface.





Note: When using the "&Markers" tool, you are the only person to whom the numerical identifiers are visible. This will not affect other users on your site.

Keyword Search
It is also possible to search for a text field to edit by using a keyword. Follow these steps:

1) Navigate to Maintenance > Text Interface.
2) Enter the known term(s) that you want to edit into the "Keywords" field.
3) Click "Find".  A list of text fields that contain the keyword(s) appears. Note the identifier that corresponds to the keyword as it is used in the context for which you'd like to make your edit. For example, a search on the keyword "applicant" will pull a significant list where it may be possible to edit "applicant" in the Terra Dotta interface.
 

Once you have identified the text interface field you wish to customize, it's time to make your edit.

1) Navigate to Maintenance > Text Interface.
2) Enter in your identifier value. Click "Find". If you search using a keyword, you can simply click on the edit pencil under the "Action" column for the row which corresponds to the identifier/word that you would like to edit.




3) A new window will appear at the bottom of the page with the results for your identifier value search. In the example below, see the search results for identifier 1541. The new window displays the identifier's current value along with the installation default value. If no customization has previously occurred, then these two values will be the same.





4) Type in the desired text into the "Current Value" field. Click "Update" to change the text. The installation default value will always display the original text.







Editing Text for Specific Program Types
If you wish for the text interface change to be true only for applications of a specific program type, you can use the program type drop-down menu to select that program type.

Removing All Text from a Text Field

A "Complex object types cannot be converted to simple values" error may be triggered by a text interface field that has been nullified by completely removing all text on a form page. If you wish to remove all of the text from a field, follow these steps:

1) Remove the text.
2) Enter a single space into the text field by pressing the space bar.
3) Click "Update" to save the change.

Leaving a single space functionally clears the text field (there will be nothing to see or click), but it is not left null. This will prevent the error from occurring.