[Development tutorial] Extending the work list and work pick line overview flow fields

 Introduction

Whenever we talk about the work list, and recently also the work pick line overview feature, customers think this could be a great optimization for their warehouse, but frequently, they want to display some business-specific information on the cards, that would help drive the decisions, but that information is not available out of the box on the work list.

In this post I'd like to cover the simple steps needed for extending the out of the box functionality, adding fields displayed on the work list / work pick line overview. This in turn automatically means you get sorting capabilities on these fields on the mobile device, enabling faster navigation.

If you are not familiar with these features, I'd like to refer you to the following links:

• Work list feature
• Work pick line overview feature

Customization walkthrough

For this demo, I've made the following extensions (in a new model/package):

• Added a new string field, MyOwnField, to WHSWorkTable.
• I also extended the form to display this field, so a user can modify it for an existing work order
• Added a new display method, requiresForklift, to WHSWorkTable. 
• This is a common requirement we hear from customers - being able to quickly identify if special equipment is required for performing a work order.
• Note. I use a string as a return type instead of an enum, as the base logic does not handle enums "the right way" for display methods, thus presenting their integer representation on the mobile device, instead of the corresponding label.
• I also needed to extend the populateWorkDisplayMethods method on table WHSTmpFieldName, so my newly added display method shows up in the list, when configuring the mobile device menu item.
• Added a new integer field, MyOwnField, to WHSWorkLine.
• Added a new display method, crushabilityWeightPerUnit, to WHSWorkLine
• This allows to stack the items on the pallet (Target LP) so that the top layers do not crush the bottom ones.
• No need to modify the lookup logic here for configuration, as it's already generic.

All of my implementations are super simple, just to demonstrate the concepts and the process. You can download the full code on GitHub.

Alternatively, watch the below YouTube video, where I walk through each customization in detail.

Result screenshots

After making, building and synchronizing those changes, I can open the mobile device and would have the following view. (I won't go over the demo data setup here)

Work list, sorted to show work that needs a forklift first. My field is also populated for some orders:

Work list with custom fields

Work pick line overview, ordered to show the items that should be placed on the bottom of the pallet first:

Work pick line overview

Question to you

What type of information are you using on the work list / work pick line overview?

Should it be available out of the box?

Let us know!

Thanks