Adding Custom Fields in Advanced PDF

NetSuite allows you to create custom fields to capture business-specific data (like project codes, VAT numbers, or delivery notes). These fields can also be pulled into your Advanced PDF/HTML templates using FreeMarker.

This page covers how to insert, format, and troubleshoot custom fields in both header (body) and line item sections.

🔹 Understanding Custom Field IDs

• Body (header-level) custom fields → start with custbody_
• Column (line-level) custom fields → start with custcol_
• Entity custom fields → start with custentity_
• Transaction fields on items → accessible within <#list record.item as i>

🔹 Displaying Custom Body Fields

<p>Project Code: ${record.custbody_project_code!"N/A"}</p>
<p>Customer PO: ${record.custbody_customer_po!"Not Provided"}</p>

✔️ The !"Default Text" prevents blank outputs.

🔹 Displaying Custom Line Item Fields

Within the item loop:

<table border="1" width="100%">
   <tr>
      <th>Item</th>
      <th>Description</th>
      <th>Warranty</th>
      <th>Custom Note</th>
   </tr>
   <#list record.item as i>
      <tr>
         <td>${i.item}</td>
         <td>${i.description}</td>
         <td>${i.custcol_warranty_period!"-"}</td>
         <td>${i.custcol_custom_note!"N/A"}</td>
      </tr>
   </#list>
</table>

✔️ ${i.custcol_warranty_period} pulls a custom column field.

🔹 Conditional Display of Custom Fields

<#if record.custbody_special_instructions?has_content>
   <p><b>Special Instructions:</b> ${record.custbody_special_instructions}</p>
</#if>

✔️ Avoids printing a blank line if no value exists.

🔹 Using Labels Instead of Internal IDs

Sometimes custom fields show internal IDs instead of labels. To display the label:

<p>Payment Terms: ${record.terms@label}</p>
<p>Sales Channel: ${record.custbody_sales_channel@label}</p>

✔️ @label retrieves the display value instead of the ID.

🔹 Formatting Custom Field Values

You can format numbers and dates from custom fields:

<p>Estimated Delivery: ${record.custbody_est_delivery_date?string("MMMM dd, yyyy")}</p>
<p>Custom Amount: ${record.custbody_total_discount?string["#,##0.00"]}</p>

🔹 Example: Custom Header Section

<div style="margin-top:10px; font-size:12px;">
   <p>Project Code: ${record.custbody_project_code!"N/A"}</p>
   <p>VAT Number: ${record.custbody_vat_number!"Not Available"}</p>
   <p>Delivery Instructions: ${record.custbody_delivery_note!"None"}</p>
</div>

✅ Best Practices

• Always use !"Default" or ?has_content for cleaner outputs.
• Use @label to display the readable value.
• Test with multiple records — some fields only populate under certain conditions.
• Keep custom field internal IDs consistent across templates.

✅ Summary — What You Learned

By the end of this section, you know how to:

• ✅ Insert custom body fields (custbody_).
• ✅ Insert custom line fields (custcol_) inside item tables.
• ✅ Use conditional checks to avoid blank outputs.
• ✅ Display labels instead of raw internal IDs.
• ✅ Format dates and numbers from custom fields.

This prepares you for the next section: Multi-Subsidiary & Multi-Currency PDFs, where you’ll learn to handle different legal entities, tax IDs, and currencies in one template.