When collecting the first and last names of an organization contact through a form, the first name and last name fields display in the corresponding fields on the record's Details tab.

A separate field called display name renders the title of the record; however, this field doesn’t automatically populate by combining the first name and last name fields, as person records do. Instead, a value must be added to this field. You can do this automatically with the Rules Editor.

Display name functionality

If a display name is not created, the section above the record dashboard will be blank and will make it difficult to search for or identify the record in Slate. It is a best practice to create a display name for each organization contact.

To automatically populate the display name of a record, create a display name rule. For example, values in the first name and last name fields can be concatenated to create the value of the display name. The record name will then appear above the dashboard as in the following example:

Display name rule

To create the display name rule for an organization contact record, perform the following steps:

1. Select Database from the main navigation.

2. Under Automations, select Rules.

3. Select New Rule.

4. Enter the following configurations:

   • Name: Give the rule a name (such as "Organization Contacts Display Name").

   • Type: Select Configurable Joins.

   • Category: Select Records.

   • Base: Select Organization Contacts.

   • Rule Type: Select Name.

   • Folder: Place the rule in a folder to keep organization contact rules organized.

   • Exclusivity Group: Based on the Rule Type selected, the exclusivity setting is automatically enforced and set to Name.

   • Non-deterministic: Set to Rule is deterministic and has an exclusive priority.

   • Priority: Enter "1" in this field.

     • Only one display name rule should act on a given dataset record at a time. Together the Exclusivity Group and Non-deterministic settings enforce that if multiple rules of this type exist, they will always behave in a mutually-exclusive manner according to the designated priority.

   • Status: The rule can be set to either Inactive or Preview.

5. After saving the rule, add any necessary filters to the rule. If every organization contact should be affected by this rule, no filters need to be added.

6. Under the Action section of the rule, select the Subquery Export icon and configure it as follows:

   • Name: Give the export a name (such as “Display Name”).

   • Output: Select Concatenate.

   • Exports: Add exports for the custom fields you want to combine, in this case First Name and Last Name.

   • Export Separator: Add a single space.

     • Note that the export separator will be conditionally included only between exports that have a value. If certain records have only a last name, for example, this approach avoids including any leading or trailing spaces in the resulting value.

   • Select Save.

7. In the Formula box, type @ to see a dynamic list of available variables. Select the concatenation export built in the previous step, for example @Display-Name. Because the export itself handles the concatenation, the formula serves only to set that value as-is.

8. Save the rule.

Testing approach for dataset rules

Unlike person records, dataset records do not have the option to preview the actions of the rules before they are made active. Instead, you can activate the rule for a given record by applying filters.

1. In the rule, add a Filter for Organization Contacts Key. Select a specific dataset record for testing use that record’s key to complete the filter.

2. Save changes to the rule.

3. Once the filter is saved, return to the rule and select Edit in the upper-right corner of the page.

4. Set the rule status to Active, and select Save.

5. Once you are satisfied with the results for the testing record, return to rule to remove the filter and Save.

Retroactive refresh

The active rule will apply to all eligible dataset records going forward. This won’t, however, apply the changes to organization contact records that already exist in the database. For these, a Retroactive Refresh should be performed to run these records through the rule.

1. Select New Query from the new display name rule you built.

2. Add at least one export, and select Run Query.

3. From the query Output, select Retroactive Refresh, then press Export. A confirmation dialog appears displaying a count of records that will be queued for the rules if this action is taken.

4. Select Submit, then confirm OK.

After the refresh completes, any organization contact records that meet the new rule criteria will have their display name updated accordingly.