The purpose of this mapping is to define a set of additional features on fields. Instead of adding columns to the vtiger_field table and creating different UI settings options we add this mapping where you can configure the extra information for each field.

The accepted format is:

<map>
  <originmodule>
    <originname>SalesOrder</originname>
  </originmodule>
  <fields>
    <field>
      <fieldname>description</fieldname>
      <features>
        <feature>
          <name>RTE</name>
          <value>1</value>
        </feature>
      </features>
    </field>
  </fields>
</map>

Currently RTE (Rich Text Editor) for textarea fields is the only supported feature. The above map will activate the RTE in the SalesOrder description field.

The information in this mapping is available directly in the DetailViewUtils and EditViewUtils scripts and also in the Detail and Edit View Smarty templates. You can study this commit where we access this information to add generic support for RTE fields.

Another idea would be to have different settings for an autocomplete field. Something like this:

<map>
  <originmodule>
    <originname>Potentials</originname>
  </originmodule>
  <fields>
    <field>
      <fieldname>autocompletefieldx</fieldname>
      <features>
        <feature>
          <name>showfields</name>
          <value>field1,field2,...,fieldn</value>
        </feature>
        <feature>
          <name>searchfields</name>
          <value>field1,field2,...,fieldn</value>
        </feature>
      </features>
    </field>
  </fields>
</map>

Which defines that the autocomplete must show the list of “showfields” to the user while it permits them to search on the list of “searchfields”.