Having a field linkable like the object name

Question

Basically, on the Account page, I've a related list called 'Rate', which has a field called 'Rate Group'

You can click on Rate Group to go to the Rate Group page, but I was wondering if I could make another field in the Rate Group (the Unique/External ID) go to the same page.

Of course, another look up is possible, but I'm not sure how to link the lookup from the rate's field to the rate group's unique/external id field.

We're trying only to show the ID rather than than the name.

edit: Ended up using a formula field:

HYPERLINK("/" & Id, TEXT(ExtGroupID__c), "_self")

Answer 1

You can create a custom formula field using the HYPERLINK() function. You can show the external ID, but the link will bring you to the Rate Group Page.

General use of Hyperlink function

HYPERLINK(url, friendly_name [,target])

• Url is the web address, so you want it to be a '/' with the Id of your rate group.
• Friendly name is the text that shows on the link, so you want it to be the external Id
• Target is where it opens. I'm assuming you want it in the same page so I would use "_self"

You will obviously have to change the field names to your field names, but here is the general Id

HYPERLINK("/" + Rate_Group__c, Your_External_Id_field__c, "_self")

More info on functions, including the hyperlink function can be found here