One issue is that the existing custom field types (text, hidden, boolean, and linked) are not sufficient for manually creating all new item types. Certain types of fields should have associated functionality that cannot be achieved with existing custom field types. For example:
- For autofilling, certain input fields require numerical input, and will not accept text data that is autofilled from a custom field of the “text” type.
- Fields for storing URIs should, at a minimum, have an associated “Launch” function.
- Fields for storing password-like secrets should have an associated “Generate” function.
- Fields for storing TOTP keys should have the ability to generate (and autofill) TOTP codes.
- Text custom fields are currently limited to 5000 characters (after encryption), but fields that accommodate more information may be required for some applications.
- There may be a benefit of defining a field type to hold dates (which can be displayed using formatting conventions determined by device locale, and/or parsed into separate year/month/day values for autofilling purposes).
Ideally, any field type that already exists within any of the four available item types should also be made available as a custom field type (and offer the same or substantially similar) functionalities.
Unfortunately, it seems that in the past, moderators have merged any feature requests that propose new custom field types either into this thread or into the feature request for customizable vault item templates. In my opinion, a dedicated feature request topic should be made for additional custom field types. Yes, there could be scope creep with such a feature request, but I think that once a dozen (or even a half-dozen) of the most versatile custom field types have been implemented, the needs of 80–90% of users will have been satisfied.
Hopefully, @gtran’s recent request for input about new custom fields types will lead to some progress in this direction, which would ultimately reduce the need for expansion of the pre-defined items types (especially if they also develop a more streamlined approach for constructing and deploying customizable vault item templates).