Modifying the user name format

You can control how user names are displayed for a locale. The default is first name, last name, email (%FN; %LN; - %EM).

When you change the display name format, the change occurs throughout the application wherever the person's name displays. For example, if you modified the name format so that the last name of the person was followed by the person's first name, that modified name format displays in the menu bar, user selector, and search result boxes.

Note: If an invalid format string is defined, only the user name will be displayed.

Procedure

  1. Click Settings menu > System Configuration > Application Text.
  2. Click filter icon to access the search filter.
  3. Click Formats.
  4. Click the com.display.name.format application text.
  5. Click the name of the locale code you want to modify, for example, en_US.
  6. Modify the format as follows:
    To display this name format... Type this code...  
    User name %NM; Displays the value in the User Name field on the User Information page.
    First Name %FN; Displays the value in the First name field on the User Information page.
    Last Name %LN; Displays the value in the Last name field on the User Information page.
    Email %EM; Displays the email address of a user in the Email object field on a User Information page.
    In the Task Focused UI, combinations and special characters are allowed, except for the hyphen (-) character.
    • For a field that is in an editable state, a hyphen applies bold formatting to the text in front of the hyphen.
    • For a field that is in a read-only state, a hyphen shortens the display name. Only the text before the hyphen is displayed. The full display name is displayed in a tooltip when a user clicks the user icon.
    • The hyphen character is not displayed in the user interface.
    The following table shows a field in an editable state, a read-only state, and in a read-only state with the tooltip displayed. This example uses the %FN; %LN; - %EM; display format:
    Editable state Read-only state Tooltip
    A user selector field called Owner is shown in edit mode. The field displays Sam Adams sam.adams@fed.gov.
    A user selector field called Owner is shown in read-only mode. The field displays Sam Adams.
    A user selector field called Owner is shown. The tooltip displays Sam Adams sam.adams@fed.gov.

    In the Standard UI, the hyphen does not control formatting and it is displayed in the user interface.

  7. Click Done.

Example

Assume that a user is defined where User Name is jsmith, First Name is Jane, and Last Name is Smith.

Table 1. User name formatting in the Task Focused UI
If com.display.name.format is set to ... The user displays as ...
%NM; jsmith
%FN; Jane
%LN; Smith
%FN; %LN; Jane Smith
%FN; %LN; - %EM; Jane Smith jsmith@co.com

Or, if the field is in a read-only state: Jane Smith
%FN; %LN; - %NM; Jane Smith jsmith

Or, if the field is in a read-only state: Jane Smith
%FN; %LN; (%NM;) Jane Smith (jsmith)
%FN; %LN; [%NM;] Jane Smith [smith]
%NM; - %FN; %LN; jsmith Jane Smith

Or, if the field is in a read-only state: jsmith
Table 2. User name formatting in the Standard UI
If com.display.name.format is set to ... The user displays as ...
%NM; jsmith
%FN; Jane
%LN; Smith
%FN; %LN; Jane Smith
%FN; %LN; - %EM; Jane Smith - jsmith@co.com
%FN; %LN; - %NM; Jane Smith - jsmith
%FN; %LN; (%NM;) Jane Smith (jsmith)
%FN; %LN; [%NM;] Jane Smith [smith]
%NM; - %FN; %LN; jsmith - Jane Smith