# Extend Customer and Company model

Info Types are a powerful extensibility feature in Norce Commerce that allows you to add custom fields to customer, company, supplier, and physical store entities. This flexible system enables you to capture additional business-specific information beyond the standard entity fields.

## Overview

Info Types serve multiple purposes in Norce:

- **Entity Extension**: Add custom fields to customers, companies, suppliers, and physical stores
- **Business Logic**: Store additional information required for your specific business processes
- **Data Flexibility**: Store any type of data as strings with the ability to cast to different types
- **Integration Support**: Provide custom data points for external system integrations


## Info Type Tabs

The Info Types section in Settings provides four separate tabs for managing custom fields:

- **Customers**: Custom fields for individual customer records
- **Companies**: Custom fields for company/organization records
- **Suppliers**: Custom fields for supplier entities
- **Physical Stores**: Custom fields for store location records


> **Note**: All four tabs work identically - the same functionality and management options are available across all entity types.


## Required Fields

To create an info type, you need three essential pieces of information:

- **Name**: Language-specific display name (required)
- **Description**: Language-specific description (optional)
- **Code**: Language-independent identifier for the info type


## Managing Info Types

### Creating Info Types

1. Navigate to Settings > Info Types
2. Select the appropriate tab (Customers, Companies, Suppliers, or Physical Stores)
3. Create a new info type with name, description, and code
4. Save your changes


### Editing Info Types

When editing an info type:

1. Modify the name, description, or code as needed
2. Use the translation view to manage multilingual content
3. Both name and description fields support translation
4. **Remember to save your changes**


### Deleting Info Types

To remove an info type:

1. Click the "X" button next to the info type in the list
2. Confirm your decision when prompted
3. The info type becomes inactive but remains in the system


### Viewing Deleted Info Types

- Click "Show deleted" to view deactivated info types
- Deleted info types can be restored if needed
- This prevents accidental permanent data loss


## Data Storage and Usage

### Storage Format

- All info type data is stored as strings in the data layer
- You can use the data as any type you want in your applications
- Type casting must be handled in your implementation code


### Data Size Considerations

- There is no technical limit to how large an info type value can be
- Large values may impact performance in both the API and admin UI
- Consider performance implications when designing your data structure


### Common Data Formats

Most common are "string", which is how Norce store the data.

But, many customers use JSON format for info types because:

- JSON provides a versatile and structured solution
- It allows for complex data structures within a single field
- It's easily parseable by most programming languages
- It maintains data relationships and hierarchy


## Multilingual Management

- Info type names and descriptions support full translation
- Use the translation view to manage content across languages
- Language-independent codes ensure consistency across markets


## Use Cases

### Customer Extensions

- Store additional customer preferences or classifications
- Capture industry-specific customer data
- Track customer lifecycle information
- Store integration keys for external systems


### Company Data Enhancement

- Add company-specific business information
- Store regulatory or compliance data
- Track company relationships and hierarchies
- Maintain custom classification systems


### Supplier Product Information

- Store supplier-specific terms and conditions
- Maintain supplier classification data
- Store integration-specific identifiers


### Physical Store Data

- Add store-specific operational information
- Track store performance metrics
- Store location-specific custom business rules
- Maintain store classification systems


> **Important**: Info types provide powerful extensibility but should be used thoughtfully. Consider the impact on system performance, data management complexity, and long-term maintainability when designing your custom field strategy.