The most important parameter of a field or control is its type. The type decides what kind of values are possible, and what the field or control can do. MoStacks supports the following types:
| Type | Value |
| Text | any text |
| Integer | whole number |
| Float | floating-point number |
| Date | date |
| Time | time |
| Boolean | yes/no value |
| List | list of lines |
| Command | (no value) |
| Picture | picture |
The type 'Text'
A Text field holds any text as value, including empty i.e. nothing at all. This is the most basic field type; if in doubt about the values that you want to put into field, use a Text field.
For longer texts set the Visible height parameter to more than 1. An important sub-type of text fields are wiki fields, with the flag Wiki text? set. See chapter Wiki.
The type 'Integer'
An Integer field holds any whole number as value. Positive values, negative values and zero are all allowed. An Integer field cannot be undefined.
The type 'Float'
A Float field holds any number, with or without a fractional part. A Float field cannot be undefined. A float field supports different writing conventions (dot or comma for the decimal point) according to internationalization.
The type 'Date'
A Date field holds a date (in the sense of the calendar). A Date field cannot be undefined. A Date field supports different display/writing conventions like 12/06/2007 and 06.12.2007 according to internationalization.
The type 'Time'
A Time field holds a time (in the sense of time of day). A Time field cannot be undefined. A Time field supports different display/writing conventions like 02:15 pm and 14:15 according to internationalization.
Note that MoStacks does not support a field type that can express a point in time, i.e. a date and a time as a single value.
The type 'Boolean'
A Boolean field holds a yes/no value. On a card it is represented by a checkbox. A Boolean field cannot be undefined. When Boolean values become parts of lists, yes/checked is shown as T (for True), and no/unchecked is shown as F (for False).
Note that in principle this should be internationalized, but isn't yet.
The type 'List'
A List field holds a list of lines. It can be empty/undefined, with zero lines. You cannot directly change the value of a list field. A list field can have multiple columns. There are list fields with purely textual values, and list fields that show card lists. A List field can stand alone or form a combo box together with a Text field. You find the details in the chapter Lists.
List fields are probably one of the strongest features of MoStacks, and you may profit from learning how to use them.
The type 'Command'
A Command field or Command control is different from all the other types, as it cannot hold a value, and is there only to make issuing commands possible. (As cards cannot hold anything else that fields/controls, also a command must be such, even if this stretches the concept a bit.) A card either shows a command as a button, or not at all, with the command only present as an entry in the Cmd menu. There are standard commands, and commands can execute scripts. You find the details in the chapter Commands.
The type 'Picture'
A Picture field or Picture control either holds a picture as its value, or is empty. You set the value of a picture field by importing a picture for that field. You find information about the supported picture formats in the chapter Pictures.
As this is a field type like any other, there is no arbitrary restriction of, say, 1 picture per card. You can put as many picture fields on a card as you like.