How to typecast integer to string and save that to a new field?

[DEAD_BEEF]

I have a numeric field that needs to be string to put be CIM compliant. I tried using tostring, but it still shows up with the # in the interesting field list so it's still being read as a number. Also, how do I go about saving that field so it is always returned as a string to be used by the data model?

currently numeric field called

id
values      102342,23482,23498,23490

I want string field

id_string
values      102342,23482,23498,23490