I have 3 forms (A,B,C) in my database. I am using LocNumber as the unique key to bind them together (although I could of course use UNID).
I want to present the user(s) with one Xpage that has these three forms. I have made a CC for A,B, and C and bound them to the correct form in the datasource.
My save button does a validate and then saves datasources.
But how do I "bind" the three cc's together on the page? In form B I have a LocNumber field. Do I create a field in cc B for LocNumber bind it to LocNumber on the form but load it with the value from UNID on form 1?
This must be a solved problem.
BTW, I choose to chunk everything like this as I will have a separate group of people to edit each set of fields (in form A,B,C).
I also prefer to use a uniqueKey like #Unique() for instance. Though in XPages you need to wrap it in a session.evaluate() to get the old school style.
Anyway - first you might want to rethink this. there isn't a need to chunk this up between 3 forms/documents. You could do it all with one and put each chunk into a Panel and compute the read only property so it's true for people that don't have editor access and false for people that do. That works really well.
for the custom controls. I would pass in the key as a custom property. Then inside each use that to compute to the document so it's available to you. SSJS to getdocumentbykey type of thing.
Related
I have an xPage that is behaving very oddly. (if xPages get corrupt, I think this one might be) Tell me what you think:
I have editable fields with onChange events that take the value of the field (a company name) and looks into the database to see if the company already exists. If it does not, a field called "isNew" is set to "y". BUT the next time a Full Update is performed, from another field or button, my "isNew" field (or all of them) are erased! Why on earth would a full update erase a totally different field?
Do I need to just recreate this xPage?
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Ok, here's the onChange event on the editable field that sets the flag:
var c = currentDocument.getItemValueString("company");
var id = #DbLookup("","AD",tc,11); // this view column gets the doc ID
if (id==null || id==""){
#SetField("isNew","y")
}
This field is being set properly - I use a computed field to display it. But the next full update (button, field, whatever) will erase the "isNew" field.
I think your problem is caused by the data sources you have on your page and how you save them.
Maybe you have data sources that gets binded from the url that should not be.
Are you using data sources within a repeat or view panel? If so, make sure you are only saving the correct data source
JSF (and thus XPages) works best when keeping MVC in mind. So you never manipulate a component, but keep that component bound to a model, like a data source or a scope. This way code doesn't get into each other's way.
A refresh of a page computes the whole tree, not just the updated field, so you need to design your calls carefully.
Work directly with your data source so do this instead of #SetField():
currentDocument.setValue("isNew", "y")
This seems like it should be easy to do but I cannot get it done.
I have an Xpage called Location. There are two general types, A and B. I have a series of views for A and B. They are the same except for the value of that one field.
In the views I want my "New Location" button to automatically populate the type to A or B, depending on whether the user is in one of the A views or B views.
Seems like I would set a scoped variable and then check for that on document creation, but it doesn't seem to work. What is the best practice to do this?
Jesse Gallagher's frostillicus framework on OpenNTF (XPages Scaffolding - http://openntf.org/main.nsf/project.xsp?r=project/XPages%20Scaffolding&SessionID=DN6QBBFGEB) includes flashScopes, which give the facility to pass information from one page to another and get cleared when the page is loaded.
You can use sessionScope variable to transfer data from one XPage to another.
A better approach might be to use URL parameter for your case.
Add for example &type=A to your URL like
http://server/database.nsf/Location.xsp?action=newDocument&type=A
Then you can read this parameter in your destination XPage with param.type like
var type = param.type;
The disadvantage of sessionScope is that it's the same for all browser tabs. So, you need to delete it right after usage in this case. Using an URL parameter instead you don't have to think about that.
My scenario:
The xpage ( document content ) has a complex structure. I have a 1st button which opens this xpage, having in the postNewDocument:
Contr.replaceItemValue("txt_codformularmain","01") // I use this field as a flag.
Now, there is another button which compose the same xpage ... but in this case, I do want the xpage to be different, in other words to have some additional / showed fields.
I could add another code at the postNewDocument, like this:
Contr.replaceItemValue("txt_codformularmain2","01")
Later on, in some views I will filter the listed documents by this 2 fields: some views will be listing the documents where txt_codformularmain=01, other views for txt_codformularmain2=01, and so on.
All the fields are on the same form element. ( I could create easily 2 different xpages, with 2 document contents, but in the form Properties at onOpen and onWebAccess settings, I can add only one xpage )
But, I think it isn't the best approach for this. Because in both cases, postNewDocument takes place, and both fields are having the value 01.
In classic lotus notes programming, I had used only one field ( flag ) and for every different button, inside the button's code I just changed the field value: 01, 02, and so on, before the newDocument had been composed.
Should I use another/ a better approach?
I might go for creating a new form with the fields needed there, and creating a new XPage binded to that form...
dominoDocument.isNewNote() will tell you if it's a new document or not. You can compute visibility based on that.
If it's based on a field value, then again set the visibility based on what the value should be for the panel to be visible - instead of getComponent().getValue() use dominoDocument.getItemValueString() assuming it's a Text field for best practice. In the onblur event of the control that's bound to the field you're checking against, trigger a partial refresh. You will need to amend the default partial refresh settings if there is validation on the page.
Once you're comfortable with that technique, start thinking about using a dataContext to hold whether or not an area should be visible, and referencing that dataContext variable in the rendered property. The benefits of this are not only performance, but youo can give a better variable name to the dataContext to make it clearer when supporting the application what the logic is behind it being visible. For someone supporting the Notes Client app, for example, it's unclear without hunting what state "01" or "02" means. Descriptors like "newDoc", "published", etc have an advantage there.
Another method of optimisation would be to use a Dynamic Content control.
But it sounds like your XPage is going to be complex enough without adding more complexity at this stage.
I'm creating a student assignment submission application using xpages (8.5.3 FP3 UP1). The details are:
Student can do any number of submission. For each submission, a unique SubmitID will be created. For now,
a. The Form (Submit) - 2 fields only (SubmitID, SoftCopy-RTF type)
b. The View (Submit) - 2 column only (SubmitID, AttachmentNames)
c. Examples of SubmitID are: submit1, submit2
For each submission, student must select what course/subject that submission is for (eg: Maths, Physics etc). Therefore I've already created another form for the teacher to create the list of subject
a. The Form (Subject) - 1 field only (SubjectName)
b. The View (Subject) - 1 column only (SubjectName)
c. Say for now 2 subject has been created - Maths & Physics
I've created 2 xpage:
a. Submit.xsp - to create new submission (using form - Submit)
b. SubmitView.xsp - to display the list of submission (using view - Submit)
For Submit.xsp, here's where my problem begins:
a. The controls in here are as follows: SubmitID EditBox, Repeat Control(inside is a CheckBox, a fileUpload, and a fileDownload)
b. The repeat is based on the list of subject available. The CheckBox title will be each of the SubjectName. In the OnChange event of the fileUpload control, each time after a file is browsed, the checkbox will get checked and this worked.
c. The fileUpload should only update the accompanying fileDownload but instead the attachment that I just uploaded is reflected to every other fileDownload control. I'm doing full refresh on the fileUpload OnChange because that's the only way for the fileDownload to be updated. What is wrong here and what should I do to get the result that I wanted? Saving the document and opening it later in both read-only or edit mode is fine although each subject still display the same list of uploaded files. Both fileUpload and fileDownload are binded to the SoftCopy field.
Unless I'm not correctly interpreting your description, you're binding multiple upload / download controls to the same item ("SoftCopy"). Because these controls are always bound to an item, not to each other, a download control will show any attachments stored within the source item, regardless of how they got there. To limit display of attachments in a download control to those sent via a specific upload control, they must be stored in an item unique to that pair.
For example, if each pair were bound to a subject-specific item, such as "SoftCopy_Maths" or "SoftCopy_Physics", then each download would only display attachments stored within that specific item. You don't know what subjects will be defined, so you can't define these fields on the form, but that's okay... you don't need to. NSF has no schema, so a field need not be defined on a form for a control to be bound to it; the item will be created when the document is saved, even if the form does not define it. Strictly speaking, even the form itself need not exist.
We typically bind controls to items using dot syntax, e.g. #{currentDocument.SoftCopy}, but array syntax is equally valid, e.g. #{currentDocument["SoftCopy"]}. So if you wrap these controls in something that establishes the dynamic item name as a variable or property, you can use array syntax to target that dynamic item. Two of the best ways to do this are data contexts and custom controls.
For instance, you could surround the contents of the repeat in a panel, and define a panel-specific dataContext that associates the variable attachmentItemName with the concatenation of the item name prefix and the specific subject. Your upload and download controls can then be bound to #{currentDocument[attachmentItemName]}.
Alternatively, you can move the same content to a custom control that accepts the data source and item name as properties, in which case your value binding might look like #{compositeData.dataSource[compositeData.attachmentItemName]}.
Apart from very minor differences in runtime performance, either approach is equally valid.
I have a SharePoint list that has MANY columns in it. The default AddForm and EditForm rendering is very cumbersome for the users. Most of these fields hold simple Number (integer) values. The default rendering for those two forms (using the ListFieldIterator I suppose) render the columns one by one vertically down the page. My thought was to design an input form with three basic "zones" (left/middle/right) and use a Custom Field for all of these "Number" fields. The Custom Field would contain two custom variable properties "Zone" and "Order". (Zone could contain middle/right and order would be the "order" in that zone the field would appear, the "left" zone would be for the fields that are not these "Number" fields, things like Date, Customer, etc. etc.) I would design the page with an HTML table and 6 Columns (1 for the "label" and one for the "TextBox" for each of the three "zones"). Then I could put a control (something similar to the "ListFieldIterator"). The control in the first zone would render the "static" fields, the zones in the other two zones would render the appropriate Custom Fields (based on the Custom Variable Property "Zone" and "Order").
Does this make sense? For the life of me, I can't figure out how to do this. I had thought about "giving up" and just using my ASP .Net skillset and creating FormViews and GridViews bound to the proper (ListView) DataSources. That has even proved challenging.
Does anyone have any ideas on how I could accomplish this? (InfoPath isn't an option and I want to stay with the "Custom Field" idea so the fields aren't laid out statically and can be moved around or even new ones added by the "administrator" of the Application (SharePoint List).
Any guidance is MUCH appreciated. I have been working on this all week and just seem "stuck".
Thanks,
Shayne
------ A Better explanation of my "application" and what I want to do-----
I have a SharePoint List that has about 60 fields in it. If I pushed this application out using the default Add/Edit SharePoint List Forms (and Rendering Templates), the users would hate it. The default forms use a rendering template that basically lays out all the list fields, one per (HTML) Row. Within that Row there are two (HTML) columns. The first one contains the "Label" for the field, and the second (HTML) column is the actual editor for the "FormField" (Text Box or whatever). Because of the number of fields in the list, the user would have to scroll several pages just to get to the bottom.
This list has about 10 "static fields" that I want to lay out on the left side of the page and then about 50 that are simply "task" fields. These store an integer and track "how many of these tasks did I do today". (This is a "port" of an MS Access application.) Depending on the "Add" page the user selects (I have a "parent" content type that contains every field and then a "child" content type for each "group" of users that will be using this form that contains just the fields/tasks that group tracks) the proper fields are rendered on the page. The problem is they are all rendered vertically and there is too much scrolling. These users (and admins) will NOT have access to SharePoint Designer or InfoPath. So, the "layout" for these fields must be iterator/repeater style (the users shouldn't have to get Development involved just to add a new "task" field to their application!).
The solution I had come up with is to use a Custom Field Type with two Custom Property Variables for each of these "task" fields. The Custom Property Variables (Zone and Order) would allow the administrators of the "application" to control where they want these fields to appear on the Add and Edit forms. The Zone Property can contain one of two values: "1st Task Column" (middle of the form) or "2nd Task Column" (right part of the form). (The "left" column of the forms would be used for those 10 or so "static" fields that all groups/depts/content types share.)The Order would just contain the order to sort the fields in, within their "zone". Obviously, the "zone" would indicate where on the form the field would appear (middle or right). I thought I might be able to use three Divs and render the appropriate List Columns in the appropriate DIVS. Or, following the default rendering template, instad of DIVs I could possibly use 6 (HTML) Columns instead of 2.
I quickly figured out how to make a new Field Type with Custom Properties (I used the Property Schema element in the XML definition, even though Microsoft says NOT to use that in SharePoint 2010, it was just so easy and I couldn't figure out how to add them otherwise. Now I know how to add them the "right" way, I just don't know if it is worth changing them.)
For the last few days, I have tried to figure out how to actually render these "zones". Remember, I want the users of this application to be able to add new fields dynamically, so I can't put any static field references in these forms. I have read about the Rendering Templates and the ListFieldIterator (and the new Content Iterator), but I can't seem to pull it all together and create an actual solution. The part that is throwing me off is how to query and render three different "sets" of fields at once (since the rendering is going to happen from "top to bottom").
Any help is very much appreciated!
Shayne
If InfoPath it out and you want to stay within the SharePoint infrastructure for forms, then the term you need to search for is DataFormWebPart. You may have heard of DataViewWebPart before, well this is the form equivalent. Just like the DVWP, this does lots and lots of XSLT to make its magic happen.
The trick is can you implement your grid/zone idea within the context of the DFWP's XSL. That I can't tell you but hopefully this is a starting point.
Defiantly Info Path is the solution here are some tutorials:
Video: http://channel9.msdn.com/blogs/laurhar/infopath-2010-customize-a-sharepoint-list-form
http://p2p.wrox.com/content/articles/customizing-sharepoint-2010-list-forms-infopath-2010
http://blog.libinuko.com/2010/03/21/sharepoint-2010-howto-start-customize-list-form-neweditview-using-infopath-designer-2010/
if you don't want to use InfoPath I would recomment JavaScript/jQuery you have just to modify (Edit) the page then inject some jQuery code to do what you want. Here are some articles about similar topics:
http://akanoongo.blogspot.com/2008/04/how-to-hide-fields-in-sharepoint-list.html
http://spground0.blogspot.com/2011/03/sharepoint-2010-custom-list-form-issues.html
http://ghamson.wordpress.com/2011/01/19/using-jquery-to-attach-regular-expression-validation-to-a-sharepoint-list-form-field-sp2010-ps2010-projectserver-in/
The only way you can achieve this type of custom form designing within the SharePoint framework is to apply it through post-rendering techniques using client-side code. And solutions like this tend to add considerably to page-load.
Simply changing the render template is not enough if you want it to be a dynamic and codeless experience for end users to author.
I can think of only one solution which comes close to fitting all criteria. It's "free", can be password protected, and also allows tab groups, rules and many other settings.
Dynamic Forms For SharePoint - http://spjsblog.com/dffs