Difference Between Columns, metadata, keyword , field - sharepoint

I am a bit confused about terminology. In SharePoint we have a List and it consists of List columns but I have read in one of the site that this can be meta data too.
Taking an example if we have a SharePoint list and if we have a List Columns with name, Job description, age and Income, will this be termed as column, field or metadata?
If this is metadata then how can you define fields/columns/site column?

You may know that Meta Data is nothing but data about data.
In share point context Meta Data can be used as list column also. Consider any excel documents which are classified using Phase , Category, Document Type etc. So when ever you see these columns you can identify what kind of document it is.
As per my knowledge key words are nothing but taxonomy. By using these keywords you can classify the items.
Site Column is different. Site Column can be used as list column in any list. For eg. Consider the Age. In your site you are using Age column repeatedly in your lists/libraries. So instead of creating Age column in each list you can create only one site column and you can add to required list. In simple words reusable purpose.
Fields are nothing but a columns/site columns. These are related to list.

As Mihir states, the word "metadata" means "data about data". So to have metadata you need to have data. In SharePoint the most relevant example would be documents. Documents are data and you can have data (metadata) about these documents. Mihirs Excel example is an example of this.
Say, you want a document library in SharePoint and these documents have a document type chosen from a list of choices.
To achieve this you need to be able to put a document type on the documents. Since Document libraries in SharePoint is a special kind of list, you can create columns=fields on the list - and the data in these columns becomes metadata for your document.
So on the library you create a field, DocumentType, e.g. as a choice field. The field is setup with possible choices for the document type. So the list fields/columns are used to define metadata on the document(s).
When it comes to pure SP lists it becomes more difficult to talk about metadata. For what is it data about? In case of an employee I don't think you can define it as metadata, expect if you treat the physical person as "the data". However, I don't think it technical make a difference. You have your datamodel of the employees and implement it using SP lists - that's what they are there for!

Related

SharePoint: What's the relationship between site columns, content types and lists

First time touch SharePoint, still confused what's site columns, Content types and lists and what are the relationships.
Can anyone give me an example pls?
From my understanding, I will compare the list with a database table or an Excel table.
List
For List,it likes a database table or an Excel table.
It is a list, a collection of information. There are some rows(data) and columns(define type);
Site Columns
I will compare it to a field in a database table or a column,not data in an Excel table.
e.g. you can use query to get a collection of few columns of data.
Content Type
The content type is equivalent to defining some metadata. It can be considered that combining some columns or some site columns becomes a content type, or it can be understand as defining a data organization form, like defining a class.
Site Columns:-
A site column represents a type of data.Site Columns define reusable column definitions and Content Types, which are made up of Site Columns, define reusable schema's for both lists and libraries.
List
List is a collection of information in SharePoint that you can share with others. Lists consist of rows of columns that contain data Such as Mobile Number,Address,etc.
Content Type
A content type defines the metadata, workflow, and behavior for a category of items in a SharePoint list or document library. A contact content type might include columns such as Name, Email, Telephone Number, and Address.
References:-https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/sharepoint/creating-site-columns-content-types-and-lists-for-sharepoint

Sitecore check if an item has a delta with presentation details standard template

We have a lot of products that are stored as a Sitecore item.
Many of them use the presentation details defined on the Standard Values of the product template.
Now I would like the check for each product, if the presentation details is the same as the standard values.
And if they are not the same as in the standard values, I need to see the delta.
Someone an idea how to achieve this?
You can query all items and look at the "__renderings" field and come the value of it to the same field on the standard values. This field is the XML that stores the presentation settings. Any pages that have a value that doesn't match the standard values has been changed.

Finding Lookup item numerical values in MS Dynamics

I have a site powered by ExpressionEngine 2.5.x, using Freeform, integrated to post form data to MS Dynamics CRM 2011. The extension is nicely scalable, I can change the mapping, all that excellent stuff. My problem is how to find mapping values for Lookup fields in MS Dynamics.
I am trying to map form fields from the site forms, into MS Dynamics. Some of the fields are Lookups, in MS Dynamics. Our mapping calls out the numerical value of the Lookup item, rather than its name. (Which is good, because ppl can change the text names in the MS Dynamics console without breaking the mapping.)
My question is: I know how to find the actual back-end field names of form fields within MS Dynamics. But how to I find the numerical values of the picklist items and lookup fields? Say I have a Lookup field, for Lead Source (called campaignid). The items are:
web
online
radio ad
flyer
word of mouth
other
I know that when I edit options in an option set, I can see their numerical value. Where can I edit options in a lookup field? I've tried looking under Settings > Customizations > Customize the System, but didn't see anything called lookup.
Lookups are pointers to entities. They do not have numerical values like regular option sets. So I guess that you will have entity called Campaign (or lead) so you can check which campaigns exist in the crm DB where each entity will have view in the DB.
Let's see if i understand your question. You don't have a Lookup option like Option Set because a lookup is consequence of a relationship 1:N between two entities. So for edit a lookup you need edit a record of a entity. In lookup fields you don't have numerical values, you have guid that represent individually a record, so in a record a lookup is stored in database as a guid. Check this video.
Check here how find this guid with the record open.
A look-up field is, roughly speaking a pointer to en entity (in C# it's referred to as EntityReference instead of Entity) and it consist mainly of a guid and logical name of something.
Usually, in the code, when you have an entity, in order to access the fields of its lookup-connected entity, you'll need to make an extra query for that.
So, if you have a Contact instance and need to see the address of its parent customer, you'll have to get the guid and logical name (in this case it'll be Account) and retrieve the data for it separately.
EDIT:
Suppose that you have created an instance of Contact entity and you'd like to access its lastName field. Then you can simply refer to it as follows.
var value = Xrm.Page.getAttribute(“lastName”).getValue();
On the same form, there's also a field that refers to an Account instance (its name is parentCustomerId. Suppose now that you'd like to get the fullName field of the Account. One could expect the following to work.
var account = Xrm.Page.getAttribute("parentCusomterId").getValue();
var name = account.getAttribute("fullName").getValue();
However, that's not going to work, because the parentCutomerId is a look-up field. It means that it only contains a guid (a pointer, a reference) identifying an other entity. You'll have to use it (the guid) in order to fetch the instance that the look-up is "mentioning". Then you'll be able to check it's properties.

Joining sharepoint 2007 lists in a web view based on a common key field

So - I'm making a data view that is to contain a list. This list has a field that will be used to match up against two other lists. If there is an entry for this value, it should show the value from the other list, otherwise show a link to add a new one.
So, what I need to do is make a data source consisting of the rows from list 1, and fill in the Ticket field with a value from the Tickets table matching the ID value from list 1. The same should be done for the Change Type field.
Can anyone point me in the right direction to accomplish this? I've found a few tutorials, but they seem to be for showing all the data together and not match up on any specific columns for linkage.
Thank you
What you are aiming at is not available in SharePoint out of the box.
There are two approaches you can look at:
Create your own custom lookup field template for single/multiple field
selection with some sort of field
editor. Create your own controls and
program the associated code behind
logic.
Use some existing custom solutions. One such sample is on codeplex:
SharePoint Filtered Lookup Field

Mapping Infopath fields to Sharepoint columns

Any one has any idea how to map an infopath field to a sharepoint column of type choice? The infopath field is a repeating field, so the user can select multiple options, I want to be able to map those to the choice field in sharepoint. Any ideas?
update:
What I'm trying to do is the following. I have a choice column in sharepoint which allows user entered values. In infopath, I have a repeating field. I'm binding the field to a dropdownlist. The dropdownlist gets filled by a webservice. This dropdownlist is in a repeating section, so the user can choose to select from multiple dropdownlists. So lets say the user adds 2 dropdownlists, and selects an option from each dropdownlist. I want to be able to add those selections as choices in the sharepoint choice column.
SharePoint list is a flat structure, and because of that Infopath does not allow you map repeating sections to list columns.
You might wanna consider the following workaround:
Store Infopath form to one library
(along with non-repeating fields)
Use one of these custom activities to extract data from
repeating table and copy it to
another list
Create a custom data view or a web part to display these items (if
necessary)
This approach can be useful if you need to do some additional tasks with the repeating data.
When you are promoting fields within a repeated section into SharePoint columns, the options available are to promote the column as:
first (i.e. only the first selection is promoted)
last
count
merge (I believe this merges all the selected values together into a single entry)
screenshot http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/5539/repeatinggrouptr3.png
Is it not similar to Create a Repeating Cascading List from:
a Flat Data Source or
a Hierarchical Data Source ?
If it is, may be those two articles may give you some pointers.
Depends on the type of choice field it is.
If it is a Multiple Select (checkboxes) Choice field, you can set the field through the object model (from the sharepoint site) or through the web service, by using ";#" for each item that you want to check mark, where is the value which is listed by the checkbox. I don't remember what the option is for single choice only, but it is something of the same nature. If you are talking about lookup fields, it has to do with the index number of the field from the list you are looking it up from. Also, there is additional steps if the choice field allows users to input or specify their own options.

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