i'm an InfoPath noob, and i have to prepare a (quite complex) form.
This form is made of two main areas: a summary page and one (or more) "element-specific" page(s).
In the summary page the user must select one or more elements (with a maximum of 4) and fill some data.
When the user selects one of those elements, the form should add the element-specific page related to the selected element.
I have already created both the summary and the element-specific pages (all in a single view...is that bad?) for a single "element-type".
Now i'm having quite a problem. Due to the fact that the element-specific form is quite long and have different fields and validation logics, i really don't want to replicate (copy) all those fields and elements one by one (if i just copy the section, it will have the same field/value of the other element-type).
I have seen the repeating/optional section, but those options doesn't seem to be good for my problem (in the summary page the user must check the element-type in order to enable some data fields that must be filled...and the checked items must be consistent with the sections that are shown. The user cannot add arbitrary sections like in the repeating/optional sections, the form (based on the checked fields) should show the correct sections)
Consider that some small details are different from a specific-section to another (i have to take some values of some fields from a specific section fields in the summary page and change an image) and i don't know how to handle those differences.
Consider also that the final output of this work should be a printable pdf.
Here you can find some images mocking the result of the form:
1) This is the Summary Page:
2) this is a mock of two detail pages. Please note that are the two ones "selected" in the summary.
3) this is a mock of the fields structure of the form:
What i need is in fact to create 4 "mostly identical clone" sections, all with their status and values, with some minor differences from one to another.
Is there any way to achive such result whithout having to create 4 different "sets" of fields, one for each specific element (that would obviously be a big amount of error-prone work)?
Sorry for the long post...hope it was clear enough.
Many thanks in advance
Ok, so i've found a very good solution using template parts. I've designed some template part for the common form sections (following this guide on www.informit.com, then i've added them to the complete form template by building each block using,when needed, the right template part.
Thanks to teylyn for the help (luckly i didn't have to write to a list or use vb or c# code in my template part, only in the main template).
Related
So I have created a page type, for content entry. The first part, 24 fields, sets up some headings and boolean fields that tell whether certain information and or buttons will be displayed on the page. This works fine and I can customize the input form just the way we want it. But the issue is how to now link in some one to many relationships. For instance alternate redirect urls, multiple content paragraphs. The idea is to have the same entry form for products as the users are currently using, the one to many escapes me. I am using the MVC dev end. I have created custom modules and associated web controls, but cannot figure how to add them to the page type layout.
Thanks in advance.
For the module tables to link to page types you need a cross-reference table. This table would hold say a GUID from the page type as well as a GUID from the module table. How you link the page type and module record could be done on the page type (while this would be harder) OR you could create a custom UI module which would allow users to view the linking table and add or remove records. This would be a listing of all the module table records and then allow you to select one module record and see or add many links to it.
Then in your page display, you simply do a custom query to that cross-reference table and join in the module table to get the data you need.
There are many approaches with pros and cons for each.
You can use Related Pages to relate to other pages that contain your content (such as a Page that contains paragraph information). My Relationships Extended Module can help with that.
You can use the content tree to store relationships, putting multiple items below the page and using the NodeAliasPath to find children of your certain page types (DocumentHelper.GetDocuments("My.PageType").Path(YourParent.NodeAliasPath+"/%"))
You can also use a multiple-selector, storing a guid or codename in a comma separated list on a single field (not greatest but it can get it done).
You can also create your own custom binding classes through the Modules, although you will need to make sure to configure things properly with the ObjectTypeInfo so it is handled properly in Kentico. Again the Relationships Extended module can aid in creating interfaces to maintain that.
See RelationshipsExtended
And also My Blog on this topic
And a presentation on different data modeling with pros and cons.
I have a custom page type for employees, and one of the fields is Location. I want to show/filter only employees in "San Jose" or "San Francisco" and used this WHERE condition below but it didn't work. Apparently, I missed something very basic. Could you help?
Location LIKE '%San%';
I did another test, where instead of page type, I used custom table with the exact field names and was able to filter using the same statement. On a related note, I'm new to Kentico and exploring which is more suitable for creating/maintaining a list of about 100 employees - Page Types or Custom Tables - with the ability to filter by department, location etc. Appreciated your input here as well. Best!
If you're adding the WHERE condition into a standard Kentico repeater or other data source, the syntax looks right except you do not need the semicolon ";".
You'll also want to double check the field name, and if you are limiting your query to certain columns (as is best practice especially for larger data sets) and be sure the field you are filtering on is being selected.
Regarding the management of your employee list, either method you've described will work. In that scenario it typically depends on who will be editing the content, and how frequently. It is more editor-friendly, in my opinion, to add those documents into the content tree. This also gives you quicker control over the order, and keeps it similar to how other content on the site is maintained. I also like to set up folders or other parent page types as categories if needed, so the documents can be dragged and dropped between them and it sets up a visual taxonomy that isn't possible if it's all stored in a table. Storing items in the tree also allows for workflow and versioning, as well as more granular control over permissions/access, if this is important to you.
It's awesome that you are thinking about how to best store your data in advance. There many factors to consider such as overall number of records, number of columns, the fact whether you need to use workflow, versioning, preview etc..
The best source of information regarding this would be this article which summarizes all options you have and gives clear explanations of which to use in which scenario.
And to your original question - What components are you using to display the data? Is the repeater? If so, can you make sure to set the Page types property to match the page type you are displaying? If the page types is not configured, Kentico will not load any custom fields because it doesn't know from which table it should load the data from.
Additionally make sure to either include the "Location" field in the Columns property or leave the columns blank (not recommended because then Kentico loads all columns which is like 200. when you count all from CMS_Document, CMS_Tree etc..)
Below is the framework that I use to debug whenever I wish to add a repeater and is facing some problem.
First get all the columns instead of accessing limited columns. Fetching all columns will make sure that I don't have any problem retrieving data.
If I am missing any particular column information name, then I would double check the column name.
I verify this by firing up SQL server management studio and access data from page type table or custom table.
If access to SQL server is not available(generally in Azure hosted solutions with restrictive access to DB), I would enable SQL debug from the settings and see what query repeater is generating to see if it is correct.
With that said, there is a question that seems to be asked a lot and has answers - but I'm not a programmer 'enough' to understand all the different explanations. I was hoping for something more clear and concise to my very specific example and need.
I have two forms. (I might also add this is being used on Wordpress)
One form is on the first page and will collect age, home value, and debt owed - all in drop down select fields.
The second form is on the next page and will collect other contact information and upon submit - will post all the fields to my CRM.
I have been able to successfully get the data from the first form into a query string on the page of the second form. But try as I might - I just can't figure out how to get the field data from the query string into my field forms. (Both display or pre-populated and as a value ready to be submitted once the rest of the fields are completed.)
Here is an actual query string:
http://example.com/2-form-test-2-of-2/?age=75&value=572%2C500&lien=107%2C500&sendbutton=#.UYSBEKKG2So
I simply need to get "age" - "value" and "lien" from that query string showing in the fields on the 2nd page. Simple is best - even if it's 'hack-ish' as I will most likely just include the code directly on the Wordpress page that includes this form.
One possible solution is to add a piece of javascript that gets fired on page load and:
1) disables form post button
2) populates form fields with values from URL
3) enables form post button
If these values are just suggestions for user, which he could easily change before posting — this should work.
If, on the other hand, these values are internal and unchangeable by user, you should not expose these in editable form and allow user to change those by editing URL or form posting (but including these as read-only page fragments is apparently ok).
This is place for only programmers. To become a programmer, please refer some online resources and ebooks. without knowing basic concepts, you can't understand anything.
even after understanding basics, if you have doubts, you can ask here, providing the code samples you have developed.
I am using Visual Studio 2010, SharePoint 2010 with custom document content types and forms. And plan to also use jquery to build the document add/edit/view forms.
I am developing a solution where I want to have a document library where each document uploaded also has a number of external data elements added as metadata.
The tricky part I'm trying to figure out is I want the user to be able to specify and add a multiple number of those same external data elements.
I'm trying to figure out how I represent the data internally in SharePoint. My initial thought is to programmaticly add hidden external fields as the users adds those external selections. But then I also think of simply storing those external elements as non-external text fields but have my own code which performs the external data lookup and validation.
I'm not adverse to significant custom coding, as I'm probably going to need to do a lot anyway since even the user interface is going to be a jquery tabbed form to enable all the external data the user will be able to associate with each SP document.
I've made an attempt to hopefully further explain what I'm trying to do and included that image. Essentially I'm wanting to add 1+ external data relationships to each document, as desired by the user.
It uses just example data. I'll actually have 4-7 different complex relationships much like the example. And the user is permitted to drilldown and select 1, 2 or all 3 of the dropdowns.
Think of it as similar to how here on Experts-Exchange we can add multiple zones to a question.
An example illustration is here: http://flic.kr/p/aFUSJn
Could you simply add a multi-line text column and have the user input the metadata with comma's, then use your code to seperate the data and do what you want with it?
You said you were not adverse to significant custom coding :)
One solution is to use SharePoint content types. The trick is that not all items in a list need to have the same content type.
Therefore, you can do the following:
As the user is selecting the fields he wants to use you generate or select a content type that matchs those fields.
You then add your document to the document list using the content template
You then have all your information strongly typed in SharePoint lists.
We have previously built a system where we generate content types based on xsd files, this worked very well.
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