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.
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.
I've got a custom list with a custom content type. I'm aware that when you create a new item you can see a drop down for the different content types on that list which I assume all have their own NewForm.aspx somewhere. I can specify in the content type definition which columns are shown on the New form and that I can replace the new form with a custom one of my own design.
What I'm trying to achieve is to have multiple New forms but for the same content type listed on the New drop down. I would like each new form to expose different fields of the content type. Additionally I'd like to make particular New forms only visable by users with particular permissions although this isn't critical.
Scenario:
I've got a content type with all the fields I need for a risk assessment. When a new item is created it only exposes fields to enter contact details. Once this is created a workflow with infopath forms then drives the gathering of the rest of the risk assessment information through booking, the inspection itself and approval of the data. I want the ability to have a second option to easily enter all this information on a different new form for an inspection that's already been done and needs logging in the system.
You could customize the NewForm.aspx (e.g. via SharePoint Designer) for the initial submission case. Obviously, all of the required fields will need to be populated in some fashion.
The EditForm.aspx is the out-of-box page for updating existing list items. You may be able to customize this to meet your update an existing risk assessment case. From the post above it's not entirely clear to me whether this distinction between these pages is fully understood.
In both of these cases, you can add code-behind to the .aspx pages. However, it's usually best to start as simply as possible, keep it as simple as possible and only add complexity as necessary.
Hope this makes sense and helps. Good luck!
Dan,
Per your scenario, I have done something similar by creating one content type per actor/stage. Consider using a simple SharePoint Designer workflow to change your content types onChanged (simply by setting the Content Type) column so that the perspective actors only see the columns you want them to see in the edit/newforms. As long as the proper content type is set, your users will only see the fields you want them to see. Furthermore, with creative use of views and audience targetting of pages you can somewhat prevent these users from seeing columns.
Also, you can prevent users from seeing the different content types (under the new button) in the advanced content type page.
I'm developing a customized document library in the SharePoint 2007 environment. What I'm doing is creating a content type with multiple columns of information related to the document. Users will use this content type to upload new documents rather than the standard new document functionality. One of my columns in this content type is proving to be more difficult than I can handle.
The column is essentially supposed to be a sort of 'related documents' column, where it offers the user the option to select another document that is related to this document. So I thought I'll create a lookup column that displays the titles of all other documents in the library and allows the user to choose one. Simple enough, but I need much more functionality than this...and here is where I need help.
I need the related document column to actually link to the related document, not just display the title...not in edit mode while a user is adding a document, just in the standard document library view after the document has been added.
I also need the link to include a url variable that is stored in another column named 'Document Number'.
I assume this will require custom coding which is fine. Please not that I can't use SharePoint Designer. I use Visual Studio and code must be C#. This will be packaged and released as a feature.
Can anyone help me acheive this? Example code, suggestions, etc...? Thanks!
I would suggest using a multi-column field as your base value type - this article on MSDN should get you started. For rendering the field in document library views, you will need to use a rendering pattern. Conveniently, MSDN has an example of a multi-column RenderPattern.
I need to create some functionality in our SharePoint app that populates a list or lists with some simple hierarchical data. Each parent record will represent a "submission" and each child record will be a "submission item." There's a 1-to-n relationship between submissions and submission items. Is this practical to do in SharePoint? The only types of list relationships I've done so far are lookup columns, but this seems a bit different. Also, once such a list relationship is established, then what's the best way to create views on this kind of data. I'm almost convinced that it'd be easier just to write this stuff to an external database, but I'd like to give SharePoint a shot in order to take advantage of the automated search capabilities.
Proper Parent/Child in Sharepoint is near impossible without developing it yourself. There is one approach to that here: Simulate Parent / Child relationship in SharePoint 2007 with Folders & Content Types
(Note: This concerns SharePoint 2007. In 2010, Joins make this much easier)
Do it in a separate database, create a page(s) with controls that surfaces the data and run search over that. Loses quite a bit of the SharePoint features though.
Otherwise it may be okay to create a custom field control that will allow you to lookup the data in the other list.
The custom field control can be the one to "view" the related data.
I know we have done it for parent child relationships between pages on the same list. Not 1-to-N though.
Tough choice either way.
My vote is "to write this stuff to an external database"
You miss a lot of things in Sharepoint things like transaction support, referential integrity, easy way of updating (compare SQL), reporting (using Reporting Services and a SQL database)... see sharepoint as a way to store documents and simple lists.....
The argument for Sharepoint is if it is a small application, no requirements on support for transactions, no need to import external data etc...
When people say Sharepoint is a development plattform there is a need to define whjat they think a development plattform is.
The latest rumours about Sharepoint 2010 tells us that there will be support for SQL server based lists in next version ..... which I think will at least move Sharepoint in the right direction ....
Take a look at SLAM, SharePoint List Association Manager, an open source project my company created and actively supports. SLAM allows you to synchronize SharePoint data to SQL, including any relationships between lists. SLAM, in addition to being very useful on its own, is really a framework intended to allow developers to create their own complex data associations using what we call SLAM type profiles. We have one out-of-the-box type profile which is part of the open source project which actually allows you to make a SharePoint list hierarchical using the nested set model. For more information, see this page on our codeplex site.
I do this a lot just using sharepoint, using a framework called AAA (Activity,Assignment,Artifact), which allows you to use lookup columns to link an assignment or artifact to a parent Activity. You then build a web part page with connected web parts that allow you to filter all assignments and artifacts by activity. For example, click next to a submission in the submission web part, and all of the submission items attached to that submission will show up. Works great.
The other approach that you can look at using is persisting XML with a field in the item. This is the approach used by the Podcasting Kit (on CodePlex) to store things like ratings.
One possible method is to create a submission content type based on the folder content type and a submission-item based on item content type. Then you can store data hierarchically like in file system and also will work default views and search functionality.
Other way is to create lookup field that points to same list (list=”self”). This field will be used like reference to parent item and you will get list that contains recursively related data. To use this data programmatically will be ok but using views functionality will be little bit complex.
It's easy to do using a connected web part.
Create two lists:
Parent (Id, Title)
Child (Id, Title, ParentId)
Create a new sharepoint page, add DataFormWebPart (displaying Parent) and another one for Child, set both of them to filter based on a QueryString parameter (use that Parameter to filter Parent.Id, and Child.ParentId) voila, you can display parent-child relationships. Now, adding children is more difficult, and that's the part I haven't worked out yet.