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
Related
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.
In my SharePoint List, I have an "Employee" column that is a User type field. I would like to add some custom Business Logic to the processing of this field.
Currently, when the user adds a row, I check to see if the user is an Employee or a Manager and then change the behavior on this column accordingly. I do this by statically rendering the field in my custom "ListForm Rendering Template", just before my custom ListFieldIterator. I simply use a standard SharePoint FormField (and FormLabel) control. In the markup of the FormField control, I specify the FieldName (Employee) and an event handler for the Load event. In this Load event, I will check to see if the current user is an Employee or Manager (using two different SharePoint groups). If the user is an Employee I set the value of the field to the current user (this part works perfectly). I also want to change the field so it can't be modified. I thought I might be able to just change the ControlMode on the field (in the code of the OnLoad Event Handler) to Display, but for some reason this has no effect. The field still renders with the full, people picker editor. Am I not changing the fields control mode soon enough? Or is this simply not the correct approach? The other logic I want to put in is if the user is a Manager, I would like to allow that user to select the person from a list (SharePoint group) of Employees. It may be easier to just use the people picker and limit the selectable users to that group. (I think I can do this with the SelectionGroup property.) Although, it would be better if I could just provide a dropdownlist of users, which I could possibly do with a hidden dropdownlist that I would show and event handlers that I could use (handle event selectedindexchanged) to pull the value selected and populate the (now hidden) Employee (user) field. Does this approach make sense? Assuming all that will work, the real difficulty I am having is with changing the ControlMode (rendering) on the field (when the user is an employee) to a label or some kind of read only control, which is how that field renders when viewing the row, which is why I think if I can just trick the control into thinking it is in Display mode then it should work perfectly!
I am still learning SharePoint, but I am very proficient in ASP .Net. This is why I would like to keep my customizations in this Custom Rendering Template, using code behind and leverage my existing skill set as much as properly.
Any thoughts, opinions or advice? Does anyone know why I can't get the column to switch the "Control Mode"?
I do not think that I fully understand your scenario. Some code samples could help.
But anyway it sounds like you want some heavy customizations of the user field. In that case you might want to have a look at creating a custom field with all its advantages and disadvantages. Have a look at MSDN: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg132914.aspx
Another option might be - in case you do not want to re-use this column in many list definitions - that you can get away with your custom rendering template and create a custom create/edit form where you implement the specific edit behaviour for the field (plain ASP.NET with some SharePoint controls). Here is a nice walk-through on how to grab a custom edit form from SharePoint designer: http://community.bamboosolutions.com/blogs/sharepoint-2010/archive/2011/05/12/sharepoint-2010-cookbook-how-to-create-a-customized-list-edit-form-for-development-in-visual-studio-2010.aspx
I hope this helps. Kr., Bernd.
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 trying to figure out a clean way to hide a custom field type from the list of available columns when a user goes to add a new column to a list. I only want this field type to show up when a given feature has been activated (the feature could be site, web, or web app scoped for my purposes).
One theory (haven't had a chance to try implementing this yet) is that I could set all the ShowOnListAuthoringPages (and similar) properties to "false" in the fldtypes_myfield.xml file, then programmatically set this value to true when a given feature is activated.
In XML file, please set
<Field Name="UserCreatable">FALSE</Field>
I't work with me
Are you sure that you are able to see the Publishing Fields Type in the List Create Column Only with Publishing Infrastructure feature activated. I have a MOSS 2007 Server and I Create a Site Collection based on the Team Site (In this Publishing Infrastructure was not active) but still I was able to see the Rich HTML Fields in the Create Site Column Page. I doubt Publishing Infrastructure controls this function. Your option is good one for this, I would say.
Custom Field Types Features are per definition Farm Scoped, since Custom Field Types have to be deployed farm wide.
You cannot "hide" them from users. A field in a list is based on a field type (bool, user etc.). You CAN hide fields, not the base types. So if a user wishes to create an entirely new (site) column, he or she 'll be able to see that field type.
So, it does look like the only way to do really hide the field times is with attributes in the fldtypes_myfield.xml file. There are a series of properties that affect it's visibility described in this MSDN page. In my particular case I ended up just using the UserCreatable property and marking it as false. This pretty much means the field type won't show up in the UI anywhere, so you'll need to make a feature or some kind of list/library template that you deploy that makes use of the type. I guess this is an area we can hope for improvement on in SP 2010 (perhaps along with a scoping mechanism for event receivers so they don't have to be "global" in the farm).
I want to show the documents in my document library grouped by category. The category is a lookup column that I added that allows for multiple values. Unfortunately this breaks the "group by"-functionality completely. Is there a programmatic solution to this problem?
There is one way... It's complex and ugly - but it should work :)
It is possible for you to write you own view for at list (HTML, JavaScript and all). The VWSTYLES.xml file in the C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\12\TEMPLATE\GLOBAL\XML folder, contains the HTML and JavaScript for the default SharePoint view styles - getting your inspiration from this, you can create your own view style, where you can do anything you want!
The problem is, that SharePoint don't have any way to deploy your custom view style - this is where the ugly part comes in - you have two options for deploying your view style.
Add you code directly to the VWSTYLE.xml/Edit a copy of it and override it with a feature
Pros:
You will still be able to edit the
view from the SharePoint interface
Cons:
You override a default SharePoint
file - your work can be overridden by
a SharePoint update.
Your view style will be available on every list in SharePoint.
Create your view programmatically on the list
Pros:
You don't override any default
SharePoint files.
You can control which list uses your
view
Cons:
You wont be able to edit the view thru the SharePoint interface
I've used method 2 a couple of times myself - and it works... but it's not pretty! :)
I don't think what you are trying to do is possible. When grouping items/documents, you display them in different groups based on a grouping value. I don't think SharePoint has support for adding a single item to multiple groups. With multiple values in the grouping field its' impossible to know which group to add the item/document to. I am not sure if this is an error or if it's by design.
Thomas is correct, this is by design as the item would have to appear multiple times in different groups. It is worth noting that this is possible via the web services, however.
See why I was getting duplicate rows from the sharepoint lists web service
And no, I've no idea why the lists webservice will do it, but the API won't.
Check out this link as well. Access supports this functionality without having to do much ugly code. http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/access/HA012337221033.aspx
So here is a sort of hack that has worked for me, no guarantees though. While your column (Office in my case) has allow multiple values enabled, fill in all of your data as needed. Once done, go to List Settings, click the Column "Office", and turn off allow multiple values. SharePoint will pop up a warning about how this data may be lost (never happened to me). Hit okay, then modify the view you want grouped, "Office" should now show up on the drop down of columns to group by. Finished result will result in your groups (and or sub groups) showing up just fine.
The only qualm I have is that instead of having an item show up in both Group A B because it had both field A and field B checked in Column X, it just creates a new group, Column X: A; B. So in my case, I have staff in both Beaufort and Orangeburg Offices, instead of having those staff in both groups (preferable) it creates a new group as below: