Setup:
I have two lists on a SharePoint site, A and B. List A has a column 'b' that is a lookup to the ID field of list B. I have 500k+ records in A and about 6k records in B.
What works:
I am able to execute a query for items in list A using SharePoint web services, and am even able to filter the query based on a specific "lookup" value for column 'b'. For example, I can query for items in A whose column b matches 1234 (...<Value Type="Lookup">1234</Value>...), and so on.
What doesn't work:
The query does not work for items older than a specific date, even though my query does not involve dates in any way -- only the lookup column. Any query on data newer than two years old works fine, anything older than that fails. If I view items from the SharePoint web page they appear ok, and all the links from child records in B to parent records in A work just fine -- the lookup columns appear intact.
Question:
Is there some kind of maintenance task in SharePoint that can cause some underlying data to get corrupted that can prevent a query based on a lookup id to stop working, like a system restore, etc? In other words, the lookup column data appears correct on the surface in the web browser. But does SharePoint represent this value with a GUID or other invisible data that might be out of sync or stale?
Thanks.
Maybe you are hitting another limit; the maximum number of items retrieved in a query?
See list throttling
Try querying by the ID by adding the LookupId=”TRUE” attribute to your FieldRef element.
http://abstractspaces.wordpress.com/2008/05/05/caml-query-lookup-field-by-id-not-by-value/
The problem appears to be related to the fact that the column in question was indexed. When I removed the index everything started working. When I reapplied the index, everything kept on working. I'm attributing this problem to a corrupt index.
Related
I have a simple calculated column in my SharePoint 2010 list. It takes the list item ID, adds 100 to it.
When my users are creating items in the list, the calculated column does not get updated unless I go in, edit the column (do nothing) and save it. It, in fact, gives all items a value of 101 unless I manually edit the column.
Is this typical or is there a work around for this issue?
Thank you!
It is not possible to create calculated column based on ID value. The Id of the item is created after the item is added to the list.
You should use workflow instead.
The problem with using a workflow to do this (as per the accepted answer) is that workflow can take an appreciable time to execute. So you cannot create the ID until AFTER the new item is saved and there is always the danger that simultaneous users can create ID clashes that you also have to handle. If the workflow (as on a busy system) takes several minutes to work, you can also get the problem of someone else editing the item before the workflow has finished which may cause the workflow to fail leaving the item without any ID.
As an alternative, you might consider using JavaScript in the NewItem.aspx page to lookup and increment a counter from a separate list. Note that you have to update the counter as you read it if you are doing this so as to ensure that other users don't accidentally get the same ID if creating entries at the same time. This means that you must not mind the counter incrementing even if a user subsequently cancels the new item without saving.
As you noticed in opening/saving an item, The Calculated Column is updated on every item change.
Does it work to have a Workflow read the Title and write (the same) Title?
The [ID] reference in the Calculated Column should be set.
No need for an extra LookupID column then.
I have an infopath form based on a sharepoint list (worktracker).
In that form there is a repeating section which holds data from a secondary source which is the worktracker list again.
I would like to filter that table using the value in a field on the form - this enables me to run a check on duplicate items on the list by using a calculated checking reference.
I have done this by using conditional formatting to hide the non-matching items but that this killing my form as IE throws tantrum as it takes too long.
Does anyone know another way to do this? I am stuck using IE8 - not my choice!
UPDATE:
So since posting the above, I had since tried using a REST connection which doesn't work as my list is too big. I have also tried using an XML connection to a filtered view and that didn't work either!
Cheers,
In the form, select the value field. Create a rule that sets the secondary data source's query field of the same name to that value. Then query the secondary data source. It will only return the items where the value matches.
I am trying to append records in an MS Access table (I am using Access 2010, but can use 2007 if need be) into a linked SharePoint list.
There is an attachments field (when viewed from Access), but I am not concerned with appending these.
The SharePoint list has a few lookup fields, that in design view are of the Number format. Upsizing to SQL Server, I can confirm that they are numbers (and I assume the Id for the related SharePoint list object).
I copied the structure of the SharePoint list and pasted into a MS Access table, and then filled in a few sample records
I used the query wizard to select all of the fields of the Access table (minus the Access table's autonumbered ID and attachments), click "Append", and then selected the SharePoint list.
If I run this query, I get the error that X record(s) were not appended due to validation violation reasons, which is all of them. I've checked all field definitions and none are defined as required or have a validation constraint.
The only thing I can think of is that there is some issue with the Lookup fields, but each number Id I've checked is a valid Id.
I'm hoping for a MS Access solution, but if the only approach is to programmatically do it, could someone send me directions on how to get started with the SharePoint 3.0 SDK?
Thank you for your time.
Lookup columns are not number type even your parent items are of number type reason behind lookup column always attaches the item id of parent item.If you want to see the data in access kindly use the "export to Access" functionality available in datasheet view
I have linked to a SharePoint table, then appended directly to it from a query.
My issue is that this process takes a very long time to push up to SharePoint, then 2 times as long when first I need to delete the records currently in the list before appending.
Is there a better way to blow out and create the table while preserving the link since it is not an Access object?
Anyway I hope this may help you out some and get me some insight as well.
Regards.
I got a question about the behavior of lookup fields when importing data. I wonder how the lookup fields behave when the list they point to is being replaced/imported. To explain the issue, I will provide a quick example below:
As example, assume we have these two sharepoint lists:
Product Types
-------------
+ Type Name
+ Code Nr
+ etc
Products
--------
+ Product Name
+ Product Type (Lookup field to list "Product Types")
+ etc
In my scenario, the Products List contains production data on the production Sharepoint platform. It is filled with data by the business users.
However the Product Types list contains rather static data and is maintained by the developer.
Now after a development cycle, the developer wants to deploy his new webparts and his new data (product types list). The developer performs the following procedure:
On the dev machine: Export "product type" list using stsadm
On the production machine: Delete all items in the "product type" list
On the production machine: Import the "product type" list using stsadm
This means we basically replace the "product type" list on the production server while keeping the "product" list as it is.
Now the question:
Is this safe? Will the lookup references break under certain circumstances?
Any downside of this import/export procedure?
What happens if someone accesses a "product" during the import? Will the (now invalid) reference clear its own content (become a null value).
What happens if the schema of the "product type" list changes (new column)? Will this cause any troubles?
Thanks for all feedback and suggestions!
Update 1
The imported "product type" items have the same IDs as previously deleted ones.
Update 2
Started a bounty to get some more feedback/opinions.
We have had this exact same scenario before. This is a little tricky, depending upon how you will approach it.
1) Delete and Recreate Product Type list through UI
If you delete and recreate the lookup List(Product Type in your case) through UI, then you will lose the connections because the List's id GUID will change upon recreation. So do not go that route.
2) Delete and Recreate Product Type through a Feature
If you had created the Product Type list through a feature.xml file using the <ListInstance> element, then if you delete that list and then recreate it using the same feature (basically Id attribute of ListInstance remains the same, number of list items, i.e. the number of <Row> elements, may change), the association would be maintained. So if you were adding 5 more product types, then if you had created the list using a feature, you could just delete the list and provision the new one using the same feature with extra info for new items and everything would just work!
As a side note, this is the better approach because if you have to do the upgrade on a lot of servers, then rather than doing list export import via stsadm, feature deactivation and activation is a much more recommended solution. This is how we did it.
3)Deleting all list items from Product Type and adding new ones (list is never deleted)
If you are linking the lookup field (in Product List) to the ID field of the lookup list(Product Type), you have to remember that ID is auto-incrementing, so if you delete all items and then add new ones, then their ID's would be different. Say you had 5 items with ID's (ID field is not shown in UI while editing in Datasheet view) 1-5 in the list. If you delete them and add new items, their ID's would start from 6 and not 1 again. So if your lookup field had link to the item with ID 1 in it, then this method is not going to work because there is no item with ID 1 in the Product Type list anymore. So you might want to really try this out before going to production with this method.
4) Editing the list in place
If the list is not extraordinarily huge, and you only have to make this change to one or two instances, could you not just edit the list directly in the datasheet view on the prod server? When editing in datasheet view, do not delete the item, but just overwrite the values of its columns. And you can add more items if you want. This will make sure your ID's are valid.
I have mostly talked about adding new items to the list. Now if you were deleting existing items, then your lookup fields will be affected because assuming you linked the field by ID, the ID is not present anymore since the item has been deleted. Basically, any method you use, maintaining your ID's is critical.
Now regarding your doubts/questions:
I am not too sure about stsadm export import for a list (never done it myself), but stsadm can be tricky as some operations will work on certain scopes only. So you better try out your exact scenario on a dev env.
What happens during an import is tricky again depending on the exact timing. I am sure SP has its own concurrency mechanisms, but you cannot have a definitive answer as it might probably be different based on the stage of the import. If possible, recommended approach is to do the import during a planned downtime.
Regarding changing schema of the list, a change in the schema of a list will not affect the existing list instances (for the most part). If you do this through UI, I believe SP makes changes to the content DB directly. I am not certain how you intend to do this, but if you were to add a column to an existing list using a feature, the way to do this is during feature activation by adding a new content type to the list and adding your new column to this content type. This way you add the column but do not affect the existing list items.
Good luck...
There are two components to a particular lookup: the field, and the field value. The field value only contains the ID of the item(s) it refers to, and the display field. This information is meaningless without the field, which specifies what list to look at and what field to use as the display field.
The primary reason that a Lookup will break occurs on the field scope: either the list it referred to no longer exists, or the list does not contain the required field. These would generally happen if you deleted and recreated the list, but you aren't doing that. If you do break a lookup's list reference, then the only thing you can do is re-create the lookup, because you cannot configure the list reference for a lookup field once it is created.
The downside of your import/export procedure is that you lose the validity of all currently existing lookup values. A lookup maintains its integrity based on the ID of the item it references. So when the display field changes, it still refers to the same item. If you delete the item, then the lookup no longer references it, even if you create a new item that has the same value for the display field. So you would have to reassign all of the products to the new product types.
It should be noted that if you were to revert the deletion of that item, it would return to being on the lookup! The reference to that ID is kept until the actual lookup value is updated (such as by editing the Product).
All of your now invalid references will be null for purposes of interaction. You won't see anything on display forms, and you won't have the options when you try to update the product. When you do update the product, you update it to what you just set it to, which since you can't set the non-existent IDs, means that there are no more references to those IDs.
Any changes to the Product Type list's schema that do not affect the display field specified for the lookup will not have any effect on the lookup integrity. If you do change the display field in any fashion, and of course if you delete it, then it will break in the same fashion as with the list reference. However, you can set the display field, both in the UI and in the object model, so it is easy to fix this.
I have a calculated column in a custom SharePoint 2007 list, with the following formula:
=CONCATENATE("IR-",[ID],"-",LEFT(UPPER([Title]),25))
If an item is created in the list, everything is fine, however, when an item is updated the [ID] column is no longer in the calculated column for that item.
So, on creation: "IR-40-TheTitleIsHere", but after edit, it is, "IR--TheTitleIsHere".
Anyone have some insight on why this would be happening?
I confirm the behavior mentioned above. Any Add/Edit will wipe out the [ID] portion. If you edit the column in the list and update the formula, it will update ALL list items to be correct (until you do an edit on the item).
I found this post that mentions the same problem.
Sounds like the only solution would be to make a simple workflow using SharePoint Designer that would update a text field in your list.
I had an issue similar a while back. Through other blogs and experts, I discovered that the [ID] column should not be used in a calculated column because it wreaks havoc and causes many errors. Sorry - remove the ID column and you should be fine.
This question is a little old, but I had the same issue and found a solution for it. It is a pretty specific fix and won't help everyone -- it involves using javascript in a content editor web part to update the calculated field.
This site -- http://blog.pathtosharepoint.com/2008/09/01/using-calculated-columns-to-write-html/ -- gives an example of how to use javascript in the same manner that I used it.. the important block of code is the first while loop. The point is to grab the out of box ID column from the list and update whatever calculated field needs the ID.
In my case I had a URL in a calculated field that required the ID as a parameter.. of course that wouldn't work normally because you can't put the ID in a calculated field. What I did was I put "?ID=null" in the ID parameter of my calculated field's url, I then replaced that with the ID that was retrieved using javascript.. so whenever the page is loaded, the js kicks off and updates all of the URLs to have the correct ID.
I know this is very old but I couldn't find a newer version of the question anywhere else and the answer above from ferr solved the problem for me but isn't very clear so I thought I'd update it.
This assumes that you want to use the ID in the output HTML (for example within a link), I think this is fairly common.
Using the javascript from the pathtosharepoint link I added in the following to get the id with an if statement for safety:
if (HTMLregexp.test(CellContent)) { //original pathtosharepoint line
if (NodeSet[i].parentNode.getAttribute("iid")){
var SPID = NodeSet[i].parentNode.getAttribute("iid").split(",")[1];
CellContent = CellContent.replace("SPIDReplace", SPID)
}
NodeSet[i].innerHTML = CellContent; //original pathtosharepoint line
This is put in the while loop of the latest pathtosharepoint fix at time of writing. This works for me on SharePoint 2010.
Note: Include the string "SPIDReplace" in your calculated column to get it replaced by the item ID.
pathtosharepoint page: http://blog.pathtosharepoint.com/category/calculated-columns/
pathtosharepoint code: http://pathtosharepoint.com/Downloads