Sharepoint custom list, dynamic field? - sharepoint

Hey guys, just wondering if their is a simple way to create an Item in a custom list but i need that item to be dynamic. The user can click add more to get another field that would hold the same type of data an unlimited amount of time.
If i could even just add an excel spreadsheet type of field that would work also. But excel wouldnt need to be a requirement on the users machine.
I thought i had read somewhere you could do this using info path but i cant seem to find anything relating to it on google.

The InfoPath feature is called a "repeating section". There is information on how to set that up in Office Online.
If you wanted to achieve this entirely in SharePoint, the problem is that there can only be a fixed number of fields in a list. So you could create as many that would ever be used and just display all of those. Or to make it much nicer for the user incorporate jQuery to hide all of the fields except the first one and provide a button for them to click that unhides the next one.
There is good information on how to access list form fields using jQuery in the question How can I set the default value in a SharePoint list field, based on the value in another field?

Related

SharePoint Web Parts can not be connected via hyperlink fields

In short:
I'm trying to filter an XSLTListViewWebPart based on what is selected in another XSLTListViewWebPart. Using a String field as connection this is working fine. Using a hyperlink field no data is displayed.
In more detail:
I have two lists, say Accounts and Projects. Both have a hyperlink field accountURL.
All accounts have different accountURLs. Different projects can have the same value for accountURL. Both are displayed on a page using the XSLTListViewWebPart.
The simple goal is to filter the Projects list based on which item is selected in the Accounts list using the accountURL field. So I established a web part connection using the acountURL as a filter. Alas, when an item in the Accounts list is selected no items are showwn in the Projects list although I double checked that there are matching values.
When using a string field instead of a hyperlink field for accountURL everything works like a charm. Problem is, I need the hyperlink field.
Is this desired behaviour? Do you have any suggestions for a workaround?
(I already tried converting the hyperlink field to a string field via a calculated column which did not work out either.)
All was and is to be done in the web interface or SP-Designer. Coding a WSP is not an option for this problem. As I'm not quite familiar with the correct terminus technicus I use field and column interchangeably.
All help is greatly appreciated.
Ben
Someone on the Microsoft forum suggested the following workaround which does its job well:
Add a hidden text column to both lists.
Use a workflow which is triggered on item creation and update to copy the value of the hyperlink column to the hidden text column.
Connect both webparts using the hidden column as filter.
Nonetheless, I still wonder whether it is possible to use hyperlink columns or other special columns for filtering. I also had the problem that I cannot use a person column as lookup.
Does anyone know if whether there ist some kind of overview
which column types can be used for filtering/formulas/lookup/...?
Cheers,
Ben

Hide Column in Sharepoint List

I am trying to hide a column in SharePoint 2007 list based on Users.
When user submit a request the status column should be hidden and the value set as pending.
When Admin logged in he/she should able to edit the status.
Is there any way I can achieve this with out writing CUSTOM CODE.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks
Deepu
No custom code makes it tough. What about creating two views. one view has the column and another does not. Then create two sharepoint web pages and add the first view with the column to one, and the second view without the column to the other. Then put a security group or audience on the pages, so the appropriate one shows up for the user. Not great, but could be an option.
I think you'll have to do something with a custom field type - this guy has a solution very close to what you need - however there is custom code involved.
http://www.infoq.com/articles/Dressel-Gogolowicz-wss-security
The only other thing i could think of is to deploy a custom fldtypes.xsl to the hive and pattern match against your column. Then perhaps you could do some for of xsl transformation to show/hide the column - not sure how you'd indicate if a user is an admin or not though.
You are really limiting yourself by ruling out custom code.
Best of luck,
Shane

Looking to start SharePoint alert after a field change in InfoPath Form

Good Morning,
I have a Form Library on my SharePoint site. On my form I have a calculated string field that does basic math (field1 x 3). I'm looking to have some way for the form to recognize that the field was changed (when saved) and somehow set off a SharePoint alert.
I'm completely baffled as how to go about this, if anyone could help that would be awesome! Thanks!
Shannon
Couple ways of doing this.
If you don't have programming access.
Create a new column, hidden if you want. In SPD create a workflow to run when a change is made. In that workflow compare the current value to the the that new column and if different then sent out email and copy the current value to this new column.
Or do the same thing in Infopath, if you have programming access, where when the form is opened you store the current value and when they save the form compare values and send out email as needed or set another column to sent out email and have a workflow do the mailing out.
If you have programming access to Sharepoint you could write your own handler to duplicate it, little more control.

Sharepoint: Person column in custom list

I have a Person field in my custom list. I want to have a view that will show multiple fields from that Person instead of the one I had to choose when creating the Person column.
So basically I want to have one column for Person and then in the view see Name, title, email, phone. All of those are valid choices but I can only pick one right now.
I really want to avoid typing in the username lookup for each column I choose to display.
This is SP 2007
It sounds like you need to create a custom fieldtype (with a fieldcontrol) that inherits from the userfield but in viewmode renders out the different columns you need. Is that something along the lines you are looking for?
http://www.sharepointblogs.com/nicksevens/archive/2007/08/31/create-custom-field-types-for-sharepoint.aspx
Note: This link is broken
You probably want a Computed Field. Note that this is not a Calculated Column. A Computed Field is what is used to display the same data is different ways. In SharePoint there is a Title field, but there is also a "Title (linked to item with edit menu)" computed field as well as a "Title (linked to item)" computed field.
See midway down this link for more details. I'm not sure if it will have all of the power that you need, but if it does it is almost certainly what you are looking for if you don't mind getting into the Schema XML file a little.
Could you use a DataView web part for this? If it's just a question of viewing the data that might be suitable.
Came across this thread and thought I'd add a tip. This suggestion is clearly not for every use case, but may work well in situations where you're managing a list rather than allowing manual inputs (verified to work with SP 2013):
Create a spreadsheet with columns to match your SharePoint list that contains multiple profile fields. (for example: name, phone number, email address)
In the spreadsheet, enter the same email address in all of the person/group field types in that row. (e.g., boss#company.com, boss#company.com, boss#company.com)
Select and copy the row(s) you wish to transfer to SharePoint.
In SharePoint, change the list view to "Quick Edit" and paste the row(s) into the grid.
SharePoint will process each field and convert the email address to the profile value you selected during the list setup.

Auto number column in SharePoint list

In a SharePoint list I want an auto number column that as I add to the list gets incremented. How best can I go about this?
Sharepoint Lists automatically have an column with "ID" which auto increments. You simply need to select this column from the "modify view" screen to view it.
You can't add a new unique auto-generated ID to a SharePoint list, but there already is one there! If you edit the "All Items" view you will see a list of columns that do not have the display option checked.
There are quite a few of these columns that exist but that are never displayed, like "Created By" and "Created". These fields are used within SharePoint, but they are not displayed by default so as not to clutter up the display. You can't edit these fields, but you can display them to the user. if you check the "Display" box beside the ID field you will get a unique and auto-generated ID field displayed in your list.
Check out: Unique ID in SharePoint list
If you want to control the formatting of the unique identifier you can create your own <FieldType> in SharePoint. MSDN also has a visual How-To. This basically means that you're creating a custom column.
WSS defines the Counter field type (which is what the ID column above is using). I've never had the need to re-use this or extend it, but it should be possible.
A solution might exist without creating a custom <FieldType>. For example: if you wanted unique IDs like CUST1, CUST2, ... it might be possible to create a Calculated column and use the value of the ID column in you formula (="CUST" & [ID]). I haven't tried this, but this should work :)
I had this issue with a custom list and while it's not possible to use the auto-generated ID column to create a calculated column, it is possible to use a workflow to do the heavy lifting.
I created a new workflow variable of type Number and set it to be the value of the ID column in the current item. Then it's simply a matter of calculating the custom column value and setting it - in my case I just needed the numbering to begin at 100,000.
it's in there by default. It's the id field.
If you want something beyond the ID column that's there in all lists, you're probably going to have to resort to an Event Receiver on the list that "calculates" what the value of your unique identified should be or using a custom field type that has the required logic embedded in this. Unfortunately, both of these options will require writing and deploying custom code to the server and deploying assemblies to the GAC, which can be frowned upon in environments where you don't have complete control over the servers.
If you don't need the unique identifier to show up immediately, you could probably generate it via a workflow (either with SharePoint Designer or a custom WF workflow built in Visual Studio).
Unfortunately, calculated columns, which seem like an obvious solution, won't work for this purpose because the ID is not yet assigned when the calculation is attempted. If you go in after the fact and edit the item, the calculation may achieve what you want, but on initial creation of a new item it will not be calculated correctly.
As stated, all objects in sharepoint contain some sort of unique identifier (often an integer based counter for list items, and GUIDs for lists).
That said, there is also a feature available at http://www.codeplex.com/features called "Unique Column Policy", designed to add an other column with a unique value. A complete writeup is available at http://scothillier.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!8F5DEA8AEA9E6FBB!293.entry
So I am not sure I can really think of why you would actually need a "site collection unique" id, so maybe you can comment and let us know what is actually trying to be accomplished here...
Either way, all items have a UniqueID property that is a GUID if you really need it: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/microsoft.sharepoint.splistitem.uniqueid.aspx
Peetha has the best idea, I've done the same with a custom list in our SP site. Using a workflow to auto increment is the best way, and it is not that difficult. Check this website out: http://splittingshares.wordpress.com/2008/04/11/auto-increment-a-number-in-a-new-list-item/
I give much appreciation to the person who posted that solution, it is very cool!!

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