I'm trying to build a form for WSS 3.0 which has the following two characteristics:
Have several sub-records in each records which contains few specific fields.
Can export to HTML or something similar which can be viewed in every browser.
I realize (unless I'm mistaken) I can achieve 1 only by using InfoPath and RepeatingSection/RepeatingTable/etc.
As for 2, I see InfoPath is only capable for exporting to MHT/PDF/XLS, none ideal for me, since the goal is to create a something that can be published to the web.
Any hints about better way to achieve this?
Correction for 2: I meant that the InfoPath form should be editable within our intranet, but exported as a read-only-web-page for our web site. So I meant "exporting" and not "publishing".
One way to do this would be to use a database as the primary data source for your forms, so that all form data is saved there. You could then build a website that queries the database for all info.
Another alternative would be to take the infopath form data (saved as an xml file) and publish it on a web server with an XML Style Sheet to define its format. You could do this via an XML control in ASP.net.
These solutions might require more elbow grease than some other solution, but I believe either would work.
Perhaps creating a custom fieldtype is a possiblity. Create a fieldtype that has some kind of collection as value.
As for 2, I see InfoPath is only
capable for exporting to MHT/PDF/XLS,
none ideal for me, since the goal is
to create a something that can be
published to the web
That's not right, InfoPath forms can be published to the web. When publishing the form to the SharePoint via the InfoPath client, you can select an option saying that this form should be editable within a browser. But beware that some form features of InfoPath are not available when you do that.
Or do you have a different understanding of "can be published to the web"? For me it means, creating a new item in the library to which the InfoPath form is attached to --> Form is opened in the browser --> user fills in the form --> user klicks the save button --> info path document is saved to the library and closed.
Just an idea:
If InfoPath (along with MOSS) is not an option, then perhaps you could mimic its behaviour through a custom edit form, if you want the data to be outputted into a SP list. I'm thinking about a custom edit form with dynamic html controls (for the sub-records), and you can achieve this by dynamically inserting objects into the DOM as your tree structure requires. Then, on form submit, an event handler on the list would parse the data submitted by the form and store it as you see fit (in an xml serialized in a custom field, for example).
If it's not going the be a custom edit form for a list, then the same functionality above can be stored in a site page with code-behind (beware of customizations) and use a hidden SP list as your data storage.
As for the exporting section, perhaps an application page linked in the ECB menu of that list would get the above mentioned xml and display it nicely.
Related
I have a word template which has multiple sections( tables, parragraphs, lists, etc.. ). The idea is that users fill the template and upload it to a asp.net application. I need the application to read the information section by section. So, is there a way to name the section of a word document and identify it by using c#?
I think it is much better to create a custom web page for filling fields there and constructing a Word document on the server-side using the Open XML SDK, see Welcome to the Open XML SDK 2.5 for Office for more information.
However, you may consider using bookmarks or content controls as a marker for sections.
Otherwise, you'll need to parse the uploaded document by searching for keywords presented in the template.
I'm creating a SharePoint site which will be used to dynamically store and display documents on various pages, among other things. Is the following possible?
My view is to have one central Document Library which will include all files. Files with have 'tags' or 'metadata' attached to them. On pages, i will add a document library (or similar) webpart and then call only those documents with a certain tag/metadata.
For example.
Document Library ('Folder') - Contains ('Project Document.xls' and 'Training Document.ppt')
On 'index.html' i will add 'Folder' to the page, but i only want to display 'Project Document.xls' not 'Training Document.ppt'.
I'm aware that you can set up target audiences but that requires a lot of user management.
Thanks for any advice.
If I understand you correctly, this sounds like something you could accomplish using a filter. The name of the file is stored as a column. Try editing the web part on that page and edit the current view. That view will be cached for that page without changing the view across the site. If you want to be able to dynamically choose the document you display then one option is to add an HTML Form web part (which contains a text box and submit button), connect it to the doc library web part and filter the name column based on the HTML Form web part.
I know that a Document Library in SharePoint 2007 has a multi-file uploader (an ActiveX control that -- and only if you have Office 2003+ installed) but how would I use this same feature with a normal (non-document-library) List item?
Uploading files to a normal List item involves clicking the "upload" link and browsing/uploading files one by one. Is there a better way than this? Surely there must be.
Jake
There is an approach I use, but there is no UI support for it. You may find it a bit tedious for onsey-twosey uploads, but it saved me hours once for serious bulk uploads.
The same WebDAV functionality that we get when using "Open with Windows Explorer" on a document library is available for a list.
Say I have a list at http://myorg.com/sites/Widgets/Lists/MyList.
I can open the list in Windows Explorer by going to the address \\myorg.com\sites\Widgets\Lists\MyList.
Attachments are stored in the sub-folder Attachments, which contains folders with numeric names (1, 2, 3, ... and so on). The numbers correspond to the item ID of the list item. Pick (or create) a folder with the ID corresponding to the item you want to upload to, and it's drag-and-drop from there.
Short of writing your own mulit-file upload web part I think you are going to be stuck with either one at a time (i.e. an attachment to the list item) or switch to a document library. Don't forget that you can customise your library to behave much like a list.
Why is it a problem to use a document library?
I seem to be making a habit of answering my own questions. Not sure if that's a good thing or not.
What I ended up doing was adding an "Upload Multiple Files" button to the toolbar which pointed to a custom ASPX page in the _layouts folder. This page displayed the ActiveX component used by a Document Library and the "post to" URL for it was the ASPX page itself. When posted to it looked for files uploaded and attached them all to the List Item referenced via URL parameters passed to it from the toolbar button.
It's discussed here:
http://weblogs.asp.net/nathanyorke/archive/2007/12/05/uploading-multiple-files-via-the-web.aspx
If I get round to blogging and fuller explanation on my own site I'll try and remember to post a link back here.
Jake
I have a SharePoint list and I need to transform it into a document (any type) and export it to PDF. Would you have any tips on the best way to do this? I have Crystal Reports but not sure if this is the correct use case for this.
You can programatically access the document library using the object model or via web services.
If you use the object model. You can use the SPContext object to get the current site/list. From there, you can iterate through the items or, you can use a method on the SPList object to turn it into a dataset which you could then use to generate a PDF using some kind of PDF library (e.g. PDF4NET). If you go this route the best way to roll it out is by packaging it up as a feature in a solution file (.WSP) which you can deploy to your farm. In this case the code would be running in the share point environment. You can get pretty fancy with this and have something like a "Print PDF" menu option in the action menu for all lists.
On the other hand, you could also access the list remotely using the web services. In such a case you could just use this as a data provider for your reporting package.
The PDFsharepoint tool (http://www.pdfsharepoint.com) can be used to generate the PDF output. Nice thing about this tool is that you will "design" or "import" a template using WYSIWYG editor and only map the data. Without mess of coding your own PDF generator. It is not free tool though ...
I have had much success using MS-Access for creating PDF reports from SharePoint lists. You can even embed the report as a view in the list. When you select the view, it opens Access for you. Plus you can join multiple lists and even other data from within access.
Access 2007 will save a report as a PDF or you can use a PDF printer adapter such as PDFCreator.
The easiest way to export SharePoint list to pdf is, first export the list as Excel file. Then save the Excel file as Pdf document.
There is a 3rd Party product that automates this.
i-PMO's "SharePoint Data Miner" can be used to create a RS Report across any list data, then use the their SharePoint site Report Viewer and Document publisher to output the report as a PDF into a Document Library.
Here's my situation:
I'm working in SharePoint 2007 Enterprise, I have a feature that creates a list for me when I deploy and activate it. My usual workflow thus far has been to deploy the solution, activate it, then open up SharePoint Designer to customize the list.
My customizations are typically pretty complex, but I'll keep things simple. In this case, let's just say that I edit AllItems.aspx, convert the data view to an XSLT data view, then I add one column with static text.
I've used a few different tools (SPSource, VSeWSS, SharePoint Manager, OCDExportList, etc) to extract my custom schema.xml and all the default views, but I have yet to have any luck figuring out where the the code for AllItems.aspx is now that it's been customized.
When I extract (using any of the tools above) AllItems.aspx is no different than the default. The <View> element in schema.xml is reduced to one line, for example:
<View DefaultView="TRUE"
MobileView="TRUE"
MobileDefaultView="TRUE"
Type="HTML"
FPModified="TRUE"
DisplayName="All Documents"
Url="Forms/AllItems.aspx"
Level="1"
ContentTypeID="0x" />
I'm really stuck here... I've got no clue what to do. Is it even possible? It would save me a great amount of time (and documentation) if I could include my customizations in my feature.
If there's any other info I'm missing that would help, let me know... thanks!
Latest findings:
I've found out a bit more in the past couple hours. If I save the list as a List Template, then save the .stp file locally as a .cab file I can extract its contents. One of the files is manifest.xml which contains the schema.xml as well as a few other sections.
One of those sections is a <webparts> section that has a <webpart> for each view. Each of those <webpart> elements contains a really long string of characters... no clue what those characters actually represent.
The important thing is that I think any custom views have to actually be Web Parts if deployed as part of a solution... but I'm not positive.
I have faced a similar issue a while ago. I had to create a very customized view and I had to give up the ListFormWebPart completely, and have created my own webpart to render the data.
Generally, when you customize the aspx file in SPDesigner, all your changes will be in the aspx file itself. Open it in SPDesigner and you will see there all the changes you have made. After you have converted to the XSL Data View, the standard ListFormWebPart is replaced by a DataFormWebPart, which doesn't care about the <View> tags specified in the schema.xml; Look in the aspx file itself for the ListFormWebPart.
Why not do all the customizations you want on a list, save the list as a template (it will include the associated AllItems.aspx) and then use that template in your feature to create your list? You could add the extracolumn from code (if it's dynamic and cannot be included in the template), and so on.
Yes you can. Get the Sharepoint manager tool from Codeplex
http://spm.codeplex.com/
Install it on a machine in your farm, it will allow you to browse the farm via a tree view that shows all objects.
Make the list via the Sharepoint GUI, then browse to it w/ SPM.
SPM will allow you to extract the MOSS/WSS created xml that describes the list view (it shows up in the left hand property grid), which you can then plop into your manifest.xml
I have a similar issue and have been doing a lot of research into this. The dataview web part to me is one of the most powerful components in Sharepoint. Unfortunately I have to provide my solution as a .wsp package and that means that I can not just make the site and use Designer on that site. I have taken a 2 step approach in that I used designer to create my dataview and I also edited the code of that dataview to replace the ListID and Guids to ListName and the actual list name. This allows it to be exported and used in any page/site as long as the list name is the same. I am creating a webpart page document library also in my solution and I believe I can add the pages that have the webparts to this library using the onet.xml file. I will try to get the results of that test in as soon as I can do it.