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External Lists, Knowledge Base, PowerForms Siverlight

External Lists using Power Forms

Since version 2.4, support for External Lists/External Content Types is available using PowerForms (SharePoint 2010 only). Assuming you have already created your external list, to setup that list to use PowerForms, you should follow the steps below : REGISTER PowerForms The PowerForms registration buttons should be available in the list ribbon, so register PowerForms for […]

August 15, 2017/by Konstantinos

Knowledge Base, PowerForms Siverlight, Scripting And Formulas

Script Examples

The above system columns do not create bound controls during form initialization. You can get the values though through script and set these values inside your custom controls through script : You should add the following script in the “Load Completed” script of the form : Designer > Options > Scripting > Load Completed Code […]

August 15, 2017/by Konstantinos

External Lists, Knowledge Base, PowerForms Siverlight

External Lists using Power Forms

August 15, 2017/by Konstantinos

Knowledge Base, PowerForms Siverlight, Scripting And Formulas

Script Examples

August 15, 2017/by Konstantinos

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External Lists, Knowledge Base, PowerForms Siverlight

External Lists using Power Forms

Since version 2.4, support for External Lists/External Content Types is available using PowerForms (SharePoint 2010 only).

Assuming you have already created your external list, to setup that list to use PowerForms, you should follow the steps below :

REGISTER PowerForms

The PowerForms registration buttons should be available in the list ribbon, so register PowerForms for the New and Edit forms.

DESIGN

As you would normally do with any other form, open the designer and examine/change the default configuration created.

NOTE 1 : In some cases, the default control type may differ from the one you would expect. For example a database field of type “Tinyint” will create a NumberTextBox. If the purpose of the database field is to keep boolean values (1 or 0), just change the control type to CheckBox

NOTE 2 : The identifier of the record is no longer numeric, and is stored in a system field called BdcIdentity (a textbox control will be created for that column in case you want to use it)

Whenever you declare a lookup control based on an external list, SharePoint instead of binding the list to the lookup control, binds the external Data Source.

This has the result that the default form produced by PowerForms will not recognize the binding details and will leave the lookup control as a simple textbox.

What you have to do, is to change the control type to a ComboBox or a LookupPicker and set the properties manually through the control properties in the “Lookup Details” tab.

Type the list url, select the list name and in the value field, select the “BdcIdentity” field which is the actual record identifier.

Visit our blog for a more detailed example on External Lists and lookups on foreign keys.

August 15, 2017/by Konstantinos

Knowledge Base, PowerForms Siverlight, Scripting And Formulas

Script Examples

The above system columns do not create bound controls during form initialization.

You can get the values though through script and set these values inside your custom controls through script :

You should add the following script in the “Load Completed” script of the form : Designer > Options > Scripting > Load Completed

Code

created = dataitem.GetValue(“Created”)
template.GetControl(“c_Created”) .SetValue(created)

modified = dataitem.GetValue(“Modified”)
template.GetControl(“c_Modified”) .SetValue(modified)

# THE RETRIEVED VALUE IS IN THE ID;#TITLE FORMAT
author = dataitem.GetValue(“Author”)
# GET THE ID PART
authorId = dataitem.GetValue_Value(“Author”)
# GET THE TITLE PART
authorName = dataitem.GetValue_Name(“Author”)
template.GetControl(“c_Author”) .SetValue(authorName)

editor = dataitem.GetValue(“Editor”)
template.GetControl(“c_Editor”) .SetValue(editor)

You can enable, disable, show or hide tabs through script.
So in the Load Completed script or in the Value Change event of a control, you can write something like the following :

Code

If template.Functions.UserInGroup(“Admins”) :
template.ShowTab(1)
template.EnableTab(2)
template.HideSection(3)
else :
template.HideTab(1)
template.DisableTab(2)
template.ShowSection(3)

Note : the template.Functions property includes the functions used from formulas too :

Code

string ColumnDescription(string colInternalName)
string ColumnTitle(string colInternalName)
string ColumnType(string colInternalName)
bool ColumnIsRequired(string colInternalName)
string FieldValue(string controlName)
string FieldDisplayValue(string fieldname)
string FieldValue_Value(string controlName)
string FieldValue_Name(string controlName)
string LoginName()
string UserID()
string UserFullName()
bool UserInGroup(string groupName)
bool UserInGroupById(string groupId)
string ListName()
string ListId()
string ListUrl()

There are cases that you need to set the value to 2 controls (from script) with the second being affected by the first one.

For example you have 2 dropdown controls (ComboBoxes, LookupPickers, etc) one for Countries and one for Cities.

The Cities combo is affected by the Countries combo, meaning that when the user selects a Country, the Cities combo is forced to reload its data.

If you try to set the values to both controls using the following script, it should fail for the Cities combo since the time we are setting the value, the combo values are not loaded yet (loading is asynchronous).

Code

# THIS CODE WILL NOT WORK

template.GetControl(“c_Countries”).SetValue(“1;#Country1”)

template.GetControl(“c_Cities”).SetValue(“34;#City34”)

For that reason a new method has been introduced which set the value to a lookup control and the control will set the value as soon as loading is complete.

The method is called : SetValueOnLookupLoaded

The folloing script will work as expected.

Code

template.GetControl(“c_Countries”).SetValue(“1;#Country1”)

template.GetControl(“c_Cities”).SetValueOnLookupLoaded (“34;#City34”)

The ListDataGrid control includes some useful methods which can be used through script:

Code

# PROPERTY THAT RETURNS ALL THE DATA RECORDS OF THE GRID
items = c.InputControl.DataItems
count = items.Count
id = items[0].GetValue(“ID”)

# RELOAD GRID
c.InputControl.SetValue(“”)
# OR
c.InputControl.RefreshData()

# GET A VALUE FROM THE SELECTED RECORD
c.InputControl.GetGridItemValue(“ID”)

# SELECT A ROW BY INDEX
c.InputControl. SelectGridRow(3)

# SELECT A RECORD BY A VALUE EXAMPLE
id = template.GetControl(“c_ID”).GetValue()
grid = template.GetControl(“c_DetailData”)
count = grid.InputControl.DataItems.Count
grid.InputControl.SelectGridItem(None)
for i in range(0, count) :
item = grid.InputControl.DataItems[i]
if item.GetValue(“ID”) == id :
grid.InputControl.SelectGridItem(item)

In order to set the value of a control during form initialization (usually for new records) you can use 3 different methods.

Set a default value for that control
Pass the value in the querystring
Use script

To set the value you must use the LoadCompleted script and add something like the following :

Code

# The “dataitem” variable references the record being displayed

# For new records, it will only contain the default values in ColumnName/Value pairs

# Only for New records set the priority to HIGH

if dataitem.GetValue(“ID”) == “” :

dataitem.SetValue(“Priority”, “High”)

August 15, 2017/by Konstantinos