Customize Form Pages in SharePoint (Screencast)
Author: Laura Rogers, Birmingham, AL
SharePoint 911
Customizing forms in SharePoint lists… yikes. We usually tell people just not to do it, but sometimes it’s inevitable. So, for those rare cases where the forms on a list need to be customized, here is the best practice method.
How do I know this is the best practice, you’re wondering, right? Well, I’ve screwed up MANY a SharePoint form… and not only the form, but the whole list. This is best method that allows you to do custom configuration without messing with the default form pages. This way, when the whole ASPX file blows up and dies an untimely death (and it will), you can just delete it and create another.
The screencast shown below quickly shows not only what the list forms are, but how to go about customizing them yourself. One thing to remember is that this is the step that you want to do LAST on your project. This is because after you’ve created a custom form, then any field name changes or deletions will not apply to this custom form.
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When a new patient arrives in the hospital, there are phases that the patient goes through in their hospital admittance process. In this workshop, you will learn how to create a custom solution for the management of these patients in SharePoint.
Author: Laura Rogers, Birmingham, AL
Laura Rogers is highly visible in the SharePoint community through her contributions on Stump the Panel, regular screencasts and articles on EndUserSharePoint.com, and speaking engagements at SharePoint conferences.
Laura is a regular presenter in the EndUserSharePoint.com live online workshops, including Excel and SharePoint: I didn’t know you could do that!, Health Care Case Management Solutions in SharePoint and Manage Input with Dynamic Feedback Forms in SharePoint
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Hey Laura,
Does your new custom form support Attachments? I remember a year back having real problems with attachments not working with custom forms – in the end I had to use JavaScript to hide some fields….
Thanks
Ben
Is there a good resource you can point me to to go even further with custom forms? For example, I would want to reduce the number of choices in a dropdown field, by filtering the values. Also I’d like to perform some calculations using Java script to the user some interactive display of caluclations. For example, the user might say they are using 20 gallos of gas per week, I would like to show them the CO2 that translates into.
I’m interested to hear any thoughts on differences between making a COPY of a form such as EditForm.aspx and working on that, and Opening EditForm.aspx and using File/Save As to create your custom form, then setting the new form as default Edit Form.
In the past I have used File/Save As and this works OK for me unless I want to save the site as a template. When I do this new sites created from the template often seem to lose the Default Edit Form Setting and revert back to EditForm.aspx.
Also I noticed some weird issues when working with a copy of the Form page as I’ve noted here http://suguk.org/forums/thread/20775.aspx .
Marc Anderson also checked this out and was able to reproduce – anyone else?
Great videos thanks so much.
If you have a minute at some point, I’m trying to setup our project onboarding but I want the business users to see just a few fields, the business analysts to see more and then the project managers and resource managers to see just their part. Any suggestions?
Tony,
The easiest way that I know of, to accomplish something like that, would be to use InfoPath.
I wanted to send the lsit item data in Email. What I have in mind is to place an Email button next to Close button on dispform.aspx page. When the use clicks the button, Outlook opens up and attach or link or included it in the outlook text editor the item’s data. Can you help me or atleast direct me where to start? Much appreciated!
Addis,
You can create a SharePoint Designer workflow to make it send an email, or just use good old SharePoint alerts on the list.
hi, i want to customize a DispForm.aspx for my list. i want to hidden columns but not the column´s contents.
http://blog.acajovenes.com.ar/Lists/Noticias/DispForm.aspx?ID=6&Source=http%3A%2F%2Fblog%2Eacajovenes%2Ecom%2Ear%2FLists%2FNoticias%2FAllItems%2Easpx
oho my english it´s soo bad!
i hope your helps!, thankssss
carina.
Laura,
I followed your instructions and the worked perfectly… the first time. Now, when I’ve created the custom form, and I attempt to “hide” the initial ListFormWebPart – I select Web Part Properties and the window that opens, instead of displaying the Web Part Properties, simply displays the Web Page itself… I’ve gone through a number of things to try and resolve this and have hit a wall. Do you know what is causing this? I’d love to be able to resolve this issue.
Regards,
Simon
Hey Simon,
I have the same problem.
I see the page when i click on web part properties instead of webpart properties.
Do you know the answer?
Hi Laura,
Great content, Thanks.
I want to hide the rows based on the user logged in. How do i accomplish that in Xpath?