SharePoint: Extending the DVWP – Part 15: User-Managed Dropdowns with Site Columns

Author: Jim Bob Howard

Why Site Columns for Dropdowns?

Marc Anderson calls site columns a single version of truth to be used in many places. When used in conjunction with a lookup into a table at the root of a site, a site column can be used throughout a site collection and yet always reference the single version of truth.

1. Create a list
   Create a simple list named for the site column you want to create. It only needs a Title column.
1. At your site root (i.e. http://site or http://site/subsite), click on Site Actions > Create



2. Click on Custom List under Custom Lists



3. Give your list a Name



4. Click the Create button
5. Now that it’s created, you’ll need to give at least Contribute permission to whoever is going to maintain this list. And you’ll need to give Read permission to everyone who will be using a list that accesses this data.
2. Create a site column
   Create a site column that is a lookup into the list you just created
1. At your site root, click Site Actions > Site Settings



2. Click on Site columns under Galleries



3. Click Create, located just above the Site Column row header



4. Give it the same name as your list



5. Check Lookup (information already on this site)
6. First time through, if you don’t have a Custom Columns group, I recommend you create one by checking New group and naming it. On following site column creations, you will be able to choose your new group from the Existing group list.
7. Enter an optional Description
8. I prefer to check No under Require that this column contains information; I can control its requiredness when I add this site column to my actual list.
9. Under Get information from, choose the list you just created
10. Under In this column, choose Title
11. Click the OK button
3. Add it to your list
   For each dropdown, add a site column to your list
1. From your list, click Settings -> List Settings


Settings -> List Settings

2. Under Columns, click Add from existing site columns



3. If you created a custom group for your site columns, choose it



4. Click all of the columns you want to add (Ctrl-click to select more than one)


Choose Columns from Site Columns

5. Click Add > to add all of them


Add Columns from Site Columns

6. Choose options appropriate for your project and click OK

Now your dropdown data is maintained in one place and your list will always have the most up-to-date list.

Next time: Now that the site columns are in place, we’ll create relationship lists which will allow us to cascade (or limit) one dropdown based on the choice in another (e.g. if Country is set to USA, limit State to states within the US only).

Author: Jim Bob Howard

Jim Bob Howard is a web designer / webmaster in the healthcare industry. He has been working with SharePoint since March 2009 and enjoys sharing what he has learned. He is a moderator and frequent contributor to Stump the Panel, and answers SharePoint questions on Twitter (@jbhoward) and via email ([email protected]).