Creating and Using Forms in SharePoint

Transcription

1 Creating and Using Forms in SharePoint Getting started with custom lists... 1 Creating a custom list... 1 Creating a user-friendly list name... 1 Other options for creating custom lists... 2 Building a list by using the Import Spreadsheet command... 2 Using the Custom List in Datasheet View option... 2 Creating a new list from a template... 3 Notes on templates... 3 Customizing your list... 3 Setting item-level list permissions... 3 Requiring content approval... 4 Turning on versioning... 4 Allowing attachments... 5 Understanding required columns... 5 Adding a new column... 5 Available column types... 6 Using the Lookup column type... 7 Inserting default responses... 8 Making fields required... 8 Modifying existing columns... 9 Deleting a column from a list... 9 Reordering the columns in a list... 9 Modifying views of the list... 9 Adding a calculated field...10 Working with list data Filtering your form data...11 Create multiple list items using datasheet view...11 Turning on the Totals row for datasheet view...12 Using the Excel task pane...13 Exporting list data to Excel...13 Creating a linked Excel file...14 Creating an alert to monitor your form...15 Preparing a formatted form link that hides its long URL...16 Editing hyperlinks...17

2 Getting started with custom lists Creating a custom list Click on the Site Actions button on the right side of the page and select Create from the dropdown menu. Click on the Custom List link in the Custom Lists column. On the New page that appears next, give the list a short, URL-friendly name in the Name textbox. You will rename the list in the next step; a short name with no spaces is critical to creating the URL properly. Enter a description if you would like to do so; information entered here appears below the name of the list once you ve finished creating it. In the Navigation area, specify whether or not you want a link to the list in the Quick Launch area. Note: it s generally a good idea to select No initially, so that curious users don t see your list before you re ready for it to be used. When you have made all the necessary choices, click on the Create button. A new page with a blank list appears. It has one field, Title. When you create your own list, three columns are created by default. Title: the only one seen by users Created By: used to keep track of who is making changes to items in the list, but not visible to the end user Modified By: used to keep track of who is making changes to items in the list, but not visible to the end user Creating a user-friendly list name Once you ve completed the initial setup of the list, the first thing you want to do is create a moredescriptive name for your list. Click on the Settings menu and select List Settings. On the Customize page, click on the Title, description and navigation link. Use the Name textbox to give your list a longer, more-detailed name. Make any other necessary changes and then click on the Save button. Creating & Using Online Forms in SharePoint

3 Other options for creating custom lists Building a list by using the Import Spreadsheet command If you already have data stored in an Excel spreadsheet, you may be able to use that as the basis for your SharePoint form. Click on the Site Actions button on the right side of the page and select Create from the dropdown menu. Select Import Spreadsheet from the bottom of the Custom Lists column. The New page appears, where you give your new form a short name and enter a description, if desired. Unlike with a regular form, this time the New page also includes an Import from Spreadsheet section, where you can click on the Browse button and navigate to the file you want to use as the basis for your new form. Once you ve created a path to the spreadsheet, click on the Import button. The Excel spreadsheet opens in a separate window, along with the Import to Windows SharePoint Services list window. In this window, click on the dropdown arrow below Range Type and select Range of Cells. Click on the dropdown arrow below Select Range; the window should collapse so that you can Click here to collapse the window so you can select the correct range of cells. Then click on the window again once you ve selected the cells. move it out of the way and highlight the cells in the Excel spreadsheet you want to include in your new list. Once you ve highlight the correct range of cells, click on the dropdown arrow again so that the Import Window re-expands. Click on the Import button. It may take a few minutes to process, but eventually the Excel window should close and a new list should appear in SharePoint. At this point, you can proceed to modify columns, add additional columns, etc as described in the Customizing your list section of this handout. Using the Custom List in Datasheet View option When you start to create a custom list, you will notice just below the Custom List option another one labeled Custom List in Datasheet View. If you create your list this way, the only difference will be the homepage view of the list defaults automatically to datasheet view, rather than the normal view. Creating & Using Online Forms in SharePoint

4 Creating a new list from a template SharePoint contains templates to help you quickly create several common types of lists: Announcements Tasks Contacts Project Tasks Links Issue Tracking Calendar To build a list based on one of these templates, click on the Site Actions button and select Create from the dropdown menu. Click on the link for the list template you want to use. On the New page, enter a short name for the list; remember that you can change it later to something longer and more descriptive. Enter a description if necessary. In the Navigation area, specify whether or not you want a link to the list in the Quick Launch area. When you have made all the necessary choices, click on the Create button. A new page with the blank list appears; the columns that are part of that template appear on the page. Click on the Settings menu and select List Settings. Click on the Title, description and navigation link. Enter a more-descriptive name and then click on the Save button. Notes on templates There are a couple of settings to pay attention to when creating a list from one of the default templates. notifications: when you create any sort of task list (tasks, project tasks, issue tracking), you have the option to send an to the person to whom a task is assigned or when an item has been changed. The default for this is no, but it would probably be a good idea to turn on notification if you want users to pay attention to their tasks. Attachments: in most of the templates, you have the option to allow or disallow the ability to attach templates to calendar items. This options can be found by clicking on the Advanced Settings link. Customizing your list Setting item-level list permissions If the form you re creating will contain sensitive information, it may be a good idea to modify the default viewing permissions so that people filling out the form can only see their own information, rather than that of everyone else as well (which is the default setting). Click on the Settings menu and select List Settings. On the Customize page, click on the Advanced settings link. In the Item-Level Permissions section, change the Read access question to Only their own. Change the Edit access option to Only their own. Creating & Using Online Forms in SharePoint

5 For maximum confidentiality, set the Search area option to No, so that list items don t show up in any site searches. Click on the OK button to finalize your permissions settings. Requiring content approval Depending on the type of form you are creating, you may want to add the ability for one or more designated persons to approve new items on a list. In SharePoint lingo, this is called content approval. With content approval turned on, any additions or changes to list items must be approved by a designated approver(s). Items remain in a pending state until that person has reviewed them and changed their status to approved, at which point it can be seen by anyone with permission to view the form s contents. To turn on content approval, click on the Settings menu and select List Settings. In the General Settings area of the Customize page, click on the Versioning settings link. In the Content Approval area, select Yes. Click on OK to finalize the change. To specify the content approver(s) for the list, you will need to contact the site owner, who can set up the appropriate permissions. Turning on versioning Versioning allows you to track revisions to list items. When someone edits an existing item in a list, the changes are stored so that prior versions can be restored, if necessary. To turn on this functionality, click on the Settings menu and select List Settings. On the Customize page, click on the Versioning settings link. In the Item Version History area, select Yes under Create a version each time you edit an item in this list?. Once Yes has been selected, you can choose to limit the number of versions to retain and determine how many drafts to keep as well. Note: if you don t specify a number, SharePoint defaults to zero. In the Draft Item Security section, decide if you want to modify the settings for who can see drafts. Once you ve made all necessary changes, click on the OK button to save your changes. Creating & Using Online Forms in SharePoint

6 Allowing attachments When you create a list, you can decide whether or not to allow people to attach files to their list items. The default setting is to allow attachments, which means that when the user hits the New button, an Attach File command appears in the upper-left of the new item. If you don t care about whether or not users can attach files, you don t need to do anything. If you want to turn off the ability to attach files, click on the Settings menu and select List Settings. On the Customize page, click on the Advanced settings link. In the Attachments area, select Disabled under Attachments to list items are and then click on the OK button to finalize your change. Note: To attach a file, click on the Attach File command. When the new page loads, click on the Browse button to navigate to your file; select it and then click on the OK button to finalize the attachment. Understanding required columns Most columns in a list can be deleted, but all lists have at least one column that cannot be removed. When creating a new custom list, the Title column is set by default to show the smart menu (the dropdown menu that appears when you hover over an item), so it can be renamed but not deleted. Adding a new column Use one of the following methods to add a new column: Click on the Settings menu and select List Settings; click on the Create column link below the list of existing columns. On the list s homepage, click on the Settings button and select Create Column. On the Create Column page, give the column a name and choose a type. Once you have chosen a type, the information Choose the information type here found in the Additional Column Settings area may change. Make whatever changes are necessary and then click on the OK button. A few things to watch out for: The information in the Description text box appears after the column, so if you are trying to give directions pay careful attention to where you put it. The choices in this section vary depending on the type selected above. Creating & Using Online Forms in SharePoint

7 If you want the field to be required, be sure to select Yes under Require that this column contain information. Note: a field can be changed from not required to required or vice versa without affecting data already entered into the list. Available column types Column Type Used To Available Options Enter Information Using Single line of text Enter a word or words up to 255 characters Required Max # of characters Default value Single-line textbox Multiple lines of text Choice Enter freeform text, including formatted text Select one or more from static list Required # of lines to display (default is 6) Type of text Allow changes or append Default value Required List of choices Display choices Allow fill-in choices Default value Number Enter a number Required Minimum and maximum values Number of decimals Default value Show as percentage Currency Date and time Lookup Enter a monetary value Enter date and/or time of day Select one list item from a separate list in the site Required Minimum and maximum values Number of decimals Default value Currency format Required Date format Default value Calculated value Required Get information from In this column (specify which column of the list contains the information you want to use) Multiple-line textbox with toolbar to edit text Drop-down list, option buttons, or group of check boxes Single-line textbox Single-line textbox Date textbox with popup calendar and drop-down lists for hours and minutes Select from a dropdown list Yes/No Enter true or false Default value Single check box Person or group Select one or more Textbox with check users names icon Hyperlink or picture Calculated Enter a link to a page or picture Calculate information based Required Allow multiple selections Allow selection of people/groups Choose from all users/sharepoint Group Show field Required Format URL as Formula The data type returned from this Single-line textbox Single-line textbox Creating & Using Online Forms in SharePoint

8 Column Type Used To Available Options Enter Information Using on other columns formula is Icon set This is a customized column type used by the IT Department. For more information about it contact Mike Culp. Business data Albemarle County doesn t use the SharePoint version that allows you to use business data, so this data type can t be selected In addition to the columns you create, SharePoint creates and populates several columns automatically: ID: ensures that each list item is unique. It contains a sequential number that increments by one for each new list item. Created: when that item was created Created By: the network ID of the user who created the item Modified: date of last change(s) to an item Modified By: network ID of person who last changed the item Using the Lookup column type The Lookup column type is a great way to maintain data integrity across your site. For commonly used dropdown list items, such as the names of all locations/departments, you can build and maintain one list with that information, and then point other forms to that list. This saves you from having to retype or cut and paste the same information into a variety of forms. The first step to using the Lookup column successfully is to create a list with a column that contains the information you want to use in another form. In the form where you want to create your lookup column, click on the Settings menu and select List Settings. Click on the Create column link below the list of existing columns. Select Lookup as the column type. In the Additional Column Settings area, click on the dropdown arrow Get information from and Be sure to check this box if you want users to be able to select multiple items. select the name of the list where your information is stored. In the In this column area, click on the dropdown arrow to select the appropriate column containing your list of items. Note: if you want users to be able to choose multiple items from the dropdown, click on the Allow multiple values checkbox. Click on the OK button to finish creating the lookup column. Note: when you click on the New button to create a new list item, you will notice that the lookup field looks very different, depending on whether or not you set it to allow multiple values. Creating & Using A lookup Online column Forms that in SharePoint does not allow users to select multiple values. A lookup column that does allow users to select multiple values.

9 Inserting default responses For some forms, you may already know how a majority of respondents will fill out a certain field. Depending on the field type, you may be able to supply their default answer to save them some typing or clicking. You can establish a default value for the following data types: Single line of text Choice Number Currency Date and time Yes/No The ability to add a default response, if available, will be near the bottom of the list of additional column settings. Open the column s properties page by clicking on the column name. Look in the Additional Column Settings section; if there is a Default value area, enter in the data you want to have as the default. Click on the OK button to finalize your change. Making fields required One of the options available on all data types is the ability to make it required. This setting always appears as one of the first options under Additional Column Settings; by default it is set to No. Please exercise caution when considering whether or not to make fields required one of the easiest ways to cause users to quit filling out your form is to require them to complete every field in a long, complicated form. If you need to make a field required after initial setup, follow these steps. On the list s homepage, click on the Settings menu and select List Settings. In the Columns area, click on the field name. On the Edit page, change the setting for Require that this column contains information from No to Yes. Click on the OK button to save your change. In the Column area of the settings page, note that there in now a checkmark for that field under the Required column. Note: required fields will be starred with a red asterisk when a user is filling out a form. If the user doesn t fill it out, a red error message like the one below appears. The user won t be able to complete the form without entering something in each required field. Creating & Using Online Forms in SharePoint

10 Modifying existing columns Click on the Settings menu and select List Settings. In the Columns area you can see all of the existing columns for that list, not all of which necessarily show up in the main page view. To change any of the non-required columns, click on the column name, and a Change Column page appears. On this page you can change some of the specifications for that column, or click on the Delete button at the bottom to get rid of it. Note: once you ve made your initial type selection (when you created the column originally), your choices for revising the column type are limited to single/multiple lines of text, choice, number, currency, date and time. Once you ve made your changes, click on the OK button. Deleting a column from a list To delete a column from the list, open the column s properties by clicking on its name on the List Settings page. Once the column s properties page has opened, click on the Delete button. A warning window appears; click on the OK button if you re sure you want to delete the column. You will be returned to the List Settings page. Reordering the columns in a list If you need to reorder the columns in your list, click on the Column ordering link below the list of columns on the Customize Settings page. On the Change Field Order page, you will see a list of all your fields with a dropdown box for each indicating its current order. Click on the dropdown box and select a new position for a field. Once you click on the new number, the display on the screen automatically updates to reflect your changes. Continue modifying the field order until you have made all necessary rearrangements, and then click on the OK button to close. You will be returned to the Customize Settings page, where you can use the breadcrumbs at the top to return to the normal view of your list. Modifying views of the list One of the quirks of SharePoint is that even after you change the order of fields as described above, the view on the list s homepage retains the original field order. To avoid confusion, it is a Creating & Using Online Forms in SharePoint

11 good idea to create a new view for that list that reflects the same field order as users see when completing a new list item. Click on the View menu and select Modify this view. In the name area, maintain the name that is assigned (usually AllItems). In the Columns area, use the Position from Left dropdown boxes to reorder the field names. Unfortunately, the display doesn t update automatically to reflect your changes. It may be useful to have the new list item view of your list open in another window to help you keep track of what field goes where. Once you have changed the field order as needed, you can also change the sort order and make any other necessary changes to the view. Click on the OK button to finalize all changes. Adding a calculated field Depending on the kind of information you are collecting in your form, you may want to perform some calculations on the data. To do so, you will use a calculated field. Note: the secret to success with calculated fields is making sure that you ve created all the columns needed to gather the necessary information BEFORE you try to create the calculated field. Click on the Settings menu and select List Settings. Click on the Create column link below the list of existing columns. On the Create Column page, select Calculated as the field type and then give the new field a name. In the Additional Column Settings area, enter a description, if desired, and then begin building your calculation in the Formula area. On the right you will see all the columns created in the list; select a field name from the list and click on the Add to formula command to move it into the formula textbox area. You can also double-click on a column name to move it over. If you need to add an operator for multiplication, division, etc., click into the Formula textbox so that you see your cursor blinking there, and then enter the operator. Creating & Using Online Forms in SharePoint

12 You can also enter additional numbers or text if needed to complete the formula. The type of information created by your new field can be formatted, to a certain extent. In the The data type returned from this formula is area, you can choose a data type for your result. Depending on the type chosen, some additional formatting options will appear. Once you ve made all the necessary choices, click on the OK button to finish creating your new field. Note: Calculated fields do NOT appear when you are entering new information for a list; they only show up on the homepage for that list, along with the other fields. Working with list data Filtering your form data To only see a subset of your form data, you can apply filters. Hover over a column name until you see a dropdown arrow appear; click on the dropdown arrow. You can choose sorting options at the top; after a short wait you should see all the filtering options at the bottom of the dropdown. Select the item upon which you want to filter by clicking on it. Once you have applied a filter to a column, the filter icon appears next to the column name. To remove the filter, click on the dropdown arrow beside the column name and select Clear Filter from [column name here]. Create multiple list items using datasheet view If you need to create a lot of list items, it may be quicker to do so in datasheet view. Open the list. Click on the Actions menu and select Edit in Datasheet. Creating & Using Online Forms in SharePoint

13 The list opens in what looks like an Excel spreadsheet. Each item of information has its own column. Click on the first cell and begin entering information. Use the Tab key or your mouse to move from cell to cell. When you move off of a row, the changes you made are saved automatically. One of the great advantages of the datasheet view is that you can use copy and paste to speed up the data entry process. Once you have entered all of the information currently available, click on the Actions menu and select Show in Standard View to return your list to its normal appearance. Turning on the Totals row for datasheet view Turning on the Totals row functionality allows you to gather some additional information about your list items. Click on the Actions menu and select Totals. The Totals row appears at the bottom of your list; it will default on all numerical fields to show a total for each column. To change the type of formula applied to a cell, or to remove it entirely, select the cell and click on the dropdown arrow to choose something else. Cells that have number or currency as their format type will have a wide range of formulas that can be applied; other data types have a more limited set of options. Options for a number or currency column Options for a text column Options for a date column Creating & Using Online Forms in SharePoint

14 Using the Excel task pane To perform some common Excel operations within SharePoint, you will first need to open the Excel task pane. Click on the Actions menu and select Task Pane. A task pane with Excelrelated operations opens on the right side of the screen. Exporting list data to Excel If you need to share list data with others, or work with it beyond the capabilities of SharePoint, the most efficient way to do so may be to export the results into an Excel workbook. On the list homepage, click on the Actions menu and select Export to spreadsheet from the dropdown menu. If you are using Excel 2007, you may see the following window: Click on the OK button to proceed. A window appears asking if you want to open or save the file; click on the Open button. Note: see information in next section if you want to establish an Excel version that is linked to the original SharePoint location that is, the Excel file is updated whenever the SharePoint file is updated. Excel opens (depending on the size of the list, you may see a progress window tracking the downloading process). An Excel Security Notice window may appear: Since you know where the data is coming from, it is okay to click on the Enable button. If you already had an Excel workbook open, you will see another window asking where you want to place the new data. Choose from a spot in the existing workbook, a new worksheet (in the existing workbook), or a new workbook, and then click on the OK button. Creating & Using Online Forms in SharePoint

15 Once your data has been exported to Excel, it is treated as a table (the new Excel 2007 terminology for what was called a list in Excel 2003), with a blue line around the list data and autofilter dropdown buttons on each column header. A table/list is Excel s version of a database. For most of the data manipulation you re likely to do, it s easiest to leave it formatted as a table. If you find it necessary to convert to a normal range of data, follow these steps: Click on any cell within the list. On the Table Tools Design ribbon, click on the Convert to Range command in the Tools group. A warning appears that you are converting to a normal range; click on the OK button to proceed. Creating a linked Excel file If you are using SharePoint to create a form that people will be filling out on an ongoing basis, you may want your exported file to maintain its link to the original data source. The advantage of this approach is that it allows you to click on a link to open the most-recent list data, rather than going to the list itself and initiating the export process again. On the list homepage, click on the Actions menu and select Export to spreadsheet from the dropdown menu. If you are using Excel 2007, you may see the following window: Click on the OK button to proceed. A window appears asking if you want to open or save the file; click on the Save button. In the Save As window that appears, navigate to the location where you want to save the linked file and give the file a name (the default file name, owssvr, is not very helpful!). Creating & Using Online Forms in SharePoint

16 Note that the file type is Microsoft Office Excel Web Query File. Do not change the file type, because to do so would break the connection between your file and the original data source. Hit the Save button to complete the operation. Open the query file in one of two ways: Navigate to the location where you stored the file and double-click on it. This will automatically open Excel, and initiate the series of dialogue boxes described above in the exporting list data section. Open Excel, select the Open command, change the file type to All Files, and then navigate to the location where the file is stored and double-click on it. Creating an alert to monitor your form Creating an alert to notify you of additions to your form will save you from constantly checking to see if any new data has been entered. On the list homepage, click on the Actions button and select Alert Me from the dropdown menu. The New Alert page that appears allows you to tailor the alert to your preferences. Alert Title: you should be able to leave this alone since it already has the list name there Send Alerts To: defaults to send to the network ID used to log on to that machine; depending on your permissions level you may be able to send the alert to other users by clicking on the Browse button in the right corner below the Users textbox. This is the Browse button. Creating & Using Online Forms in SharePoint

17 Change Type: indicate what type of changes to the list you want to have trigger an alert. Send Alerts for These Changes: add additional criteria to further narrow the type of alert sent. When to Send Alerts: set the frequency of the alerts. Depending on how quickly you want to be notified, the time and date information will become available to you. Once you have specified all the criteria, click on the OK button to create the alert. You will receive a system-generated confirming the creation of the alert. Preparing a formatted form link that hides its long URL One of the drawbacks of SharePoint is that it creates incredibly long and ugly URLs for all items. Rather than sending an with this sort of link: %2Fsptraining%2FLists%2Felblist&Source=https%3A%2F%2Fia%2Ealbemarle%2Eorg%2Flear ning%2fsptraining%2flists%2felblist%2ftest%2easpx You should send a formatted link that looks more like this: Click here to enter your Expense Log information. If you don t already know how to format a hyperlink that s hidden behind some regular text, follow these steps: Open Microsoft Word and type in the text you want to use as your link. Open Internet Explorer and navigate to the location where your form lives. Click on the New button. Move your cursor into the window at the top of the screen where the URL displays. Click once and the entire URL should be highlighted. If not, click and drag to select the URL in its entirety. Use one of these methods to copy the URL: Right-click and select Copy from the shortcut menu. Use the keyboard shortcut: Ctrl + C Now that you have copied the URL into the Windows clipboard, return to Microsoft Word. Click and drag to highlight all of the text you want to use for your link; right-click and select Hyperlink from the shortcut menu. The Insert Hyperlink window appears. Make sure the cursor is in the address box near the bottom of the screen. Paste the URL into the address box using one of these methods: Right-click and select Paste from the shortcut menu Use the keyboard shortcut: Ctrl + V Creating & Using Online Forms in SharePoint

18 You should see that very long URL appear in the address box, and the OK button in the lowerright corner is no longer grayed out. Click on the OK button to finalize the hyperlink. To test your hyperlink: Hold down the CTRL key and hover over the link until your cursor turns into a hand. Click on the link and (after a short wait) your form should open in a new Internet Explorer window. Editing hyperlinks If something is wrong with your hyperlink, the best course of action is to remove it and start all over again, rather than trying to edit the existing link. Click and drag to select all of the linked text. Right-click and select Remove Hyperlink from the shortcut menu. The text should no longer be formatted as a hyperlink. You can now start over! Creating & Using Online Forms in SharePoint