AWG Blogs

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Style "Newsletter, no line" and the DVWP

Tried converting (via "convert to XSLT Data View" in Sharepoint Designer 2007) a ListViewWebPart whose style was set to "NewsLetter, no line" and it would not work. The resulting XSLT produced mangled HTML tables. So trying my luck I tried converting the plain Newsletter style using the same approach. This had better results, although, there was an odd table cell on the left, which appeared due the condition ddwrt:GetVar('NumColumns')='1' being true. This is odd, because NumColumns in my list view should be four not one. Further searching the code showed that NumColumns is set as the string length of "Columns," i.e. ddwrt:SetVar('NumColumns', string(string-length(ddwrt:GetVar('Columns')))) and Columns is set to a lone period (dot).
After analyzing the CAML of the LVWP, which should be the basis for the XSLT, I found that in the CAML version, the assignment of Columns is set in a Fields element, which according to the View Schema on MSDN contains a loop over the view fields. This explains the difference: At the end of the loop, Columns is set to "....".
So what I did to patch the XSLT was simply replace the single dot with four dots in the assignment of Columns, which took care of the odd cell, and probably some other anomalies.
There is still some more fixing up to do, e.g.:
- delete the header cell for the field that displays on its own line
- setting column headers to be sortable.
- comment out the ms-alternating class assignment because it's applied unevenly to tr tags, unless you want to convert to "No line" (instructions below)
- explicitely set the class for content cells. Designer sets them incorrectly, e.g. TD Class="{$IDACAVMC}, which is a variable that is based on a List View CAML property, which no longer applies, apparently. So, icon cell would be ms-vb-icon; title cell would be set to ms-vb-title, user would be ms-vb-user; and the text cell on its own row has already been hard coded for us by the Designer ListViewWebPart to DataFormWebPart conversion process.

Now, to transform this into a "Newsletter, no line" style, do the following:
- comment out the TR tag containing the TD class="ms-nlline"
- replace the html encoded starting TR tags (all <xsl:text disable-output-escaping="yes">&lt;tr&gt;</xsl:text>) with actual TR tags; note: must add the closing TR tag, because it was not added during conversion. To find out where to insert the closing TR for the main row, select the row in SPD, backtrack to the last <xsl:choose> that is directly above the two repeated field name comments for the field that will appear on its own line. Place the closing TR above the two field name comments.
- add the conditional ms-alternating attribute to those TR tags.
Note: There should be two xsl:text replacements (the second one being in the vicinity of "ms-nlline" below the @Remarks=) and three conditional (if statements)
ms-alternating attributes added based on a four column table with one field on its own line: two are added to the replaced TRs, and one added to the TR above the removed ms-nlline row.

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Copying Discussion Items to Document Libary

The Requirement is to copy discussion items to another document library.

Code ideas borrowed from: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/468469/how-do-you-upload-a-file-to-a-document-library-in-sharepoint, http://sharepoint.stackexchange.com/questions/20216/iterate-through-discussion-list, http://www.sharepoint-tips.com/2011/11/event-handler-to-archive-items-when.html

Sample code containing the general idea:
using System;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
using System.Web.UI;
using System.Web.UI.WebControls;
using System.Web.UI.WebControls.WebParts;
using System.Xml.Serialization;

using Microsoft.SharePoint;
using Microsoft.SharePoint.WebControls;
using Microsoft.SharePoint.WebPartPages;

namespace WebPart3
{
[Guid("26d38752-d4ce-456e-88f6-496d213627d4")]
public class WebPart3 : System.Web.UI.WebControls.WebParts.WebPart
{
string msg1;
Button saveTitle;
TextBox newTitle;
Label label;

public WebPart3()
{
SPSite site1 = SPContext.Current.Site;

msg1 = "(1.03)" ;

}

public void saveTitle_click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
//this.Title = newTitle.Text;
string tempprint = "";
SPWeb myweb = SPContext.Current.Web;
SPListCollection lists = myweb.Lists;
SPList mylist;
SPListItem sli;
string labeltext = "";
SPList targetList;

try
{

// SPList targetList = lists["Discussion Archive"];
// SPListItem newItem = targetList.Items.Add();

mylist = lists[newTitle.Text];
targetList = lists["Discussion Archive"];
// targetList = lists["DiscussionDocs"];

// SPQuery query = new SPQuery();
//query.RowLimit = 10;
// SPListItemCollection posts = mylist.GetItems(query);

//this. .SaveProperties = true;
try
{
labeltext += " entering foreach";
foreach (SPListItem item in mylist.Folders)
{
SPListItem newItem = targetList.Items.Add();
//copy the list item to the target
foreach (SPField f in item.Fields)
{
if (!f.ReadOnlyField && newItem.Fields.ContainsField(f.InternalName))
newItem[newItem.Fields.GetFieldByInternalName(f.InternalName).Id] = item[f.Id];
}
//copy "special" read only fields that can be written to
newItem["Created By"] = item["Created By"];
newItem["Modified By"] = item["Modified By"];
newItem["Modified"] = item["Modified"];
newItem["Created"] = item["Created"];
newItem.SystemUpdate(false);
CopyAttachments(item, newItem);


labeltext += item["Body"] + ",";
sli = item;
tempprint = (string)sli["Created By"];
}
labeltext += " existing foreach";
try
{
this.Title = "yo" + mylist.ItemCount + " by: " + tempprint;

}
catch (Exception ex)
{
this.Title = "Error3: " + ex.Message;
label.Text = ex.StackTrace;

}
}
catch (Exception ex)
{

this.Title = "Error2: " + ex.Message;
label.Text = ex.StackTrace;
}
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
this.Title = "Error: " + ex.Message;
label.Text = ex.StackTrace;
}
label.Text += labeltext + "the end";
// this.SetPersonalizationDirty();
}

private void CopyAttachments(SPListItem sourceItem, SPListItem targetItem)
{
SPWeb web = SPContext.Current.Web;

SPFolder myLibrary = web.Folders["DiscussionDocs"];
Boolean replaceExistingFiles = true;

try
{
//get the folder with the attachments for the source item
SPFolder sourceItemAttachmentsFolder = sourceItem.Web.Folders["Lists"].SubFolders[sourceItem.ParentList.Title]
.SubFolders["Attachments"].SubFolders[sourceItem.ID.ToString()];
foreach (SPFile file in sourceItemAttachmentsFolder.Files)
{
byte[] binFile = file.OpenBinary();
targetItem.Attachments.AddNow(file.Name, binFile);
this.label.Text += file.Name + " attached to target ";
SPFile spfile = myLibrary.Files.Add(file.Name, binFile, replaceExistingFiles);
SPListItem newfileitem = spfile.Item;
newfileitem["Created"] = sourceItem["Created"];
newfileitem["Modified By"] = sourceItem["Modified By"];
newfileitem["Modified"] = sourceItem["Modified"];
newfileitem["Created By"] = sourceItem["Created By"];
newfileitem["Title"] = sourceItem["Title"];
//newfileitem.SystemUpdate(false);
newfileitem.Update();

myLibrary.Update();
}
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
this.Title = "Error: " + ex.Message;
}
}

protected override void CreateChildControls()
{
base.CreateChildControls();

// TODO: add custom rendering code here.
label = new Label();
label.Text = "Hello World" + msg1;
this.Controls.Add(label);

//Create text box
newTitle = new TextBox();
newTitle.Text = "myxmdiscuss";
this.Controls.Add(newTitle);

//Create Button
saveTitle = new Button();
saveTitle.Text = "Set Web Partt Title";
saveTitle.Click += new EventHandler(this.saveTitle_click);
Controls.Add(saveTitle);
}
}
}


And here's the Powershell:


$error.clear()

[System.reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("Microsoft.SharePoint")

$site = new-object Microsoft.SharePoint.SPSite("https://site")
$web = $site.OpenWeb()

$lists = $web.Lists;

$lista = $lists['Team Discussion']
$listb = $web.Folders['MyDocLib']

foreach ($item in $lista.Folders)
{
Try
{
$sourceItemAttachmentsFolder = $item.Web.Folders["Lists"].SubFolders[$item.ParentList.Title].SubFolders["Attachments"].SubFolders[$item.ID.ToString()];
foreach ($file in $sourceItemAttachmentsFolder.Files)
{
$binfile = $file.OpenBinary()
"Attached to target " + $item["Title"]
$spfile = $listb.Files.Add($file.Name, $binfile, 1)
$newfileitem = $spfile.Item
foreach ($f in $item.Fields)
{
if (!$f.ReadOnlyField -and $newfileitem.Fields.ContainsField($f.InternalName))
{
$newfileitem[$newfileitem.Fields.GetFieldByInternalName($f.InternalName).Id] = $item[$f.Id];
}

$newfileitem["Created By"] = $item["Created By"];

$newfileitem["Created"] = $item["Created"];

$newfileitem["Modified By"] = $item["Modified By"];

$newfileitem["Modified"] = $item["Modified"];

$newfileitem.Update();

}
}

}
Catch
{

"caught a system exception"
}

$error

}

Note: Minimum permissions to execute the ps1 is local server administrator + Site owner.

Friday, December 9, 2011

~SiteCollection in ParameterBinding

Here's another workaround. You would like to assign the ~SiteCollection token value (or any token) to a ParameterBinding so that your XSLT can see that value and use it say in image paths, etc.

After finding a tip <a href="http://stackoverflow.com/questions/609943/dynamically-set-the-defaultvalue-of-a-parameterbinding-in-a-dataformwebpart">here</a>, the solution may be as follows.

- Put a hidden html input control with a runat=server attribute in your content place holder, e.g. <input id="siteColVal">" type=hidden name=siteColVal runat="server">
(Note, an asp:TextBox control did not work for me).
- Add a parameterbinding like: <parameterbinding location="Control(siteColVal, value)" name="SiteColRoot" defaultvalue="">
- then of course a <?xml:namespace prefix = xsl /><xsl:param name="SiteColRoot">theooroot</xsl:param> in your XSLT

Worked for me!

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Sort DataFormWebPart by "Order" Field

The only way I know to do this SPD 2007 is through some manual steps. BTW, the "order" field is determined by the action taken by user, which is made available via the "Allow users to order items in this view?" option for the view.

There are actually a couple of ways:

- Drag your list from the Web Part List from the Web Parts Task pane onto a web part zone.
- Then right click on web part and "Convert to XSLT Data View" which will convert the ListViewWebPart to DataFormWebPart with all the desired attributes (such as sorting) preset.

Alternately, if you created the web part as a Custom List Form from the start (i.e. with XSLT embedded), then you can edit the CAML manually.

- First open Common Data View Tasks and set it to sort by a common field such as ID.
- Then edit the SPDataSource SelectCommand, by changing "<OrderBy><FieldRef Name="ID"" to "<OrderBy><FieldRef Name="Order""