1. SharePoint Custom Field Types Eugene Rosenfeld CTO, Black Blade Associates 2-time SharePoint MVP erosenfeld@blackbladeinc.com www.blackbladeinc.com thingsthatshouldbeeasy.blogspot.com

3. Business Cases

4. Custom Field Types and Alternate WSS Extensibility

5. Custom Field Types Implementation

7. Define atomic data structures with custom data structures

8. Custom data validation

9. Custom rendering

10. Custom property storage and processing

11. These items are “what” custom field types can do

13. Add a field that is based on a custom field type to a list

14. Edit a list field that is based on a custom field type

15. Show data stored in a custom field type instance in the list item display form

16. Show data stored in a custom field type instance in the list item edit form

17. Show data stored in a custom field type instance in the list item new form

18. Show data stored in a custom field type instance in the list view

20. SharePoint treats all field components as one, indivisible entity

21. SharePoint saves and loads all components of a custom field type as a single unit

22. Any custom data structure is fair game, as long as it is serializable as text

23. Why text, even for booleans, numbers, dates, etc?

25. Think of field render controls as custom web parts that are always associated with all instances of the custom field type

26. Custom rendering controls may include:

27. Web custom controls

28. Client controls or HTML

29. JavaScript

30. AJAX

31. Images

33. Custom field type properties are meant to allow users to modify the behavior of a custom field type instance

34. These properties can be used to:

35. Set default values for data stored in instance fields

36. Parameterize custom validation logic

37. Control rendering of field data

38. As with the field data, developers can define custom rendering and validation for custom field type properties

40. Custom Data Validation

41. Custom Field Rendering

43. Address (street, city, state, zip)

44. Full name (first, middle, last)

45. Geo-data (latitude, longitude, elevation)

46. Pointer to external data

47. Primary key to an external database table

48. Parameter values to a Web Service call

50. Email

51. SSN

52. Phone number

53. Product code

54. Guid

55. Related data from multiple controls is consistent

56. Address (street, city, state, zip)

57. Full name (first, middle, last)

58. Data is validated against an external entity

59. Database

60. XML file

62. Chart

63. Map

64. KPI Indicator

65. Anti-bot / anti-OCR image

66. Embedded object

67. Flash

68. Silverlight

69. ActiveX

70. AJAX

71. Iframe

72. VML / SVG

74. Accessing metadata stored on a system external to SharePoint

75. Custom dialog boxes

76. Wizard interfaces

77. Trees and other navigation elements

79. Custom Field Types and Custom Web Parts

80. Custom Field Types and Event Receivers

83. Must be created by a developer

84. Must be defined using managed code (C#, VB.Net, etc)

85. Can complicate matters when writing code that consumes list field values that are custom field types

86. May prevent the use of third party tools or applications if these can not deal with custom field types

87. Use content types when:

88. Definable by content manager through the web UI

90. Both can define custom metadata that alters the rendering of the data

91. Both can perform processing logic on their respective data

93. You want the custom defined rendering to always be associated with the field data

94. You want to define custom rendering that will be used in the listview web part when the field data is shown in the listview

95. You want to define custom rendering for field data that will be used in all instances of the display item, new item, and edit item forms for list items that contain the a field instance

96. Use a web part when:

97. You want to define custom rendering for a group of fields

98. You want to create views that aggregate information from multiple list items

99. You want to give users the ability to drag the custom rendering onto a web part page through a web browser

101. Both can prevent changing list data from being saved to the content database

103. You want the field code to run for every item an item is changed or added to every list with an instance of the field type exists

104. Note: Two field instances of a custom field type means the code runs twice!

105. Use an event receiver when:

106. You want to be able to activate or deactivate the code for all lists within a particular site (i.e. feature)

108. You want the field code to run for every item an item is changed or added to every list with an instance of the field type exists

109. Note: Two field instances of a custom field type means the code runs twice!

110. You want to execute code that finishes running quickly and stores no long-term state information (other than the actual list item field data)

111. Use a workflow when:

112. You want to allow users to be able to associate the code with specific list instances through a web browser

113. You want to give users the option to execute the code automatically or manually

114. Your code needs to run for a long time, over days, weeks, or months

115. You will need to collect information from users involved in the code execution through the browser

117. Custom Field Type Properties

118. Custom Field Data Validation

119. Custom Field Value Classes

121. This is the entry point that the WSS runtime uses to start addressing your custom field type

122. Similar in concept to the webtemp*.xml files for site definitions

123. A class the inherits from the SPFieldclass, more commonly, from another class that inherits from SPField, such as SPFieldMultiColumn

124. The type defined by the FieldTypeClassattribute must implement two constructors: public MyFieldComputed (SPFieldCollection fields, string fieldName) : base(fields, fieldName){} public MyFieldComputed (SPFieldCollection fields, string typeName, string displayName) : base(fields, typeName, displayName){} <FieldType> <Field Name="TypeName">MyComputed</Field> <Field Name="TypeDisplayName">$Resources:core,fldtype_computed;</Field> <Field Name="ParentType"> Computed </Field> <Field Name="FieldTypeClass">MySharePoint.MyFieldComputed</Field> <RenderPattern Name="PreviewDisplayPattern"> <HTML><![CDATA[["]]></HTML><Property Select="DisplayName" HTMLEncode="TRUE"/><HTML>"$Resources:core,fldtypes011;</HTML> </RenderPattern> <RenderPattern Name="PreviewEditPattern"><Property Select="DisplayName" HTMLEncode="TRUE"/></RenderPattern> <RenderPattern Name="PreviewNewPattern"><Property Select="DisplayName" HTMLEncode="TRUE"/></RenderPattern> </FieldType>

126. Each custom property is defined as a Field element

131. Convert field value as represented by managed types into a string

132. Done by overriding the SPField. GetValidatedStringmethod in the custom field class

133. The default implementation calls the ValueClass.ToStringmethod to get the string

134. Convert a string field valueback to a managed type

135. Done by overriding theSPField. GetFieldValuemethod in the custom field class

137. Assemblies that implement the custom field, custom field values, rendering controls must be deployed to the GAC

138. Any assemblies referenced by the custom field assemblies must also reside in the GAC

139. Requires an IIS application pool recycle or an IISRESET in order for changes to take affect.

140. The fldtype*.xml files are reparsed by the IIS worker process

143. Reviewing the business cases that justify creation of custom field types

144. Comparison between custom field types and other WSS extensibility

146. Closeout Questions?

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