Niral.Net

Setting field values of a list item in SharePoint is easy.  But when it comes to Multi-Choice fields, the code is a big different.  The following code shows how values can be added to a multi-choice field.

SPFieldMultiChoice choiceField = (SPFieldMultiChoice)myWeb.Fields["choiceFieldName"];

choiceField.Choices.Add("Value");

//Set PushChangesToLists to true if automatic update of List or Content types is required

choiceField.PushChangesToLists = false; 

choiceField.Upate();

One way to read the data from a list or a library is to iterate through it using the items collection of the list or library. But this is not the most efficient way to do it, specially if only few items are needed from this list.

Enter CAML Queries.

The following is the example query

<Where>

  <Eq>

    <FieldRef Name="Title" />

      <Value Type="Text">title</Value>

  </Eq>

</Where>

One thing to note in the CAML Query is that there is <query> start and end tag.  It is required that the query string does not have starting and ending <query> tag, otherwise the SPQuery will always return a empty dataset.

And here is the code:

SPList mylist = web.Lists["MyList"];

SPQuery spQuery = new SPQuery();

spQuery.Query = "" //CAML Query String;

SPListItemCollection queryitems = mylist.GetItems(spQuery);

That is it, as simple as that.

There as a great tool to build CAML Queries at http://www.u2u.info/SharePoint/U2U%20Community%20Tools/Forms/AllItems.aspx called U2U Caml Query Builder.  It is worth checking this tool out.

Sometimes it is necessary to create a Sharepoint Content Type by code, specially when batch creating content types.  The following code snippet shows how a sharepoint content type can be created in C#.  I have also included some not-so-simple field types like choice and lookup.

using (SPSite p_site = new SPSite(urlToSite))

{

    using (SPWeb p_web = p_site.OpenWeb())

    {

        SPContentType CustomContentType = new

                SPContentType(p_web.AvailableContentTypes["ParentContentType"],

                p_web.ContentTypes, "MyContentType");

        // A string Field

        p_web.Fields.Add("NumberColumn", SPFieldType.Number);

        SPFieldLink fLink1 = new SPFieldLink(p_web.Fields["NumberColumn"]);

        CustomContentType.FieldLinks.Add(fLink1);

        // A required number field

        p_web.Fields.Add("StringColumn", SPFieldType.Text, true);

        SPFieldLink fLink2 = new SPFieldLink(p_web.Fields["StringColumn"]);

        CustomContentType.FieldLinks.Add(fLink2);

        //A Choice Field

        p_web.Fields.Add("ChoiceColumn", SPFieldType.Choice, false);

        SPFieldChoice choicefield = (SPFieldChoice)p_web.Fields["ChoiceColumn"];

        // Add a group to the filed

        choicefield.Group = "MyGroup";

        // Add choices

        choicefield.Choices.Add(string.Empty);

        choicefield.Choices.Add("Yes");

        choicefield.Choices.Add("No");

        // Set the default choice

        choicefield.DefaultValue = string.Empty;

        choicefield.Update();

        SPFieldLink fLink3 = new SPFieldLink(choicefield);

        CustomContentType.FieldLinks.Add(fLink3);

        p_web.Fields.Add("LookupColumn", SPFieldType.Lookup, false);

        SPFieldLookup lookupfield = (SPFieldLookup)p_web.Fields["LookupColumn"];

        // Set the remote lookup list

        lookupfield.LookupList = new Guid("guidofremotelist");

        // Set the remote field

        lookupfield.LookupField = "remotefieldname";

        lookupfield.Update();

        SPFieldLink fLink4 = new SPFieldLink(lookupfield);

        CustomContentType.FieldLinks.Add(fLink4);

        CustomContentType.Update();

    }

}

Sharepoint Delay Activity is rounded off to the minute interval that is setup for 'job-workflow' property. This is because the job is responsible for waking up the workflow at the specified time. This job is usually set to run every 5 minutes.

It is easy to change (increase or decrease) this value.

To get the current job interval value:

C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\12\BIN\stsadm -o getproperty -pn job-workflow -url http://siteaddress

Or to change it every minute

C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\12\BIN\stsadm -o setproperty -pn job-immediate-alerts -url http://siteaddress -pv "every 1 minutes between 0 and 59"

Just be careful about this on production server, as it would create extra load if set to 1 minute interval.

Sharepoint is very bad when it comes to showing useful error. Even the log files does not contain information that can be considered useful. This is a big problem specially when programming webpart and other extensions. To change this behavior and get sharepoint to display detailed message Modify your web.config to set the following:

<SafeMode ... CallStack="true" ...>

<customErrors mode="Off" />

<compilation batch="true" debug="true">

All three of the modifications are required for full debug output.

All My Programming Stuff will be on this site.

As the time goes by, I will be updating and adding lot of contents here. One thing that is definitely be here is OpenGL Tutorials. Come back here for more.

SVL - Simple Vector Library

I have created a Dev C++ Devpack for SVL, just for my own convenience. I decided to put it on community site where someone else can also use it.

The DevPak is available here

Welcome to Niral.Net

This is the new Niral.Net. The site is empty as of now, but I will be putting on content as time goes by.

Amazon.com, the store which sells everything - specially highly discounted books. So today I go there to find something romantic to read for a special person on a very special occasion.  I was so in a good mood.

And then it happened.  If found a book Fetish Sex: An Erotic Guide for Couples by some called Violet Blue and Thomas Roche (Thomas Roche...  Hmmm...  Sounds familiar) on pre-order.  And somehow I felt amused.  Very amused.  Further clicks reviled that Violet Blue has written many books, all on the same subject.  She seems very talented.  She also has a blog here.

This is just nice.  Maybe I will buy this one when it comes out.  I think such a book in the middle of all programming books would really make a statement.  Would be nice, wouldn't it be ?