Character Limit using JQuery in SharePoint

In this post, we will learn how to implement Character Count (here in this example, maximum allowed 2000 characters) using JQuery in SharePoint.

Prerequisite:
1. Create a SharePoint List with a column named "Comments" - data type Multi line text with plain text as the option selected
2. SharePoint Designer 2013 for editing the SharePoint list with span and to identify the ID of the field created

Solution:
1. Open the SP site in SharePoint designer, navigate to the list -> Create a custom new form -> Edit it.
To know how to create a custom new form in SharePoint Designer, read this article.
2. Below is the HTML code for my "Comments field in SharePoint Designer:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

<tr> <td width="190px" valign="top" class="ms-formlabel"> <H3 class="ms-standardheader"> <nobr>Enter your comment:</nobr> </H3> </td> <td valign="top" class="ms-formbody" style="background-color:#ffffff; width:400px;"> <SharePoint:FormField runat="server" id="ff6{$Pos}" ControlMode="New" FieldName="Comments" __designer:bind="{ddwrt:DataBind('i',concat('ff6',$Pos),'Value','ValueChanged','ID',ddwrt:EscapeDelims(string(@ID)),'@Comments')}" /> <SharePoint:FieldDescription runat="server" id="ff6description{$Pos}" FieldName="Comments" ControlMode="New" /> <span title="2000" id="commentsCount">2000</span><span> Characters Left</span> </td> </tr>

Make a note that I have added a Span tag below the SharePoint control to display the Characters. Also, we have declared it as 2000 characters for this example.

Now, add a script tag or a separate file (then refer it inline) -> add the below code in it save it:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

$(document).ready(function() { //Character count for comments text $("textarea[name*='ff6']").keyup(function () { characterCount('ff6', '#commentsCount'); }); }); //Character count for multiline text function characterCount(controlID,spanId) { var controlVal = $("textarea[name*='" + controlID + "']"); var cmax = $(spanId).attr("title"); if(controlVal.val().length >= cmax) { controlVal.val(controlVal.val().substr(0, cmax)); } $(spanId).text(cmax - controlVal.val().length); }

In this above JS, "ff6" is the ID of the SharePoint control.

Save the form and JS, try typing inside the control you can see the characters been automatically counted and decreases as you type. Cool Isn't it? 😉
Please share this post by clicking the below social buttons if this helps you😎
Happy coding! 

Read More

Accessing Radio Buttons using JQuery in SharePoint Online

I couldn't find anything obvious for accessing SharePoint Radio Buttons so chucked this together, hopefully useful for someone else :)

Note: The below code/solution is applicable to accessing radio button in a custom SharePoint List forms. To know how to create a custom form in SharePoint Online, read this article 

"Get Current Logged in User & Manager using REST API in SharePoint Online". 

Accessing Radio Button control in SharePoint is little tricky than accessing the radio buttons in HTML. The reason being, radio buttons are rendered as a table instead of a single control as shown below (radio button and it's preview in developer tools - Chrome):

So, each radio button is rendered inside SPAN tag in a table. To access the normal SharePoint controls, we will use either ID or title property but for Radio Buttons it is little complicated.

1. The actual radio button control is in "input" tag 

2. The values (Example here: Yes, No) are inside "label" tag 

3. But each control (Yes & No) are represented by ID which is generated by SharePoint 

4. If you keenly look at the ID, there is "ff41" which is the ID of the control generated randomly by SharePoint.

Now, open the designer, add an ID to the TD of the Radio button so that we can query it easily using JSOM as shown below:

1 2 3 4

//Radio button change event $("td[id='tdApproved'] input:radio[name*='ff4']").change(function(){ // do something });

1 2 3

//Clear the values of radio button - reset the values of radio button $("td[id='tdApproved'] input[name*='ff4']")[0].checked = false; $("td[id='tdApproved'] input[name*='ff4']")[1].checked = false;

1 2 3 4

//Checking the value of radio button if($("td[id='tdApproved'] input:radio[name*='ff4']:checked + label").text() != 'Yes'){ // do something }

1 2	//Focus Radio button 1st element in control $("td[id='tdApproved'] input:radio[name*='ff4']:eq(0)").focus();

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

//Align all Radio Buttons in the page horizontally function HorizontalAlignChoices() { var objSpans = $(".ms-RadioText"); objSpans.each(function () { if ($(this).is("span")) { $(this).closest("tr").css({ "float": "left" }); } }); }

*** "tdApproved" is the ID of the SharePoint Radio Button Control, "ff4" is the unique ID of the SharePoint Control in your List form. Change this ID according to your form to get the exact result.

Please share your valuable comments which will make me write more and also share this post using the below social buttons to others. 

Happy Share(ing)Point!   

Update: 21/06/2017

Read this article, to know how to access Checkbox in SharePoint using JQuery 😎

Read More

Get Current Logged in User & Manager using REST API in SharePoint Online

Scenario: 
Environment: SharePoint Online 
Approach:      Populating Current logged in user in People Picker. Also populating user's Manager automatically using REST API and SP Services.

Solution:

1. Create an SharePoint custom list "Learning" (in my case).

2. Create two columns with the following names and data types shown below:

         Internal Name                      Title                                                   Type

CurrentLoggedinUser           Current Logged in User Person or Group (People Only)

Manager                              Manager Person or Group (People Only

3. When you try adding a new item in the list, it should look like:

Here the two people pickers are SP 2013 people picker type where it will show the matching users while typing few words automatically.

4. Now open the list in SharePoint Designer, Create a New Custom Form and make it as default as shown below in the screenshots:

Open the new custom form in Advanced Mode, where you can edit the List Form. Try viewing the page by clicking F5 or Preview in Browser icon in top left corner in the designer.

5. You can see the difference in People Picker. When you create a custom list form, the default forms are automatically changed to SharePoint old type. (for more details read this blog).

6. Now add the ID for both fields as shown below. Also, add the reference the JQuery in the form 

7. Now add the ID's for the two people picker values so that it will be useful for querying the SharePoint controls as shown below. 

 8. Add a JS file ("Learning.js") in the Site Assets Library and refer it in the new form. Add the below code in the newly created "Learning.js" file.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47

$(document).ready(function() { var userAccountName= $().SPServices.SPGetCurrentUser(); //Set current logged in user and manager name in people picker LoadPeoplePickerDetails(); //Show the form fields on document.ready() $("#onetIDListForm").show(); }); /****************** All function defintions starts here********************************/ //Function to set people picker values function LoadPeoplePickerDetails() { var url=_spPageContextInfo.webAbsoluteUrl + "/_api/SP.UserProfiles.PeopleManager/GetMyProperties" getReqData(url,function(data){ try { //Get properties from user profile Json response var userDisplayName = data.d.DisplayName; var AccountName = data.d.AccountName; $("#tdCurrentUser [id$='upLevelDiv']").html(AccountName); $("#tdCurrentUser [id$='checkNames']").click(); var Manager = data.d.ExtendedManagers.results; $("#tdManager [id$='upLevelDiv']").html(Manager[Manager.length-1]); $("#tdManager [id$='checkNames']").click(); } catch(err){ } }, function(data){ //alert("some error occured in getting current User info"); }); } function getReqData(reqUrl,success, failure) { $.ajax({ url: reqUrl, method: "GET", headers: { "Accept": "application/json; odata=verbose" }, success: function (data) { success(data); }, error: function (data) { failure(data); } }); }

9. Save the JS and the custom new form as well.
10. Now, try adding a new item. The current logged in user and the current logged in user's manager name will be automatically set in the people picker as shown below.

11. It is basically, on document.ready(), REST API call is made and it populates the data on the form load.

Note: 
1. The people picker for Manager field is loaded after getting the value from current logged in user field. Hence if you have to change the user, the manager value is set during document.ready(). If you want to change the user and set the manager field, then write a method for setting value of manger and call it on value set in first people picker
2. I have implemented only in  Custom New Form only.

For ease of use, I have shared the js and the List Template. Please use this link to download.

In the above tutorial, you have learned how to create a Custom Form in SharePoint Online, make REST API calls and also set the values to the People Picker in the list form.

Please share your valuable comments which will make me write more and also share this post using the below social buttons to others. Happy Share(ing)Point!    

Read More

Deploying List Workflow in SharePoint Online

Recently, I had a query from one of my readers about migrating the Workflows from development to production and the environment is SharePoint Online.

Scenario:

Suppose that you have created a List Workflow in development site in SP Online and now it is ready to move to Production in SP Online, you can follow the following steps to deploy the workflow. This method is easy, cheaper since no third party tool (licensing cost) is used for migration/deployment.

Solution:

1. Take the backup of SP list with or with out content (depending upon the requirement). List backup will be in .stp format.

2. Download the List Template from List Templates (Site Settings -> Web Designer Galleries -> List Templates).

3. Upload the List Template in the PROD site in the same path (Site Settings -> Web Designer Galleries -> List Templates).

4. Create a new app from "Add an App" and create the list with the same Internal Name (impt: the internal name of the list created in the PROD should be the same as DEV environment)

5. Open the DEV site SP designer, point to the List Workflow -> Click save as template from ribbon (in Manage section) - This will save your WF as web part solution (.wsp) in the Site Assets Library. 

6. Download the WSP and upload it to the PROD site solutions: Site Settings ->  Web Designer Galleries -> Solutions -> Upload & Activate the solution

7. Now navigate to the Site Settings -> Site Actions -> Manage Site Features -> Activate the workflow (it should be in the name Workflow Template "name of the workflow" from web template "name of the site")

Note: If you do not the create the list with the same internal name in the PROD, you will get an error while activating the feature.

8. Now, navigate to the list -> list settings -> workflow settings -> you should see the Workflow associated with the list already. If you face any issues, remove the associated workflow, add it again either from SP designer or from SharePoint UI itself.

Hope this helps you in deploying the workflow from development site to production site in SharePoint Online.

If this useful to you, share this post using the buttons below / share your comments which will make me write more!  😊

Read More