Monday, January 15, 2007

The List, Part Deux

Yes, well - we got the list. The real list. Not the plan B we spent all of Friday on. Of course it was at about 6pm Friday and I didn't check my email until yesterday. I emailed my boss to ask what, if any, objectives I had for Tuesday. He told me to run a quick analysis between FY07 (our Plan B list) and the new list. It took about an hour and a half to convert the data since it was not in a comparable format. Apples to oranges in more ways than one.

So I got the list, the data looks good. Going to have about 45 manual lookups but I'll let someone else do that tomorrow.

As for the Sharepoint stuff, he said he'd call me today but I've not heard from him. I'm working on my 'Work-Life Balance' so my overtime allowance is minimal. The editform still isn't working.

EditForm.aspx hell.

Well, I've followed the advice from other bloggers and a microsoft expert that my boss emailed.

The latest scenario:
Created/Uploaded 'The List'. Opened up the folder in sharepoint designer. Did a file - save as. Modified the one with the original file name. Deleted the web part from main and inserted a custom list, edit type. Turned edit to display on some fields (as was part of our original objective.)

Here's the funky part.

For whatever reason, I can't modify the supporting file for editform, newform or displayform. They're greyed out. It looks like it works and then poof - nothing. Right back to the orginal. If I modify the original file (which has a new name - the supporting files carries the link to the new renamed file).. It cancels the whole link and it sends the ID on the editform back to the main site url - not even the subsite. Going back into supporting files shows no file linked at all and it's still greyed out.

So my boss suggested a workaround. We've created a url to the modified editform and linked it thru the data itself with an appended ID to make it dynamic. Works just fine.

So then on Friday - this was all working great - someone working with me on it set a field to required. Except it was a column with no data, radio buttons. The whole thing biffed.

Isn't life wonderful?

Friday, January 12, 2007

2B or not 2B

There is a list coming. No, not just any ordinary list.. a list that defines all lists. A list of the who's and what's that we'll use next year. But when? Is there really anyway to know? Historically, as it's been in marketing for manual cleanup for a week now I'd wager another week. But the business demands action so sooner it shall be.

What shall become of this list?

This list is a pioneer of lists. This list is going into uncharted territory. The undocumented territory of Sharepoint 2007. Why? Because it's never a good idea to send out a spreadsheet and assume what you get back will even remotely assemble the template that was sent out. And because putting broken out spreadsheets back together is a job best reserved for those who either have an unlimited prescription to valium or the patience and attention to detail level of a obsessive compulsive saint.