Multiple Sharepoint Forms

Question

I am trying to split out what I originally wanted in a single form. The downside was that I wanted to keep multiple lists and I found that I could not use a single form with multiple lists.

What I am trying to do is to keep my customer information in a separate list/form so I can re-use it in a different application as well.

What I would like to do is give a picker to pick the customer from a list, and if the customer is not listed to allow the creation of a new one.

What I am wondering is how I can leave the main form, create the new customer, and then return to the main form but with the new customer information passed to the new form as selected. In ASP.NET one of the ways I would do this is through the querystring, but I am not sure if that is doable or preferred in Sharepoint.

Any thoughts or links to tutorials would be great.

Please keep in mind that due to access/security limitations I am trying to do this strictly through the browser and Sharepoint Designer.

Thanks!

Answer 1

With your access limitations, I don't see a solution that will allow the refresh of the original form to get the new data. You may be able to hack in some JQuery stuff to do this, but I just don't see it being an easy/value-for-time thing to do.

You may just have to allow the form user to save the form without customer info and come back to it.

A list view can then highlight forms with no customer info. This all depends on the usage scenario.

Answer 2

You can use the Source query string parameter to get you back to the original form after completing the new customer form. However, unless you add some code (either javascript or server side) you won't get the id of the new customer.

The best option is probably using jquery and the sharepoint web services. It's quite easy if you start with the right scripts, and you can do something like your original plan - make a simple form in a jquery ui popup.

You can also use javascript to manage linking between multiple forms, but you need to be careful about clearing out already entered form data.

Another option would be to edit dispform.aspx and add dataviews for other lists, along with appropriate add buttons, and add javascript to the new customer form that sets the value of a connecting lookup field. However, that tends to require quite a bit of messing about with list guids and other undocumented bits.