Filename shows as a Required field in a Document Library in Sharepoint 2007.

Question

Ok, so got a stumped scenario.

On a Sharepoint MOSS 2007 site, somebody messed around with the settings of a Document Library. You try and upload multiple documents to the document library and it keeps them as checked out. This was not occurring before. The library settings (versioning settings are set to Yes to check out before editing). I have setup a test site and when enabling this, it does not keep it checked out when uploading multiple docs. Also, content types are not enabled for this Document Library.

I've narrowed it down to a required field association when uploading the document, one document at a time. It sees the filename as a required field. Not sure how this became a required field. I would assume a filename is always required. When I go to the Library Settings, I am unable to see the "file name" collumn to edit it.

I'll take any suggestions on this one.

Answer 1

A File name is not a actual part of the actual SPLIstItem. The SPListItem basically uses the attached SPFile (accessible through SPListItem.File) to "generate" the name. The name column you see in the ALlItems.aspx of a page is a calculated column; open the list in Stramit CAML Viewer to see how the field CAML is built up.

Could you check if it is actually the name that is required or if the person who messed around with the list renamed the "Title" column and made it mandatory. The Title field is usually filled in based on the document title specified in the (Word) document, which is not always filled in.

The "real" name column in a doclib is not editable because it is not an actual part of the list, it belongs to a ListItem's File object.