Creating relationship between two external list item pickers
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Wednesday, February 29, 2012 8:21 AM
Hello everyone,
i've come accros a problem in implementing quite usefull functionality into external list. The thing is that i have external list, based on a ECT with associations to several other content types so creating 3 external item pickers for inserting/editing data on the list, but the required functionality is as follows: if i choose some value in, lets say, first picker i want the second picker to be immediatelly filtered by the value inserted on the first one (i mean then i choose some value in one picker and then open another, i want it to be filtered by the value entered in the previous picker, sort of a relation and very user friendly). Is there is a way to do this kind of relation using Sharepoint Designer or something else? By the way, we are using Sharepoint Foundation version.
Any help would be appreciated.
All Replies
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Wednesday, February 29, 2012 11:03 PMSo, does really nobody know a solution for my problem? Or haven't i stated it clearly?
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Thursday, March 01, 2012 8:36 AMModerator
Hi ,
DO you mean that you have created three external data column in your list ?
As far as I know there are no OOTB way to add the relationship between the three external data columns to achieve cascaded column .You can use some custom code to set an external data column value .
For more information about updating an external content type field using C# ,you can refer to this site:
Updating External Content Type field through C# code : http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/sharepoint2010programming/thread/490dc593-5a18-47fc-9b66-00567efcc61c/
How to update the external data field in a custom list using
Client Object modal: http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-NZ/sharepoint2010programming/thread/798e1bda-0075-48ab-88ad-46c966431a89
ThanksEntan Ming
TechNet Community Support
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Thursday, March 01, 2012 5:16 PMThanks for your reply, but not exaclty, i've created 3 external data column (3 associations to another content types on an external content type) and i want the filters in those associations to be related. For example, when i choose some value in 2nd picker and then open 3rd picker, i want the filter of that 3rd picker to use the value inserted in the previous (2nd) picker. Have i made it more clearer?
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Monday, March 05, 2012 1:04 AM
I've made a bit of research, and found out that the desired functionality would be achievable if we could make a relation between a simple sharepoint list and a sql database, is such a thing possible? I mean, that then we enter some information in a sharepoint list, that information would be also sent to sql table. I found a way to represent the desired list data via BIDS report, but is it also possible to make some kind of connection between those two (a sharepoint list and a sql table)?
Sorry for being quite a noob, because i'm pretty new to this stuff.
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Monday, March 05, 2012 7:06 AM
Hi,
For you needs you may create a new web part with required functionality. SharePoint is designed to use Business Connectivity Services when talking to external data sources. Making use this technology will bring you many benefits (Business Connectivity Services Benefits).
Please take a look at these articles:
- Business Connectivity Services in SharePoint Server 2010
- Using Business Connectivity Services in SharePoint 2010
- Creating SharePoint 2010 Web Parts That Can Read and Write Data to External Data Sources
- Executing BCS External Content Type Methods in C#
Also I would suggest you to have a look at this artcile and video regarding how to create web parts for SharePoint 2010:
- Create Visual Web Parts for SharePoint 2010
- How Do I: Create Visual Web Parts for SharePoint 2010 in Visual Studio 2010?
Dmitry
Lightning
Tools Check out our SharePoint tools and web parts -
Monday, March 05, 2012 11:14 AM
Thanks for your reply, but as far as I see, these examples shows how to create a form for entering data into sql database, but my desired functionality, is to create a simple list, with default new,edit forms and in those forms i would lke to use lookup columns with cascading dropdows for filtering data, but these examples dont provide that functionality, and by the way, I know quite well, how to create ECT and make external lists using sharepoint designer. By the way 2: we are using Sharepoint Foundation, not Server, so we immediately lose some options because of that...
Actually the main points of the required functionality is to have a list with add, update forms with several columns, but we need those columns to be related, for example, if we choose some id in the 1st column, 2nd column entries should be narrowed (filtered) by that id and i found a tool, which would create cascading dropdown menus, by creating lookup column to list with the data, which should be on those column, but if i do this, we also need to be able to insert the data to sql database, not only have a list. Entering updating and deleting data functionality works perfectly if i do this using BCS and creating an external list with 4 external item pickers (4 associations on an ECT), but then there is no possibility of filtering the column the way we want.. or is it?
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Monday, March 05, 2012 11:29 AM
The links I posted before don't contain the exact code for your requirements. These links can help you to kick off. Because the functionality you need isn't easy and it's not available OOTB. Also I would suggest you too look at these articles which will be helpful for you. They describe Microsoft Business Connectivity Services (BCS) that provides rich and extensible object models that enable you to create custom solutions that build on existing Business Connectivity Services features.
- Microsoft Business Connectivity Services (BCS) provides rich and extensible object models that enable you to create custom solutions that build on existing Business Connectivity Services features.
- Business Connectivity Services Object Model Code Snippets
- Top 15 BCS Object Model Classes
Dmitry
Lightning
Tools Check out our SharePoint tools and web parts- Marked As Answer by Entan MingMicrosoft Contingent Staff, Moderator Friday, March 09, 2012 7:50 AM
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