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Share Pointers: Don’t forget to Lookup!


By Larry Riemann
January 7, 2009 — 
Many times when creating solutions in SharePoint, there is a need to create a list that has a column of defined values. The most common way of creating a column like this is using the Choice column type. However, the Lookup column type can be a better option in some situations.

The Lookup column type allows a list designer who is designing List A to specify that all values from List B will be available as possible values for a column in List A. This pattern allows you to give users the power of adding new options to the column in List A without giving such users Design permissions on List A. Users will only need Contribute access on List A and List B. Using this pattern for list creation is also useful because it allows you to create and store metadata about the options that are stored in List B (after all, it too is a SharePoint list).

In addition, when you setup the column in List A to refer to the data in List B, you can set up a link (for the Title column only) that allows the user to navigate from List A to List B, which can be helpful if you are storing additional metadata in List B.

If you often create list templates, you need to be aware of certain limitations that Lookup columns pose when they are defined in lists that will be made into a template. When you template List A, the GUID of List B is used to make the association. The GUID of List B will not be the same on another site where the template is used even if List B is also made into a template.

As a result, when creating a template of a list that contains a Lookup column, you will need to manually delete and recreate the Lookup column on instances of the list after they have been created, or you will need to manually edit the manifest.xml contained in the .stp file.

Larry Riemann is a consultant with SharePoint 911.


Related Search Term(s): SharePoint


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