I think they are a great example of what can be done on top of SharePoint without writing code.
A little time ago I was asked what I thought was an easy question. A customer using the call center template wanted to change the values in the status drop down.
Being SharePoint I figured it would be dead easy so went to the column settings for the content type clicked on the status field and found there was just a field name and nothing at all that could be changed.
So then I started to wonder where these field values were coming from !
Here's how I finally worked it out.
I started my investigation in the site template definition file at C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\TEMPLATE\SiteTemplates\callcenter\xml\onet.xml
In there it lists a number of features towards thet bottom which pointed me in the direction of where the list was defined (btw the commenting in this file is great, very good idea if your doing your own ).
I then navigated to the template for the list which was at C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\TEMPLATE\FEATURES\CallCenterServiceRequestsList\ListTemplates\ServiceRequest.xml
The XML in there said that the list was called service request
So then I navigated to the XML file for the service request list at
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\TEMPLATE\FEATURES\CallCenterServiceRequestsList\servicerequest\schema.xml
The status field was down in the page and each of the options looked like this
What that meant is that they use a resources file.
Resource files are stored here C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\Resources
So I opened the English on for the help desk template htlpdsk.resx and finally in there I found the status fields.
I changed the field name, restarted IIS and the changes appeared on the site :)
Only problem is as they are in the resx file that means that this change would take effect for any site based on the call center or help desk template.
8 comments:
Thanks, I found this most helpful. I had spent a couple of days trying to figure this out before coming across your article! You don't by any chance happen to know how to include the status field in the 'new item' form?
This is great info...Any idea on how to add an option?
Changes i complete in this manner don't seem to appear on the existing site even after completing an IIS reset/restart any ideas?
hi Elaine, let me first say that your post was extremely helpful... I followed what you did and made a change which fixed a problem I was having on a site.. however I had two sites based on the help desk template and the second sites content type "Service Request" somehow became unghosted... So the changes I make do not get reflected in this site... in fact I cannot figure out a way to change it now... i have searched the content DB but cannot find where it is stored now it must be in a database somewhere yikes
Excellent post! Thank you:)
Wow! I can't tell you how long I looked for this information. Okay, maybe about a half a day, but thanks bunches!
Wow!! i ve been gotta answered
Great sharepoint solution
Don't forget there are different strings per locale, so if you are running language packs make sure you change the appropriate strings for your language. Also if your site is not showing changes it may be customised, try resetting to site definition on a test box and see if that works.
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