32 CHAPTER 2 the NeW aNd imProved User exPerieNce In addition, using folders can help scale a document library or list. Say, for example, that you have a particularly large document library, and your organization is using the large list throttling feature to only allow views of 2,000 items at a time. You could create several folders and divide the documents up between the folders, skirting around the 2,000-item per view limit imposed on the site without having to create custom views. In most cases, however, creating views based on metadata still offers more flexibility in terms of browsing through the content. For more information on large list throt- tling see Chapter 3. Creating Views SharePoint 2010 still offers the option to create different views of lists and libraries. Views are simply a way to reorganize and structure the data stored in a SharePoint list or library in meaningful ways. Multiple views can be created on a list or library, and can be used to group, sort, and filter the data. Sorting and filtering data is possible because of the list’s metadata. For example, you could create a view that shows all documents that were last modified by a particular user. Similarly, you could create a view that groups all items in a list that meet the same criteria based on information entered into a column. Types of Views You can create several types of views for any given list: Standard view — This is the most commonly used type of view. It presents the data in the list in the standard row and column format. You choose which columns you would like to dis- play, the order in which they should appear, how they display, and how many items show at once, among other options. You can also group and filter data based on information in each column. Datasheet view — This is similar to the Standard view, but it opens the list in the Datasheet by default. Like the Standard view, you can choose which columns are displayed and in which order. You don’t have quite as many options for formatting the view as with a Standard view, however. Calendar view — This view displays the items in the list in a calendar format. Not all lists can utilize the Calendar view, however. Calendar views must be based on some kind of start- ing time, so a date and time column is necessary to use this view. Gantt view — Along the same lines as the Calendar view, this view also requires a starting time to work. This builds the list into a chart to track events or progress over a period of time. Access view — This opens the Access client to work with the values in the list outside of SharePoint. Custom view in SharePoint Designer — This opens SharePoint Designer 2010 to create cus- tom views that can be modified and styled, such as with conditional formatting. Standard view, with Expanded Recurring Events — This option appears when creating new views based on the Calendar list template and is basically a Standard view that shows all occurrences of a recurring event. Lists and Libraries in SharePoint 2010 33 When creating a view, it is important to consider how you want the data displayed. Probably the most commonly used view type is the Standard view, as it offers many options for configuring the view, such as grouping and filtering the data, as well as a few formatting options for how the data will be displayed. You can see the various view options on the dialog shown in Figure 2-13. FIGURE 213 Creating a Standard View To begin creating a view in a list or library, click the Create View button in the List or Library tab in the Ribbon. This will open the view selection screen. The rest of this section covers the creation of a Standard view. When creating a Standard view, you begin by giving the view a name and specifying whether this new view will be the default view that opens when the list or library is open. A word of caution here: For performance reasons, it is generally best to limit the number of items displayed by the default view of a list to a relatively small number if possible. Otherwise, the server may take a performance hit while rendering all the items in the list every time the list is opened. In the next section on the page you have the option to make this new view public (any user can select the view) or private (it appears only for your use). Next, you will see a list of all the available columns in the list. Select the ones you’d like to display in your view by checking the boxes next to them, and choose the order in which to display them by changing the numbers to the right of the column names. Column order is set from left to right, with number 1 being the first column on the left (see Figure 2-14). Scrolling down the page, the next section enables you to sort the items in the list by a column, and allows for a second level of sorting by another column. For example, suppose you have a list of employees and you have set up two columns, one for Department and another for Personnel. You could sort the view first by the Department column, and then do a second sort on the Personnel column. The list would display all the departments alphabetically, and all the employees of each department alphabetically as well. 34 CHAPTER 2 the NeW aNd imProved User exPerieNce FIGURE 214 The next section of the view creation screen enables you to filter the data in the view, showing only a subset of the list’s information. By default, the view is not filtered. You can set up the view to filter out items based on criteria set in the drop-down menus and fields in this section. To do so, select which column will be used as the filter, and then choose the type of comparison to use from the drop-down menu. Options include “is equal to,” “is not equal to,” “is greater than or equal to,” “contains,” and several others. Finally, in the field below the comparison drop-down, type in the value that should be compared. Basically, you are having SharePoint compare the selected column to the value you have entered, and if it finds items in the list that meet that criterion, it will display only those items. You can even create more than one filtering criterion as well, using an And/Or operator, by selecting either the And or the Or radio buttons, and then filling in the criteria for the second level of filtering. Up to ten columns can be used to filter the data in a list. Filtering can be a very powerful way to view only a subset of the data in the list. The next several sections in the view creation screen are all collapsed, so if you want to set any of the options you need to click the section name to expand it. Here is a rundown of all these collapsed sections and how they affect the view: Inline Editing — You can check the box to allow inline editing on the view. Off by default. Tabular View — This allows multiple item selection in the list. On by default. Group By — This option allows the list items to be sorted into groups. Totals — This will keep a running total of the number of items in a column or perform other calculations, such as the sum of all numbers in a numeric column. Set on a per-column basis. Off by default. Lists and Libraries in SharePoint 2010 35 Styles — Use this option to choose a different style in which to present the list. Most styles result in simple cosmetic differences. Some, such as the Preview Pane and Boxed styles, pres- ent the list in a different format. The Preview Pane style shows a preview of the list item when it is hovered over. The Boxed styles present each list item in a separate box. Some styles work better for displaying different types of data than others, so try a few out to see what style works best for your list. Folders — If you are using folders in the library or list, you can choose whether to show the folders or just show all items in the list or library at once. Item Limit — This value sets the number of items that are displayed at once. If your list has more items than are set to display, you can page through the list to view the remaining items (30 is the default value). The last section on the create view page is new to SharePoint 2010, and that is the capability to adjust some settings for this view when viewing it on a mobile device. You can choose to make the view the default view that displays when the list is opened on a mobile device, as well as choose whether or not the view should even be available for viewing on mobile devices. You can set the number of items to display at once for the mobile view when a page with the list on it is open with a mobile device. The idea is similar to the number of items set in the Item Limit section. Once you have all your settings the way you’d like them, click OK to create your view. The list will display with your newly created view. The view is associated with the list, so whenever the list is open, you can change the list’s view to the custom view you created. You can do this in two ways. When opening a list, the last item in the breadcrumb trail displays the current view’s name. Clicking on the drop-down arrow next to this name will show a list of all views associated with the list (along with options for creating a new view or modifying the view that is currently displaying, and options for configuring the available views for the list). The second way to change the view is to click the List or Library tab in the Ribbon and select the view from the Current View drop-down menu, as shown in Figure 2-15. FIGURE 215 36 CHAPTER 2 the NeW aNd imProved User exPerieNce Modifying a View Custom views and even the preconfi gured views provided out of the box can be modifi ed simply by selecting the view you’d like to work with and clicking the Modify View button on the List or Library tab in the Ribbon. This opens the same screen as clicking the Create View button does, enabling you to change any settings you need. The Modify View button also has a drop-down menu associated with it. Clicking the drop-down provides the additional option to modify the view using SharePoint Designer 2010, which offers additional options for changing the view, such as turning on conditional formatting for the list. For example, a company may use a SharePoint list to keep track of inventory. Modifying this list in SharePoint Designer could enable them to set conditional formatting on the list to highlight a line item when its inventory falls below a set value. See Chapters 22 and 23 for more information on using SharePoint Designer. Creating Other View Types As mentioned earlier, you can create several other types of views for a list. The process is relatively similar to setting up a Standard view, with some differences that will be pointed out in the following sections. Note that below the available view formats is the option to create a new view using an existing view as a starting point. This can be useful if you are creating several similar views with only a few minor differences, such as showing or hid- ing a column or two. Instead of having to set all your options for each version of the view, you can select an existing view from the list, which copies the view’s settings, and then create a new view from it. Datasheet View Creating a Datasheet view is identical to the process of creating a Standard view, but with fewer options. You still select which columns to display and in which order, set any sorting or fi ltering properties, whether you want each column totaled, how folders should be displayed, and how many items should be shown at once. Once these few options are set, you have a Datasheet view. Calendar View Creating a Calendar view uses the same familiar interface but requires you to provide a few differ- ent settings. Calendar views are based on date and time columns, so your list must have a date and time column on which to base the calendar. Just about any list can have a Calendar view created, provided it has a date and time column. For example, suppose you have built a custom list of events for your organization, and you’d like to display it in a Calendar view. You have a column for when the event starts, and another column for when the event ends. In the Time Interval section, choose what date and time column will be used for displaying when events start (the Begin drop-down) and when they end (the End drop-down), as shown in Figure 2-16. Lists and Libraries in SharePoint 2010 37 FIGURE 216 The next section enables you to specify which columns should be displayed as information in the calendar’s various views. Calendar views can be displayed as a week, a month, or a day. In the Month View Title drop-down, select the column you’d like to display as the item’s title in the month view. Similarly, choose which column information should display for the week view and day view. Generally, you’ll want to use the same title for each. Week view and day view also offer the option of specifying a column to use as a subtitle, as the views offer more room for text than a month view. For instance, you could use a column that has location information or a quick description of the event as the subtitle of the event. Next, you can choose whether the default value of the calendar should open to a month view, a week view, or a day view. You can change the view when using the calendar; this simply defines how the calendar is displayed when it is initially opened. The final two sections are identical to creating a standard view. You can filter events from the list so only certain events show up. For example, you could set a filter that shows events for only a certain department or group. This way, all the events are maintained in a single location, but each group can have a view that shows only the events relevant to them. Another nice addition to SharePoint 2010 calendars are calendar overlays. Now you can have more than one calendar’s items displaying in a single calendar view. These items can be from an Outlook calendar stored in Outlook Web Access (OWA) or Exchange, or they can be other SharePoint calendars. When working in a list’s calendar view, click the Calendar tab in the Ribbon, and then click Calendars Overlay. Click the New Calendar link to add in a calendar either from OWA or SharePoint. Choose whether the calendar is a SharePoint calendar or Exchange calendar and fill in the information below as appropriate. Figure 2-17 shows the options for adding a SharePoint calendar as an overlay. Click OK to save the overlay information. You can toggle the overlay on and off by clicking the Calendars Overlay button and checking or clearing the checkbox next to each overlay’s name. Up to ten over- lays can be added per calendar view. 38 CHAPTER 2 the NeW aNd imProved User exPerieNce FIGURE 217 Gantt View A Gantt view is a good way to display a set of information over a period of time. It’s similar to a cal- endar in that it displays events and tasks by date, but displays them in a chart with bars representing the length of time the task or event will take place. Creating a Gantt view is like a hybrid of creating a Calendar view and a Standard view. You still select which columns to display and in which order, and like a Calendar view you still select columns to represent the start and end dates for each item. You have additional options too, such as selecting a column to represent the task’s percentage of completion. The rest of the Gantt view creation process is almost identical to the process for creating a Standard view. Once you create this view it will also be available for selection from the View drop-down. Access View and Custom View in SharePoint Designer The final two options on the create view screen, Access View and Custom View in SharePoint Designer, are available only if these programs are installed on the client machine accessing the site. As you may have guessed, each of these view types is made outside of SharePoint in the application you choose. An Access view will open Access and allow you to work with a list, while selecting a Custom view in SharePoint Designer will open SharePoint Designer, allowing you to add additional view formatting, such as conditional formatting, to the list. Creating views in these two programs is out of the scope of this chapter, but you can refer to Chapter 18 for information on integrating SharePoint with the Office clients, and Chapter 22 to learn about SharePoint Designer 2010. List View Web Parts When a list or library is created in SharePoint, a corresponding Web Part is automatically created and made available for use throughout the site on a page. You’ll learn more about using Web Parts Working with SharePoint Pages 39 in the following section, but for now you should be aware that any library and list created can also be used on just about any page in a site. Users may find it useful to have a Web Part that lists newly uploaded documents or recent announcements directly on the company’s intranet home page. List view Web Parts are also particularly useful in that they are directly tied to the list from which they are created. This also gives users the flexibility to update information on a web page without having to actually edit the content of the page itself — the List view Web Part is all maintained in the list itself. Another benefit of being able to use a List view Web Part is that it offers all the flex- ibility of being able to display any views created for the list, as well as have its own views created specifically for it. For example, you could create a list of events whose default view is a Calendar view when the list is open, and at the same time you can have the same list displayed on a web page, but in a Standard view format. Yet another use for these List view Web Parts is the capability to display more than one instance of the same list on a page, with each instance displaying a different view. Or, you can even display many lists on a page, making it easy to compare information between lists. Perhaps you have a document library with specific views created that display only certain documents at a time. You can have two Web Parts of the document library on a web page, and set each Web Part to a unique view, so each shows different documents. When any documents that meet the criteria in the views are added to or removed from the library, the Web Parts on the web page will automatically reflect the changes. WORKING WITH SHAREPOINT PAGES Now that you know quite a bit about how lists and libraries work in SharePoint, this section describes how the new SharePoint 2010 interface has changed and improved the page-editing experience. When browsing a SharePoint page, you are actually seeing the compilation of many different com- ponents all quickly rendered by the server and served to the browser. The two main components of a SharePoint page are the master page and the page layout. In very basic terms, the master page is the container for the overall site layout. It holds the basic structure of the site, such as the location of the navigation, search, and the Ribbon. It also houses the page layout, which is generally the main body of the page and contains the page’s content. Refer to Chapter 23 for more detailed information on master pages and page layouts. When you are editing a SharePoint page in the browser, you are actually working with the page layout to add content to the site. The page-editing experience in SharePoint 2010 is a little different from that found in previous ver- sions. Again, the Ribbon plays a major part in editing a page — in fact, it’s probably used even more extensively when editing a page than when working with lists and libraries. Fortunately, the Ribbon has been very tightly integrated with the page-editing experience, to the point that many users will likely find that adding content to a SharePoint page is not much different from working in Microsoft Word. Just like the Office clients, the Ribbon is also contextual when working with various items. Different options appear in the Ribbon when working with a picture than when working with a List view Web Part, for instance. Before you can even begin working extensively with the Ribbon, however, you need to first begin to edit the page. . integrating SharePoint with the Office clients, and Chapter 22 to learn about SharePoint Designer 2010. List View Web Parts When a list or library is created in SharePoint, a corresponding Web Part. client to work with the values in the list outside of SharePoint. Custom view in SharePoint Designer — This opens SharePoint Designer 2010 to create cus- tom views that can be modified and. one for Department and another for Personnel. You could sort the view first by the Department column, and then do a second sort on the Personnel column. The list would display all the departments