Choice Fields in SharePoint 2010 Programmatically Using VS 2010

Introduction

Today, in this article let's play around with one of the interesting and most useful concepts in SharePoint 2010.

Question: What is a list?

In simple terms "When you create a custom list, a new empty list is created with just two columns - Title and Attachments. The list contains a single default view. Once you create the list, you can add more columns, views, and so on".

I think we are now good to go and implement this wonderful concept.

Step 1: Create a custom list and modify the view.

Step 2: Open SharePoint 2010 Central Administration and navigate to a specific site.

Step 3: Open up Visual Studio 2010 and create an "Empty SharePoint project":

choicefield1.gif

Step 4: Select "Deploy as a farm solution" and click on the "Finish" button. Now an empty project will be created:

choicefield2.gif

Step 5: Add a new visual webpart for that project.

choicefield3.gif

Step 6: The complete code of visualwebpart1usercontrol.ascx looks like this:

<%@ Assembly Name="$SharePoint.Project.AssemblyFullName$" %>
<%@ Assembly Name="Microsoft.Web.CommandUI, Version=14.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c" %>

<%@ Register TagPrefix="SharePoint" Namespace="Microsoft.SharePoint.WebControls"Assembly="Microsoft.SharePoint, Version=14.0.0.0, Culture=neutral,
PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c"
%>
<%@ Register TagPrefix="Utilities" Namespace="Microsoft.SharePoint.Utilities" Assembly="Microsoft.SharePoint, Version=14.0.0.0, Culture=neutral,
PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c"
%>
<%@ Register TagPrefix="asp" Namespace="System.Web.UI" Assembly="System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35"
%>
<%@ Import Namespace="Microsoft.SharePoint" %>
<%@ Register TagPrefix="WebPartPages" Namespace="Microsoft.SharePoint.WebPartPages"
    Assembly="Microsoft.SharePoint, Version=14.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c" %>
<%@  Control Language="C#" AutoEventWireup="true" CodeBehind="ChoiceWebPartUserControl.ascx.cs"
    Inherits="ChoiceSharePoint.ChoiceWebPart.ChoiceWebPartUserControl" %>
<div style="text-align: center;">
        <table>
            <tr>
                <td colspan="2">
                    <asp:Label ID="Label1" runat="server" Text="List Choice via Object Modelling - SharePoint 2010"
                        Font-Bold="true" Font-Size="Large" Font-Names="Verdana" ForeColor="Maroon"></asp:Label>
                </td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
                <td>
                    <asp:Label ID="Label2" runat="server" Text="Please Enter First Column Name" Font-Size="Large"
                        Font-Names="Verdana" Font-Italic="true"></asp:Label>
                </td>
                <td>
                    <asp:TextBox ID="TextBox1" runat="server"></asp:TextBox>
                </td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
                <td>
                    <asp:Label ID="Label3" runat="server" Text="Please Enter Second Column Name" Font-Size="Large"
                        Font-Names="Verdana" Font-Italic="true"></asp:Label>
                </td>
                <td>
                    <asp:TextBox ID="TextBox2" runat="server"></asp:TextBox>
                </td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
                <td>
                    <asp:Label ID="Label4" runat="server" Text="Please Enter Third Choice Column Name"
                        Font-Size="Large" Font-Names="Verdana" Font-Italic="true"></asp:Label>
                </td>
                <td>
                    <asp:TextBox ID="TextBox3" runat="server"></asp:TextBox>
                </td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
                <td colspan="2">
                    <br />
                    <br />
                    <fieldset>
                        <legend style="font-family: Verdana; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic">Enter ChoiceList
                            Items</legend
>
                        <br />
                        <div>
                            <center>
                                <table>
                                    <tr>
                                        <td>
                                            <asp:Label ID="Label6" runat="server" Text="Please Enter First List Item Name " Font-Size="Large"
                                                Font-Names="Verdana" Font-Italic="true"></asp:Label>
                                        </td>
                                        <td style="text-align: right">
                                            <asp:TextBox ID="TextBox4" runat="server"></asp:TextBox>
                                        </td>
                                    </tr>
                                    <tr>
                                        <td>
                                            <asp:Label ID="Label7" runat="server" Text="Please Enter Second List Item Name "
                                                Font-Size="Large" Font-Names="Verdana" Font-Italic="true"></asp:Label>
                                        </td>
                                        <td style="text-align: right">

                                            <asp:TextBox ID="TextBox5" runat="server"></asp:TextBox>
                                        </td>
                                    </tr>
                                </table>
                                <br />
                                <br />
                            </center>
                        </div>
                    </fieldset>
                </td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
                <td colspan="2">
                    <asp:Button ID="Button2" runat="server" Text="Create List Fields" Font-Names="Verdana"
                        Width="166px" BackColor="Orange" Font-Bold="True" OnClick="Button2_Click" />
                </td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
                <td colspan="2">
                    <asp:Label ID="Label5" runat="server" Font-Bold="true" Font-Names="Verdana" ForeColor="Maroon"></asp:Label>
                </td>
            </tr>
        </table>
    </div>

Step 7: The complete code of visualwebpart1usercontrol.ascx.cs looks like this:

using System;
using System.Web.UI;
using System.Web.UI.WebControls;
using System.Web.UI.WebControls.WebParts;
using Microsoft.SharePoint;
using WebApplication1; 

namespace DateandTimeList.DateandTime
{
    public partial class ChoiceWebPartUserControl : UserControl
    {
        protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            TextBox1.Focus();
        }
        protected void Button2_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(TextBox1.Text) || string.IsNullOrEmpty
                (TextBox2.Text) ||string.IsNullOrEmpty(TextBox3.Text) || string.IsNullOrEmpty
                (TextBox4.Text) ||string.IsNullOrEmpty(TextBox5.Text))
            {
                Label5.Text = "Please Enter Some Values";
                Label5.ForeColor = System.Drawing.Color.Red;
            }
            else{SPSite site = SPContext.Current.Site;
                SPWeb web = site.OpenWeb();
                web.AllowUnsafeUpdates = true;
                SPList list = web.Lists["Person"];
                SPListItem item = list.Items.Add();
                item.Fields.Add(TextBox1.Text, SPFieldType.Text, true);
                item.Fields.Add(TextBox2.Text, SPFieldType.Text, true);
                SPFieldChoice fieldChoice = (SPFieldChoice)list.Fields.GetFieldByInternalName
                    (item.Fields.Add(TextBox3.Text, SPFieldType.Choice, true));
                string[] types = { TextBox4.Text, TextBox5.Text };
                fieldChoice.Choices.AddRange(types);
                fieldChoice.Update();

                SPView view = list.DefaultView;
                view.ViewFields.Add(TextBox1.Text);
                view.ViewFields.Add(TextBox2.Text);
                view.ViewFields.Add(TextBox3.Text);
                view.Update();
                Label5.Text = "Fields Created Successfully";
                Label5.ForeColor = System.Drawing.Color.Green;
                TextBox1.Text = string.Empty;
                TextBox2.Text = string.Empty;
                TextBox3.Text = string.Empty;
                TextBox4.Text = string.Empty;
                TextBox5.Text = string.Empty;
            }
        }
    }
}

Step 8: Deploy the solution file and add the created webpart to a SharePoint site:

Step 9: The output of the application looks like this:

choicefield4.png

Step 10: Choice fields entering output of the application looks like this:

choicefield5.png

Step 11: Data entering in list output of the application looks like this:

choicefield6.png

Step 12: Data entered in list output of the application looks like this:

choicefield7.png
I hope this article is useful for you. I look forward for your comments and feedback. Thanks Vijay Prativadi

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