KwizCom SharePoint List Forms Extensions Feature – Build Smart Forms in SharePoint

One of the most common feature requests I hear around lists is field level and view level permissions. I've got friends who use to do Notes Apps and spend a lot of time porting business apps to SharePoint and continue to complain about the ability to build real business apps with common needs like field level permissions based on constraints and rules that change based on roles and context. As well, wouldn't it be great to have default values. Forms have common needs that can make your life easier. KWizCom has spent a lot of time in this world of working with SharePoint lists and have built a number of bundles that address common application solutions. The SharePoint List Forms Extensions Feature fit with an additional functionality when building apps with out of the box lists with SharePoint requiring no additional code. It can also simplify the life of those building the forms to reduce needs for forms development in InfoPath.

SharePoint List Forms Extensions Feature includes the following exciting web forms features:

  • Field level permissions
  • Field level constraints
  • Default values
  • Field grouping
  • View level permissions (Yes, permissions for list views!)
  • Navigation
  • List Custom Actions

Figure 1: Help Desk Workspace and Knowledgebase Composite App Powered by KWizCom List Extensions

As an example you could say as a condition, when it is assigned to Help Desk, the request is read only to the user, and some fields could be not displayed. The features go on to provide the ability to use Field level constraints to determine if a field should be displayed. It can be shown or hidden or disabled. These rules can as well be applied dynamically based on another field. To make it easier to fill out, values can be configured and targeted to default values. As an example you could provide a default for IT users that have preferred operating system as Windows 8. Instead of displaying lots of fields you can separate into tabs which can be targeted and displayed only to specific groups of users. In addition you can add custom actions available only to certain users or groups even based on conditions and display additional tasks or kick off workflows. There are hundreds of scenarios, but it's these rules that allow you to really build applications that make it easy and intuitive and also cater to basic security needs.

Figure 2: Creating Grouping settings for a set of fields to be displayed in tabs

Understanding Deployment

KWizCom List Extensions are deployed in a single solution package. They are easily activated in a site collection and used across lists of your choice. Use them where you want when building composite applications. The WSP package is deployed as a farm solution. The List Extensions are licensed per web front end. See detail below… note the educational and volume discounts.

Real-World Uses and Thoughts

Lists out of the box are one size fits all. They are designed to fit all kinds of data with no discrimination for the scenario. The List Extensions really allow you to take the use case and drill into how the form and list should behave. In my experience, I can see how creating conditional fields and then not displaying everything to the customer provides for a richer scenario. The support ticket in this example can be created with conditional required fields, based on the device. In addition, a default date can be populated as today's date to simplify the process for the end user.

As with any add-on you need to consider your path for upgrade, supportability and maintenance. I had a good experience with the responsiveness from the KWizCom team, but make sure you consider any purchase in the SharePoint third party add-on as a long-term partner and ensure they are someone who will be around for the long haul.

Figure 4: KWizCom List Extensions: Conditional form with fields being displayed based on my role

Next, the issue is received into the queue, and the technician can then use the item action "Assign to Me," which will then provide additional fields. Issue is not assigned to the technician, so he can't work it. In order for him to edit it, he assigns it to himself. They have been set up to provide a read view on details provided from the user, and the ticket resolution can be filled in with what was performed to resolve the issue. Hopefully, you can see the power in having this kind of granular control.

Considerations

There are a lot of components in the SharePoint space. Make sure you know what you're buying in these type of solutions. KWizCom offers a trial download, and I'm sure they are happy to provide a demo. This solution is a farm solution and not something that works yet with Office 365. If you've been considering moving to the cloud you should talk to KWizCom. Many vendors have solutions for on-premise and are in the process of building Office365 or hosted online solutions.

Conclusion

If you're building composite applications on SharePoint the KWizCom List Extensions will make scenarios available that weren't there otherwise. It may take you bundling a number of other solutions to get part of what you see. As well, KWizCom offers its own bundled solutions. If you're trying to collect data, trying to simplify a process, you can build sophisticated forms quickly. I'm already thinking about a number of scenarios where this could come in handy for us. How about you? Check it out… download the trial.

See more information on KWizCom List Extensions for SharePoint.

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