Category Archives: SharePoint 2016

JS Link – No More HTML in Calculated Field Change

Didn’t see that coming.

More than a few times I’ve had folks bring up solutions using calculated fields to do some of the same things we do with Client-side rendering (CSR) and JS Link in SharePoint. That was fine at the time. Just another way to get to the solution using creative out of the box capabilities – until now.

Microsoft implemented a change yesterday (June 13, 2017) that HTML or script elements in calculated fields would be turned off. Apparently this was an ‘undocumented use’ of the feature. The system is now escaping special characters and replacing the column with a blank in the list view.

Now What?

The short answers – in no particular order:

  1. Client-side rendering via JS Link property of web parts. This only works for Classic mode. If you are using Classic mode, this is likely the ‘best’ short term answer to broken interfaces until a longer-term solution is implemented
  2. Third party products
  3. SPFx Extensions or customization
  4. PowerApps

CSR and JS Link: There are multiple ways to implement JS Link, some via the browser (how I use JS Link) and via deployed coded solutions (Dev only). As mentioned in other responses JS Link does NOT work in the modern experience. It will only work in the Classic mode (as long as it is around). There have been NO dates announced for getting rid of Classic mode at this time. If you choose this direction it’s worth noting that if you’re comfortable writing script in the calculated field you’ll likely be comfortable writing the code needed to get CSR to work. I’ve got plenty of examples in the link included here.

Third party products. I’ve seen folks mention something called Skybow but I’ve never seen or used it. Only mentioning because it was mentioned by someone in the community I trust.

SPFx Extensions and customizations: This is the ‘approved’ development path for deployed solutions. If you are a developer and/or are creating solutions that are used across a broader scope this is likely the path you should go down.

PowerApps: This is likely the long-term replacement for solutions you used HTML or other scripting in your calculated field for (hand slap from English teacher). Embedded integration with SharePoint isn’t there yet (well, it kind of is…), but has been announced. You can start building the views/solutions you need, but they won’t be ‘really’ embedded in SharePoint yet – web parts and/or other tools are coming soon (they’ve been announced).

Note: Much of the attention to PowerApps has been in the area of forms, but views will be a part of the capabilities as well. They’ve already made improvements with introduction of controls like the Data Table control. Check out my posts on PowerApps for SharePoint users, specifically things like ‘List View’ Layouts.

Update

Migration Note: Do not forget to take this into consideration now as something to look at when migrating from an environment where special characters (HTML and scripting) work into an environment (O365, etc.) where they do not. You’ll need a plan to replace or update your field customizations.

Summary

Unfortunately this seems like a pretty sudden change. I certainly had no idea it was coming. For folks that were using this approach there’s a lot of scrambling going on right now dealing with blank columns that weren’t blank a few days ago. Depending on how complex the scripting was, some fixes might be as easy as stripping the HTML and script out and displaying a simple value. More complex solutions are going to take some effort to redo, either with a new approach, new code, or 3rd party software to get the business functionality back.

For simple HTML replacement, JS Link could be an easy switch. If you’ve never used it before check out the Hello World post and then the KPI post. Those will cover a lot and introduce you to the JS Link concept if you need to dig deeper for more complex solutions.

Good luck!

References

JS Link – Creating Custom Links

I’ve spoken about this topic so many times I keep forgetting that I haven’t put together a decent post on the subject even though I’ve had sample code posted for quite some time (see References below). Smile with tongue out In my opinion, after conditional formatting this is a sweet spot for JS Link use cases and functionally WAY more useful.

Disclaimer: For those of you using SharePoint 2013, this is still relevant content. If you are using SharePoint 2016 or O365 and have PowerApps available and/or are only using ‘modern’ pages and views there are other potential solutions for you.

Business-wise, what makes custom links useful is the ability for users to build solutions – ‘stitching’ together SharePoint functionality into productive business solutions – beyond what the out of box lists and libraries provide.

What makes custom links with JS Link in SharePoint so useful is the crossing of a few core bits of functionality in SharePoint – that we’ll cover in more detail in this article:

  • Most everything in SharePoint is available via a URL – so we can ‘decode’ the links SharePoint uses to build our own links to the data we want our users to get to
  • ‘Source’ data passed through the querystring allows us to control where the user is taken after a form is used (assuming the link destination was a form – it doesn’t have to be)
  • Creating a HTML link tag is super easy

User Experience Tweaking

You can use CSR to build ‘web-user-friendly’ vs. ‘SharePoint-user-friendly’ user interfaces. If all your users are familiar with SharePoint this isn’t a compelling reason. However, for environments where non-office workers (warehouse, production, etc.) are using SharePoint sites and solutions, making the interface intuitive – making it more ‘web-friendly’ – is a compelling reason to look at enhancements like this. For example:

Non-SharePoint users don’t know what the ellipses (…) are. They don’t know they need to click on the ‘…’ to get a menu for more details, etc.
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By adding a column with web links to forms, it makes the interface easier to navigate – the useful links are displayed prominently instead of inside of a menu that needs to be opened first. If you had custom forms this same approach could be used to get the user to those forms instead of the default forms. SharePoint only enables linking to the default forms in the interface.
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This also gives the solution owner more control over the interface by only displaying the controls they want made available to users.

How-To

If you use the SharePoint menu to navigate to the Edit page and look at the URL you will see something like this:

https://forgegroup.sharepoint.com/TeamSite/CSR/Lists/DemoList/EditForm.aspx?ID=1&Source=https%3A%2F%2Fforgegroup%2Esharepoint%2Ecom%2FTeamsite%2FCSR%2FSitePages%2FDemo%2520-%2520Link%2520to%2520Pages%2520and%2520Forms%2Easpx&ContentTypeId=0x01004578E7B0B3F1BE41A0EE6CF023F4518D

If we break the URL down we get the following:

  • https://forgegroup.sharepoint.com/TeamSite/CSR/Lists/DemoList/EditForm.aspx
    This is the URL for the form page
  • ?ID=1
    This is the parameter passed in that tells the form which item ID in the list to display
  • &Source=https%3A%2F%2Fforgegroup%2Esharepoint%2Ecom%2FTeamsite%2FCSR%2FSitePages%2FDemo%2520-%2520Link%2520to%2520Pages%2520and%2520Forms%2Easpx
    This tells SharePoint where to navigate when the form is submitted or cancelled – essentially where the user ends up next. This can be VERY useful when building your own solution.
  • &ContentTypeId=0x01004578E7B0B3F1BE41A0EE6CF023F4518D
    Finally, this is the content type for the item in the list. We aren’t using this information for our example.

What we’re doing with the CSR code is creating our own link that will be displayed in an overridden column. The complete sample code can be found in the CSR_CustomLinks.js file. We’ll just look at the key lines here:

image

  • The link is going to ‘../Lists/DemoList/EditForm.aspx’ where ‘DemoList’ is the name of my list and ‘EditForm.aspx’ is the default edit form created for the list. If you’ve created a new form (with SharePoint Designer, etc.) and want to use it, this is where you’d put the name of the file. You could even leave the default ‘edit’ form as default but use this link to get to a separate edit form.
  • ‘ID’ is the name of the parameter we’re sending to the form. We’re getting the data from the list as ctx.CurrentItem.ID
  • Then comes our own ‘Source’ value to tell SharePoint where to navigate after the form has been used. This can be helpful if you want to direct users to a specific place other than where they came from.
  • Finally, ‘Edit’ is the text that will displayed as the link. You can use whatever verbiage makes sense to your users here OR replace the text with a graphic or icon.

In the sample code I’m actually building two links – ‘Edit’ and ‘Details’ in the same column override.

Get creative with this. The link doesn’t have to be to a form for the current list. It could be a view for another list with a reference back to the current list. For example you might have a document library where you’re keeping reference documents for a list and use a reference ID field in the document library to connect back to the current list. You could use this CSR approach to build the URL string to a view of the document library and filter it by the reference ID… Then a user could be looking at the current list and click on a simple link to all the related documents for that item.

Notes

  • Using graphics: Choose a location for any graphics you want to use as part of your solution. A good place might be the SiteAssets library. Then use code that looks something like this:
    image
    Replacing the ‘Edit’ text with an HTML image tag linking to your image file.
  • Combine this link with conditional formatting and potentially display different actions or icons depending on the content of your list item.
  • Filtering on a lookup column is another post using a similar custom link approach.
  • PowerApps: Moving forward solutions like described in this post will be accomplished using PowerApps. If you’re already using SharePoint Online, the capabilities are already available by building not only a list view from a SharePoint list, but being able to customize each column and build custom forms that you can link to within your PowerApp.

References

SharePoint, PowerApps, and List View Permissions

While discussing SharePoint list views during a recent SharePoint 101 session at our local SharePoint User group, the inevitable question about permissions on columns and views came up. Standard answer: ‘No’. Permissions in SharePoint are set at the list level, or the item level. Nothing is available at the column or view level. However…

Here are the facts (today – this stuff changes so fast…):

  • Permissions on SharePoint lists are set at the list or item level. There are no SharePoint settings for permissions on a specific view.
  • PowerApps are surfaced in the views dropdown.
  • PowerApps permissions are set at the App level.

Are you there yet? Did you make the connection? Yep. You can have an item in the view dropdown with permissions different than the list itself. You can now have a ‘view’ with its own permissions. PowerApps are even integrated enough to *not* show up in the dropdown if you are a user that doesn’t have permissions to the App.

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Now, PowerApps are not as simple to create as a SharePoint view, but it is possible. Currently two facts hamper users a little bit here.

  1. The current SharePoint to PowerApps ‘wizard’ only creates a phone layout App. Not something that easily replicates a traditional SharePoint view.
    image
    Don’t get me wrong, this template (wizard) is awesome. it just doesn’t do what we’re talking about (replicate a list view) in this scenario.
  2. PowerApps are not yet embedded in the SharePoint interface – so the user experience is not as smooth as we’d like it to be.

I have to believe that both of these issues are on the roadmap for the PowerApps and SharePoint teams. We’ll just need to wait and see if and when they work their way up the list. Smile

Until these are addressed, you have a few things you can do manually with SharePoint and PowerApps. I’m walking through some of the options and steps with this blog series (References listed below – still have more posts to come…).

As with anything you’re working on in SharePoint or PowerApps, you need to pay attention to permissions levels. Extending SharePoint with PowerApps – while awesome – adds to the details you need to pay attention to. #governance. You might run into something like this:
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You can also use the ever popular ‘security by obscurity’ approach and remove the PowerApps listing from SharePoint:
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Although, you don’t actually have to do the ‘obscurity’ approach though since we have the capability of setting appropriate permissions at both the SharePoint and PowerApps levels.

You have options to switch the visibility, permissions, and integration experience in the SharePoint list menu:
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These are a few of the configuration options. Check them out to see if the integration between SharePoint and PowerApps can meet your particular needs. If it doesn’t now, by bet would be that it will eventually… soon even.

References

PowerApps – Build a Simple List View from SharePoint Data (part 1)

PowerApps has a number of integration points with SharePoint. For starters, you can use a template create an app from SharePoint list data. Right now, the template is limited to an app targeted at the phone form factor. Cool, but not what I want in this case.

image

What if you want to do the same thing from scratch?
What if you’d like to create an app that connects to SharePoint list data for a tablet? (or maybe what could be an app eventually embedded into SharePoint)

As with many things in PowerApps, it’s not too difficult (once you know what you’re doing with a little clicking around Smile ).

Build it

Open PowerApps studio. On the ‘New’ page, select the blank app with a Tablet layout. PowerApps will create a single form sized for a tablet. Let’s get building.

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Start with the content. Select the ‘Content’ menu item and ‘Data Sources’.

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In the right side property pane, select ‘Add data source’.

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I already have a connection set up to SharePoint. So I can use that connection. If you don’t already have a connection you can set one up from here. I’m selecting the SharePoint connection.

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Enter the URL of the SharePoint site:
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PowerApps will get a list of lists on the site you entered. Select the list you want – I’m using ‘Requests’ – and click ‘Connect’. 

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Now, I’ve got a data source from my SharePoint list: Requests.

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So, now what? We add a Gallery to our screen. In the menu, select ‘Insert’ and then ‘Gallery’. For this example I’m selecting a Vertical Text gallery.

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The Gallery control is then dropped on the screen. 

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Resize and move the control around to fit your needs. I’m filling up the bottom part of the screen an leaving room at the top for a header/title thing later and maybe a few navigational controls. Control size and location are easily changed later as needed. 

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Now, what’s cool here is that the gallery control has a bunch of features baked into it already. It can be tied to a data source and has additional controls baked into the gallery. This particular example has 3 fields available as shown below. The data for the default fields are kind of nonsense – we’ll fix that in a few minutes. 

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We need to start by connecting the gallery to the data source. And it’s really easy. While the gallery as a whole is selected (see above), select ‘Advanced’ in the right pane.

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Selecting the Items field, start typing the name of your data source – in this case ‘Requests’. It should show up as an option in the dropdown.

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As soon as you select the data source, the screen preview updates with actual data from the data source. When you switch back to the ‘Options’ in the right pane, you’ll find that the controls have already tied to the data source. When you select the fields, they show all the fields in your list that PowerApps can recognize.

image image

So, you can quickly set the initial 3 fields to data in your list. If you don’t have enough sample data – go ahead and add some. Then refresh your data source and the screen preview should also update. Now you’re off and running.

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That was a very simple run through of connecting to SharePoint data and getting it on a screen. We skipped over a LOT of details that you can dig into but will get into those at another time.

Next up: Layouts, sorting, filtering, etc…

References

JS Link in SharePoint – Choose your Path Forward

Times they are a changin’…

Microsoft continues to roll out the new ‘modern’ interfaces within the SharePoint platform. This is happening initially with SharePoint Online, but is also coming to on-premises deployments with SharePoint 2016 and Feature Packs. While this is a good thing for end-users overall, it does come with a price when it comes to customization options and JS Link. The new interface – the new approach – locks down client-side customizations and unmanaged code in a bid to increase the stability of the platform.

I should clarify that the JS Link approach I’m talking about is the one I’ve been working with and sharing the past few years: Using the JS Link web part property in the web interface and uploading JavaScript files via the browser. This is different from the JS Link approach used by ‘real’ SharePoint developers accessing JS Link via managed and deployed solutions. 

Classic Mode

The JS Link approach we’ve been using is still available through ‘Classic Mode’. Microsoft has stated that Classic Mode isn’t going away any time soon.

image

This means we can continue to develop solutions and customizations using JS Link and Client Side Rendering (CSR) for the foreseeable future.

Downsides of continuing to use JS Link in Classic Mode are: While the ‘modern’ and ‘classic’ interfaces work just fine together they aren’t visually consistent – so it’s a bit of a shift switching from one to the other during day-to-day usage. There also aren’t any migration paths from JS Link solutions to PowerApps or new custom solutions.

The future for power users, however, is really in PowerApps.

PowerApps

Get on the bandwagon now. PowerApps is the future and is a tool not just for SharePoint users – though it does bring new capabilities to SharePoint with forms and mobile accessibility. Between Power BI, Flow and PowerApps, the Business Application Platforms tools are the new area for power users to work in.

Currently, the integration between SharePoint and PowerApps is just scratching the surface, but there is more to come and in all likelihood those changes are going to be coming pretty quickly. Today you can create a PowerApp from SharePoint Online lists and the app will show up in the list view dropdown. Selecting a PowerApp today launches the PowerApps interface. While it’s not live yet, Microsoft has already demoed and shown functionality (in screenshots) of PowerApps embedded right IN a SharePoint page. Once this is possible, the user experience will be dramatically better and solutions (apps) built in PowerApps will start to replace what we previously built with separate SharePoint pages, views, and forms.

With the tools available today, PowerApps can create an app from a SharePoint list – either in O365 or on-premises if using a Gateway – and will create a form-based solution. What I hope to see is an additional template/wizard type of project that looks more like a traditional SharePoint view –hopefully even based on an existing view in more of a grid-focused solution rather than forms on a mobile-device-sized screen. We’ll see what we get. 

SharePoint Framework (SPFx)

When it comes to real customizations, the grey-area we’ve been operating in with JS Link is going away. *Real* customizations are intended to go through developers using the new SharePoint Framework (SPFx). This is managed and deployed code. Where with the current JS Link approach we could have a single JavaScript file, you now need a new stack of open source tools, projects with hundreds of files totaling over 100MB, customization of just the right files, and then deliver the finished package to an IT Pro to deploy in your environment. While this is better for the stability of the platform (again, which is good…), it is now significantly out of the reach of power users.

There’s a lot of information out there about the SharePoint Framework, but it is also new. So, we’ll be seeing changes and additions to it as it gets closer to mainstream. Bottom line is if you’re a developer in the SharePoint space, you’ll want to add SPFx to your list of things to ramp up on sooner rather than later. 

Future ‘Modern’ Interface Updates (?)

Disclaimer: This is *not* real. These concepts are a figment of my imagination and wishful thinking. There has been no word from Microsoft on any new features here.

Some of the things we’ve been doing with JS Link and CSR are relatively simple things, like column/field formatting and conditional formatting. It would be really cool if some of these ‘simple’ additions could be added to the web interface so we don’t even need to do customizations or PowerApps solutions.

What I’m thinking of is updates to how the SharePoint View is defined within the web interface. Today we have the list of columns/fields available in the list. We select the fields we want displayed in the list and set the order that the fields are displayed in.

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A nice addition here would be to add formatting options for each column. Simplest would be simple HTML/text formatting. Next level of complexity would be conditional formatting. Next level up from that would be more along the lines of a calculated field, but combining HTML and field data like item ID. The first two at least seem reasonable to request. Smile Conditional formatting alone would likely meet the majority of requests by power users.

You certainly wouldn’t be able to do *all* the things we were doing with JS Link field and item overrides, but there are a few things that seem within reach if the SharePoint Team had them high enough on the priority list. 

Conclusion

So, choose your path. And yes, it (still) depends. Winking smile 

If you’re in an on-premises 2013 environment, you can continue using and building JS Link solutions. However, you’ll need to rebuild those solutions when you move to SharePoint 2016 or SharePoint Online. I haven’t tested migration from 2013 to 2016, but I suspect JS Link customizations would come forward as ‘Classic mode’ customizations.

If you’re in an on-premises 2016 environment, you can continue using JS Link solutions, but I would start looking at PowerApps here as well. Even with PowerApps living in the cloud, you have the ability to reach on-premises environments using Gateways. The integration likely won’t be quite as seamless as it will be in SharePoint Online, but Feature Packs may continue to improve this.

If you’re using SharePoint Online (O365), send your power users down the PowerApps path and your developers down the SharePoint Framework path. In the meantime, continue using JS Link and the pages in Classic Mode until you’re ready for the new stuff.

Previous Posts and References

Getting Started with PowerApps (Preview) for SharePoint Users

Notes and Setting Context

PowerApps is a new product/service offering from Microsoft for building business solutions that connect data from a variety of services and locations – including SharePoint Online. It is targeted at ‘power users’ – which is a somewhat broad and undefined group of users. It’s safe to say that not all SharePoint users will be able to build solutions in PowerApps intuitively as it does require a different skill set – but it is not coding.

  • PowerApps are available through an Office 365 account for users within your organization. Apps are not public-facing. You’re not creating a stand-alone app that anyone can download and run. It will only work for your tenant. The app owner determines who has access to the app: it could be a list of individuals or the whole organization.
  • PowerApps is not a replacement for InfoPath… yet. It certainly has potential. Yes, it has forms – but it’s not going to be on par with what InfoPath had to offer in terms of complexity for now.
  • PowerApps was not developed exclusively for SharePoint – so don’t expect a SharePoint-only kind of focus from the product. It integrates with a LOT more platforms and services. SharePoint is one of them and it already does do some cool stuff for the SharePoint platform.
  • PowerApps is targeted at the mobile platform – specifically phone and tablet devices, but it will be surfaced in the browser as well. The mobile client lists out apps that the user has access to. Apps can also be pinned to the desktop of your device rather than having to open the PowerApps app first.
  • Within SharePoint, PowerApps will soon have a presence within the new ‘modern’ SharePoint lists and libraries – more to come on that soon.
  • PowerApps is built on Azure. So it’s cloud-based. PowerApps Studio is a local tool, but connects to PowerApps Portal – which is a cloud service and relies on the cloud for Connections.
  • ‘Connections’ and ‘Gateways’ are how you get access to services and data. Which ones are available will be determined by licensing… which is still TBD. While currently in Preview mode, we have access to all available connectors.
  • PowerApps is part of a broader effort targeting power users – so check out the other tools and capabilities as well.
    Start here: https://businessplatform.microsoft.com
    And here: https://powerusers.microsoft.com/
  • If you are or were an Excel or Access ‘guru’ building complex formulas, spreadsheets, and/or Access solutions, you’ll probably be pretty confortable digging into PowerApps (and Flow).
  • The documentation is fantastic for this point in a new product release. Seriously I can’t give enough kudos to the team putting this stuff together.
    https://powerapps.microsoft.com/en-us/tutorials

Where To Start

  1. Check out the tutorial found here:
    https://powerapps.microsoft.com/en-us/tutorials/getting-started/ 
  2. Go to https://powerapps.microsoft.com and log in with an account you use with Office 365.

Where To Go Next

Honestly, just dig in. It’s pretty easy. There definitely is a learning curve the deeper you get. But you’ll see a bunch of cool capabilities just by clicking around. You can have a mobile powerapp running on a SharePoint Online list going in minutes.

I’m putting my links and resources here: http://www.idubbs.com/blog/powerapps-and-flows/
So, without repeating all those links in this post, just check it out. Smile

PowerApps Preview – SharePoint Field Workarounds

*Disclaimer* – This post based on Preview version of PowerApps. I’ll make every effort to update with any changes and verify when PowerApps is released.

The following is a discrepancy happening in the Preview mode that will likely be resolved in the release version. Until then, something to mention so others don’t get frustrated when working with PowerApps during the Preview stage.

When looking at the columns in my SharePoint list, I have the following:

Figure1
Figure 1

Now, I create a PowerApp based on the same list. BrowseScreen gives me four controls/fields on my card by default.

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Figure 2

When using the dropdown values for the controls, I get the following:

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Figure 3

Which is *not* the same as my list of fields. It looks like I’m missing:

  • ReqType (choice)
  • AssignedTo (Person)
  • CreatedBy (Person)
  • ModifiedBy (Person)
  • Status (choice)
  • Priority (choice)
  • Dept (Lookup)
  • Dept:ID (Lookup – additional field)

The missing fields are Choice, People, and Lookup fields. All of these fields are a bit more complicated behind the scenes. Thankfully we can still get to the data but we need to be a little more deliberate about it.

Note: ID comes as a bonus and IS available for selection. While ID is not shown in SharePoint’s List Settings we know we can get access to it in views. It’s a column that’s just behind the scenes sometimes in SharePoint.

As shown in Figure 2 above, PowerApps provides an easy way to select a control on the card and select which field it should represent. You can also use the Text property directly – either in the top property control or on the Advanced panel (select the View tab, then click on ‘Advanced’).

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Figure 4

In the formula box for the property, delete the field name (‘Comments’). With the cursor after the period, the dropdown suggestion should now show all available fields – including our missing fields.

Notes:

  • SharePoint’s CreatedBy is shown as ‘Author’.
  • SharePoint’s ModifiedBy is shown as ‘Editor’.

Note:

‘ThisItem’ is not needed in this example. You can type the field name directly. However, if you want to see a list of the fields available, you can use ‘ThisItem.’ in the formula.

Select ‘Editor’. Your formula now shows ‘ThisItem.Editor’, but the field is showing an error.

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Figure 5 – ‘Attention needed’ in the Advanced panel

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Figure 6 – ‘Attention needed’ in the form designer

As the message indicates, we need a text value to display, rather than what is essentially a person object. After ‘ThisItem.Editor’ add another period to see additional options – and select DisplayName. This provides what we’re likely looking for.

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Figure 7

DispName
Figure 8

Choice fields work with:
ThisItem.[fieldname].Value

Lookup fields work with:
ThisItem.[fieldname].Value

If additional fields are selected for display (a field setting in SharePoint), they may show up as:
ThisItem.[fieldname]:[columnname].Value
Ex. ThisItem.Dept:ID.Value

Note:
Currently seeing what should be Dept:ID showing up as:
Dept_x003a_ID – I’m guessing this will be updated before release as well.

People fields have a list of values available:

  • Department
  • DisplayName
  • Email
  • JobTitle
  • Picture

All in all, this issue doesn’t stop us from building what we’re trying to build, but it is an inconsistency in the UX and can be confusing or frustrating to folks during the learning curve.

Please – Let me know if you see something different so we can keep this info current.

Enjoy!

MNSPUG July 2016 – PowerApps and Flow

Raymond and I did a presentation at the July 13th Minnesota SharePoint User Group a few weeks ago: Microsoft PowerApps and Flow: Overview and Integration Points with SharePoint. We had a nice crowd of 70-80 folks between the people in the room and folks that participated online.

Links to the presentation slides and recording (TBD) can be found on the MNSPUG site.

NOTE: In our slides we mention the connector for Office 365 Video. Right now there is an issue with that connector working with the current version of PowerApps. This is a known issue and Microsoft is working to resolve it.

Microsoft is generating a LOT of interest in these two new technologies – both still in Preview (now, and when the presentation was given). With the Ignite conference coming up this Fall, I’d be surprised if there isn’t more to see by conference time – between polishing the release version, adding new features, and potentially releasing one or both of the products. Stay tuned.

*Disclaimer* – This post based on Preview version of PowerApps. I’ll make every effort to update with any changes and verify when PowerApps is released.

May the 4th – The Future of SharePoint summary

Big day in the SharePoint world today as Microsoft announces lots of updates coming to Office 365, SharePoint Online, and coming in SharePoint 2016.

First up – ‘SharePoint’ is back. It seems like small thing, but when you’re in Office365 and click on the ‘waffle’ menu in the upper right – instead of ‘SharePoint’, we’ve had ‘Sites’. Not a huge deal to some, but it diminished the brand a bit. With the latest updates we’re returning to ‘SharePoint’.

Next, lots of updates: big and small. Topics include:

  • SharePoint mobile app – sorry, I just can’t say ‘your intranet in your pocket…’
  • SharePoint home (web/O365)
  • Team Sites + Office 365 Groups – better together…
  • Modern library and lists experiences (more on what this means for CSR…)
  • PowerApps integration
  • Microsoft Flow integration
  • Modern pages experience
  • Improved site activity tracking
  • SharePoint Server 2016
  • OneDrive for Business and O365 file sharing updates
  • The SharePoint Framework – open and connected
  • Security updates
  • Feature packs for on-prem

You can find links to the key announcements and sites here:

Microsoft blog posts:

Event recap, recordings, and deep dives:

Other references and links:

There will be more updates in the coming days. I’ll try to update here with relevant links, etc. as they develop.

The Future of SharePoint – Without(?) CSR and JS Link

Microsoft recently announced a new document library experience. Today as part of the May the 4th ‘Future of SharePoint’ event a similar new experience for lists was announced. Ultimately, good moves in the broader effort to improve user experience within SharePoint and an evolution forward. But what, if anything, does this mean for JS Link and Client-Side Rendering (CSR)?

Let’s take a look… I’m not going to give a deep tour of the new interface – that’s for another day. Just focusing on the CSR implications right now.

So, the new list and library interface is locked down. The default page still uses the default chosen view and you can quickly and easily switch views. The page, however, has no editing options. We can’t get to the edit page and edit web part interface. So no-go for CSR. Still, not terrible – while you *could* edit the default page, it wasn’t generally a good practice. (of course, there were some relevant use cases out there…)

Now, if you’re creating pages and adding web parts of these lists and libraries to the page – we’re still in the game. This hasn’t changed… yet. We can still build out pages, add CSR via JS Link and build out our solutions.

So, the short story is that CSR and JS Link still works in 2013, 2016, and O365. There are a few fuzzy spots on the radar for O365 and 2016 though. The new page experience and the new SharePoint Framework are likely to creep into the CSR space. What the roadmap details and timeline are remain to be determined.

Note: If you still need to edit the main library and list pages, you can switch back to ‘classic’ mode. This can be done at the library, site, or site collection levels. Links available below.

References and related materials: