Add SharePoint lookup column declaratively through CAML XML

re: Add SharePoint lookup column declaratively through CAML XML

Chris F. — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 05:34:38 GMT

Yay! Thanks for the timely post. I really needed to do this same thing, but I was quite discouraged after reading Bil Simser's blog post from a while back about how he couldn't figure this out. The point your blog post makes that I would probably not have thought to try is that the "List" attribute of the lookup <Field> element is the *url* of the list and not (as the WSS SDK docs say) the name of the list.

Two thumbs up. Thanks again!

re: Add SharePoint lookup column declaratively through CAML XML

Joe B — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 15:54:44 GMT

This doesn't clear anything up for me ... where do I put the code you specify?

Posts that have all the keywords that make google match my searches to your content but don't give me any answers really annoy me.

Also are these custom fields available in the "in this column" dropdown when looking up a field from one list that resides in another. OOTB custom fields are not available in this dropdown and that sucks.

re: Add SharePoint lookup column declaratively through CAML XML

Josh G. — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 18:07:36 GMT

Joe B.

This XML should be in your fields.xml file in your custom list feature definition.

This is a lookup column, lookup columns specifically exist to "lookup" values from another list. My use of this column was getting values from a completely custom list.

I'm sorry that this didn't give you everything you were looking for, if you can post with some more specific questions maybe I can be of more help?

Hope that helps.

re: Add SharePoint lookup column declaratively through CAML XML

Steve B — Mon, 12 May 2008 21:06:07 GMT

I tend to agree with your opening comment - I can't quite believe the feature doesn't allow you to provision a Lookup Field without faffing about with feature receivers. However, I've been trying this stuff and not got very far, despite using the relative URL to the new List Instance I've created.

I haven't got the source code to hand right now to post here, but should the List attribute be site relative or web application relative? For instance, my site collection uses a managed path - do I need to include this as well?

re: Add SharePoint lookup column declaratively through CAML XML

Steve B — Tue, 13 May 2008 11:11:57 GMT

Ok - forget my last post. I've also managed to provision the field using the CAML definition. To confirm a couple of points:

I entered a dummy value for the List attribute and received an error - on looking at the code where the error was raised I confirmed for myself that the List attribute is resolved when you enter a list name. That was the first step for me as I now knew it was possible using CAML.

After I returned the List attribute value to show my List Name I then had other problems - the field was provisioned but no lookup was set up so it meant the field was still broken. I pared down the contents of the field definition and was left with the same as Josh mentions above with the ShowField also there. I left ShowField in as I wanted to use the Title field. But, it appears this was the problem. Removing the ShowField attribute (I could not use Title was the link but would have had to use the Title-with-link column instead) fixed it (it defaults to the Title-with-link field).

re: Add SharePoint lookup column declaratively through CAML XML

Nick — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 08:44:17 GMT

I am really surprised to see your post since I was searching for a better solution for the same problem. But when I tried your technique, I am getting the following error. Plase let me know where I am making mistake.

Exception from HRESULT: 0x80040E07 at Microsoft.SharePoint.Library.SPRequestInternalClass.AddField(String bstrUrl, String bstrListName, String bstrSchemaXml, Int32 grfAdd)

at Microsoft.SharePoint.Library.SPRequest.AddField(String bstrUrl, String bstrListName, String bstrSchemaXml, Int32 grfAdd)

re: Add SharePoint lookup column declaratively through CAML XML

Nick — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 08:47:07 GMT

just putting my element file contents for the reference here...

<Field ID="{2FF1B484-6D70-449c-8E5C-904E4D5971E1}"

Name="Master"

Group="Custom Columns"

Type="Lookup"

DisplayName="Master"

List="Lists/Master"

ShowField="Title"

PrependId="TRUE"/>

I have 2 lists named Master and Child and error is getting when I try to add this custom site column to my "child" list.

I tried modifying the ID attribute also.

re: Add SharePoint lookup column declaratively through CAML XML

Peter.dk — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 21:56:17 GMT

Get te same error as Nick.....but it works like a dream when I put the guid of the list instead of the lists/mylist in the list attribute.

re: Add SharePoint lookup column declaratively through CAML XML

Steve B — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 19:06:56 GMT

Further to my last post, it looks like caching had been playing around here and gave the impression that it worked ok. I used the Feature on a separate machine and i did not work. I provisionsed the Field ok, but the connectivity to the require List is just not available. So, basically, it just does not work. Using a GUID works without problem, using a URL never works.

Although what I posted previously was correct, i.e. the stack trace of the error I got did seem to indicate that the List Name would be resolved, but it hasn't worked like that in practice.

re: Add SharePoint lookup column declaratively through CAML XML

Saurabh — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 14:22:16 GMT

No Gaffey......It doesn't work for me.......also.....I am using the exact same thing......only one change......

but it doesn't show any thing......it shows blank....dropdown....whereas my List has 10 Items.....

re: Add SharePoint lookup column declaratively through CAML XML

Nathan — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 16:20:28 GMT

Have you tried doing this with a LookupMulti? The list populates, but I am unable to select multiple items on the list.

re: Add SharePoint lookup column declaratively through CAML XML

lzandman — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 17:31:00 GMT

@Nathan: Don't use LookupMulti. You have to leave the type to "Lookup" and add an extra attribute Mult="TRUE" in the Field declaration.

re: Add SharePoint lookup column declaratively through CAML XML

Javier — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 23:08:26 GMT

Hi, i get the same error. The problem is that the GUID changes each time the a list is created.

Check this out:

http://www.sharepointnutsandbolts.com/2007/04/creating-list-based-site-columns-as.html

re: Add SharePoint lookup column declaratively through CAML XML

Vadim Dzyuban — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 22:39:04 GMT

Does anybody know if

is there any way to provision a lookup field and a target lookup list on a separate web apps (not separate sites/site collections) using caml, object model or their combination ?

I need to provision the same lookup field on multiple user's sites and the data in this lookup should be retrieved from a source lookup list administered on separate web app. It seems that sharepoint does not allow to do that ?

Thanks

Vadim

re: Add SharePoint lookup column declaratively through CAML XML

Tested it, doesn't work. — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 12:32:12 GMT

hmmm, I've tested as following this article, but it can't bind to the list with the name...is anyone make it works without the list's GUID ?

re: Add SharePoint lookup column declaratively through CAML XML

Scott — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 17:37:48 GMT

To make this method work, the field definition must exist in a list definition since the wiring up to the GUID happens when you the provision the list, rather than when you add a column to an existing content type/list.

re: Add SharePoint lookup column declaratively through CAML XML

xx — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 19:42:15 GMT

awesome! I was ommitting the lists/ from list property once i added that it worked.

re: Add SharePoint lookup column declaratively through CAML XML

Hoang Ha — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 09:48:25 GMT

Thank you very much. It's worked for me

re: Add SharePoint lookup column declaratively through CAML XML

Michhes — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 11:26:01 GMT

Just echoing your updated text since I missed it when I first skim-read this post:

"the URL specified in your schema.xml file MUST MATCH the List attribute on all your Field references in field.xml and schema.xml. If these don’t match, it will not work"

I made these match up and everything worked.

-Michhes

re: Add SharePoint lookup column declaratively through CAML XML

Rafael — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 23:45:14 GMT

It DOES work... neat solution! Thanks!

re: Add SharePoint lookup column declaratively through CAML XML

Mohamed Hachem — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 19:23:52 GMT

Here is an example of the custom lookup column as I added it to a custom list schema

Cheers

re: Add SharePoint lookup column declaratively through CAML XML

Nick — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 08:44:32 GMT

I want to add the lookup site column to a content type. The example states how to add it to a list definition but does not seem to work for adding the column to a content type defined in the package.

Does the content type have to be defined in a feature that activates after the feature that contains the lookup column?