How to Create Custom MultiColumn Field Types in SharePoint 2010

Introduction

This article explains how to create Multicolumn Custom Field Types in SharePoint. Suppose we have a scenario like in our list there is a column Address that has the fields Country, State, City, ZipCode, Street Address and so on. So one solution is to create multiple fields in a SharePoint list for each field or we can create a custom multicolumn field that handles all fields as a single logical unit.

How

Now suppose our custom field name is MyAddressField that has the following fields:

1. Street Address Line
2. City
3. State
4. Country
5. Zip Code

The following are the steps that are required to create a Multicolumn Custom Field Type:

• Create an Empty SharePoint Project as a Farm solution named as MyAddressField
• In the solution add a SharePoint Mapped Folder of Template-Control Template
  
  
  
  
• Now click on this Control Template Folder and add a user control named MyAddressRenderingTemplate.ascx
• Add following code to the ascx file:
   

  <SharePoint:RenderingTemplaterunat="server"ID="MyAddressRenderingTemplate">

   <Template>

     <table>

       <tr>

         <td>Address Street:</td>

         <td><asp:TextBoxID="txtAddress"runat="server"/></td>

       </tr>

       <tr>

         <td>City:</td>

         <td><asp:TextBoxID="txtCity"runat="server"/></td>

       </tr>

       <tr>

       <td>State:</td>

       <td><asp:TextBoxID="txtState"runat="server"/></td>

       </tr>

       <tr>

         <td>Country:</td>

         <td><asp:TextBoxID="txtCountry" runat="server"/></td>

       </tr>

       <tr>

       <td>Zipcode:</td>

       <td><asp:TextBoxID="txtZipcode"runat="server"/></td>

       </tr>

     </table>

   

   </Template>

  </SharePoint:RenderingTemplate>
   
• Add a class named MyAddress.cs and write the following code:
   

  publicclass MyAddress : SPFieldMultiColumn

  {

         public MyAddress(SPFieldCollection fields,

                                     string fieldName)

              :base(fields, fieldName) { }

   

         public MyAddress(SPFieldCollection fields,

                                     string typeName,

                                     string displayName)

              :base(fields, typeName, displayName) { }

   

         public overrideBaseFieldControl FieldRenderingControl

          {

             get

              {

                 BaseFieldControl ctr =new MyAddressFieldControl();

                  ctr.FieldName = this.InternalName;

                 return ctr;

              }

          }

   

         public overridestring GetFieldValueAsHtml(object value)

          {

             string HtmlLineBreak =@"<br />";

             SPFieldMultiColumnValue mColumnValue =

               new SPFieldMultiColumnValue(value.ToString());

             string HtmlAddress = mColumnValue [0].ToString() + HtmlLineBreak;

             if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(mcv[1]))

              {

                  HtmlAddress += mcv[1].ToString() + HtmlLineBreak;

              }

  HtmlAddress += mColumnValue [2].ToString() + ", " + mColumnValue [3] + "  " + mColumnValue [4];

             return HtmlAddress;

          }

  }

   

  publicclass MyAddressFieldControl : BaseFieldControl
   

  {

     protected overridestring DefaultTemplateName

      {

         get { return"MyAddressRenderingTemplate"; }

      }

     protected TextBox txtAddress;

     protected TextBox txtCity;

     protected TextBox txtState;

     protected TextBox txtCountry;

     protected TextBox txtZipcode;

   

     protected overridevoid CreateChildControls()

      {

         base.CreateChildControls();

          txtAddress =

              (TextBox)this.TemplateContainer.FindControl("txtAddress");

          txtCity =

              (TextBox)this.TemplateContainer.FindControl("txtCity");

          txtState =

              (TextBox)this.TemplateContainer.FindControl("txtState");

       txtCountry =

              (TextBox)this.TemplateContainer.FindControl("txtCountry");

          txtZipcode =

              (TextBox)this.TemplateContainer.FindControl("txtZipcode");

      }

   

     public overrideobject Value

      {

         get

          {

             this.EnsureChildControls();

             SPFieldMultiColumnValue mColumnValue =new SPFieldMultiColumnValue(5);

                  mColumnValue [0] = txtAddress.Text;

                  mColumnValue [1] = txtCity.Text.ToUpper();

                  mColumnValue [2] = txtState.Text;

                  mColumnValue [3] = txtCountry.Text;

                  mColumnValue [4] = txtZipcode.Text;

                 return mColumnValue;

              }

             set

              {

                 this.EnsureChildControls();

                 SPFieldMultiColumnValue mColumnValue =

                            (SPFieldMultiColumnValue)this.ItemFieldValue;

                  txtAddress.Text = mColumnValue [0];

                  txtCity.Text = mColumnValue [1];

                  txtState.Text = mColumnValue [2];

                  txtCountry.Text = mColumnValue [3];

                  txtZipcode.Text = mColumnValue [4];

              }

       }
  }
   

• Add another SharePoint Mapped Folder. Right-click on the solution, click on the "Add" menu and now click on "SharePoint Mapped Folder". You need to choose the Template-->XML folder. Now it will add a folder named XML to your solution.
  
  
   

• Right-click on this XML folder and add an XML file named fldtypes_MyAddressFields.xml
  
  Add the following code inside this file.
  
  <FieldTypes>
   <FieldType>
      <FieldName="TypeName">MYAddress</Field>
      <FieldName="ParentType">MultiColumn</Field>
      <FieldName="TypeDisplayName">MY Address</Field>
      <FieldName="TypeShortDescription">My Address</Field>
      <FieldName="UserCreatable">TRUE</Field>
      <FieldName="ShowInListCreate">TRUE</Field>
      <FieldName="FieldTypeClass">
        MyAddressField.MyAddress,$SharePoint.Project.AssemblyFullName$
      </Field>
    </FieldType>
  </FieldTypes>

Finally the Project Structure will look like this:



Now deploy the solution and in your SharePoint site try to add a new column. You will then see there is a custom field named "MyAddressField". Add this column, you can find the multicolumn field when you try to insert a new record into your list.