Conditional Logic For Controlling Quick Edit Behavior With Sharepoint Csr

What is Quick Edit and Why Control It

The Quick Edit mode in SharePoint allows users to directly edit list item content quickly within the view display without opening the full item details. When enabled, Quick Edit adds [edit] links next to items and toggles the view into an editable grid when clicked. However, unfettered use of Quick Edit can lead to accidental edits and loss of critical metadata. As such, SharePoint administrators and developers often wish to programmatically control Quick Edit access.

The core reasons for controlling Quick Edit dynamically include:

• Preventing accidental edits by limiting access for average users
• Enabling Quick Edit only for power users who need rapid edits
• Showing or hiding Quick Edit conditionally based on specific logic and rules
• Customizing the Quick Edit interface for better usability

Limiting Quick Edit with CSR

Since SharePoint 2013, developers have used Client-Side Rendering (CSR) to customize rendering and behavior without touching server-side code. CSR provides fine-grained control over components like Quick Edit by inserting JavaScript through script editor web parts and embed code.

The key methods for disabling Quick Edit with CSR include:

• Removing the [edit] links by overriding RenderItem function
• Intercepting click events on [edit] links to prevent mode toggle
• Checking current user permissions and conditionally allowing Quick Edit

Here is sample CSR JavaScript code to disable Quick Edit by returning empty HTML from RenderItem:

(function () {

    var overrideContext = {};

    overrideContext.Templates = {};

    overrideContext.Templates.Fields = {
        // Render nothing for the edit link    
        "Edit": {
            View: function(ctx) {
                return "";
            }
        }
    };

    SPClientTemplates.TemplateManager.RegisterTemplateOverrides(overrideContext);

})();

This overrides the native RenderItem function to skip rendering the [edit] links column values, effectively suppressing Quick Edit mode.

Enabling Quick Edit Conditionally

While preventing Quick Edit access broadly improves stability, users who need to rapidly update lists lose productivity. Conditional logic allows balancing usability and accuracy by enabling Quick Edit for certain audiences.

Example use cases where conditional Quick Edit edit is beneficial:

• Content editors can Quick Edit media asset libraries, but viewers cannot
• HR managers can Quick Edit employee directories, but average employees cannot
• Task supervisors can Quick Edit project tracking lists, but clients cannot

The following JavaScript demonstrates checking Group membership via SP.ClientContext.isCurrentUserMemberOfGroup before allowing Quick Edit:

var isCurrentUserInGroup = function(groupName) {

    var deferred = $.Deferred();
    var context = SP.ClientContext.get_current();
    var currentUser = context.get_web().get_currentUser();
    var targetGroup = context.get_web().get_siteGroups().getByName(groupName);
    
    context.load(currentUser);
    context.load(targetGroup);
    context.executeQueryAsync(function() {
        var isMember = currentUser.get_groups().getById(targetGroup.get_id());
        deferred.resolve(isMember != null);
    }, function() { 
        deferred.resolve(false); 
    });

    return deferred.promise();
}

isCurrentUserInGroup("Content Editors").done(function(isInGroup) {
    if (isInGroup) {
        // Enable Quick Edit 
    } else {  
        // Disable Quick Edit
    }
});

By checking group membership then showing/hiding Quick Edit conditionally, both power users and secure access are supported concurrently.

Customizing the Quick Edit UI

The default Quick Edit interface–while familiar to some users–can prove challenging for others to navigate efficiently. Further customization around the editing UX allows tailoring Quick Edit to improve productivity.

Additional CSR techniques to customize the Quick Edit UI include:

• Adding instructional text or tooltips for key action buttons
• Showing or hiding secondary ribbon buttons like Attach File
• Overriding CSS styles for visual appearance changes
• Pre-filtering columns displayed to focused critical data

For example, to simplify the ribbon and highlight key actions, the Follow and Stop Following buttons could be emphasized while other secondary options are hidden:

.ms-cui-tabContainer .ms-cui-group:not(.myCustomActions) {
    display: none; 
}

.myCustomActions button {
    background-color: #fcba32;
    font-weight: 600;
}  

By combining conditional logic, SP interface frameworks, and CSS/jQuery transformations, Quick Edit can transform from unstable liability to tailored productivity accelerator.

Troubleshooting and Considerations

As with any client-side browser manipulation, potential issues can arise when implementing custom Quick Edit behavior:

• Browser compatibility quirks causing changes to not apply consistently
• Conflicts with other simultaneous customizations or solutions
• Impacts cascading to other platform integrations dependent on Quick Edit
• Added script overhead reducing overall SharePoint performance

Factors to consider when customizing conditional Quick Edit include:

• Testing across target browser versions and devices
• Checking for interference with other customizations
• Analyzing usage to isolate and fix issues promptly
• Throttling frequency of client-side checks to improve efficiency

With smart validation and monitoring, conditional Quick Edit strikes an ideal balance of security and productivity for many SharePoint implementations.