Opening SharePoint Modal Dialogs SharePoint provides the ability to open modal dialog popups to display forms, messages, or allow user input. The main method used to open a modal dialog in SharePoint is SP.UI.ModalDialog.showModalDialog(). This method opens a modal dialog popup using the provided URL and options. Some key things to note when opening SharePoint…
What are CAML Queries and Why Use Them? CAML stands for Collaborative Application Markup Language. CAML queries allow you to define filters, selections, sorting, and limits for SharePoint list data in order to retrieve precisely the dataset you need. They are executed on the SharePoint server before data is sent to the client, optimizing performance…
The Need for Custom Field Rendering Out-of-the-box field rendering options in SharePoint 2013 have limitations that can constrain solutions built on the platform. Specifically, the lack of flexibility in displaying and editing field values on forms can hamper user experiences and adoption. As a result, developers often find the need to customize how fields are…
The Manual Burden of Sending Emails from SharePoint The task of manually sending notification emails from SharePoint regarding content updates and changes places a repetitive administrative burden on employees. The manual process of crafting custom emails for each update eats up valuable time that could be better utilized for core business-focused activities. Typically, employees receive…
Checking a user’s group membership in SharePoint can be a frequent yet resource-intensive operation. Every call to check Active Directory group membership results in added load on the domain controllers. When apps make repeated access check calls, the accumulated load can cause severe performance issues. Caching the results of group membership checks allows bypassing AD…
What Causes the “Sorry, apps are turned off” Error The “Sorry, apps are turned off” error typically signifies insufficient entitlements configured in the SharePoint farm to allow apps to be enabled and run properly in site collections or at the web application level. There are a few common misconfigurations that can trigger this access denied…
Understanding Content Types and Site Columns Content types are reusable collections of settings that define the metadata, workflow behavior, and key columns for items in SharePoint lists and document libraries. Site columns are the individual data fields within a content type that capture attributes and metadata for items. Content types allow centralized management of columns…
What Column Linking is in SharePoint Lists Column linking in SharePoint refers to the ability to choose a column that serves as the main identifier for items in a list. By default, SharePoint uses the “Title” column to provide the clickable link to each item. However, admins can configure SharePoint to use a different column…
Efficiently Loading Large SharePoint Document Libraries As SharePoint document libraries grow to contain tens or hundreds of thousands of files, users face increasingly long load times when accessing these large libraries. The default paged loading behavior retrieves data in batches, often resulting in delays of 30 seconds or more before the library finishes populating. This…
What is the 5000 Item Limit? SharePoint document libraries and lists have a built-in limit of 5000 items that can be returned in a single lookup. This limit exists to ensure optimal performance and prevent overloading the SharePoint environment. Exceeding 5000 items in a query places strain on the database and farm resources, resulting in…