The Lightning Conductor includes a Grid View option, which is used to display content in the form of columns and rows.
COLUMN SETTINGS
- Display Format – The Display Format will change how the data for that column is displayed. For example, you can change the Display of a Date to Short Date or Long Data and a Numerical column to Currency, Percentage, etc.
- Alias – You may want to change the column header label for the column. This is useful if you would like a more meaningful column header. Such as changing ‘Title’ to ‘Task Name’.
- Width – The width setting is automatic. However, if you prefer to set a fixed width, you can do so by setting the number of pixels.
- Group By – Check the Group By box if you want to group by a column, such as Priority. You can group by as many columns as you like. You may also set the primary, secondary grouping by changing the number in the group by check box if more than one column is selected.
- Display – You may select that you do not wish to display a column. This may appear strange, since you selected the column in the place from the columns tab. However, if you are grouping by a column, you may not wish also to display the column in the view.
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Formatting – The formatting option allows you to specify formatting with or without a condition. If you want formatting to be applied without a condition, you can remove the condition by clicking the trash can icon.
- Configure Summary Functions – The summary functions allow you to specify an aggregate function against a column. Such as Sum, Min, Max or Count. The summary value can be displayed at the bottom of the group, page or all of the data.
- Sortable – Allows the column to be sorted from within the view.
- Filterable – Allows the column to be filtered from within the view. When selected, filter options within the view become available for the relevant column. The columns can also always be filtered from the Columns tab in the view settings.
Other settings upon clicking the (…) ellipses icon include:
- Multiline – Allows the field value to word-wrap.
- Collapsible – Allows the column to be collapsed.
- Resizable – Allows the column to be resized using a dragging action.
- Allow Html – For columns such as Rich Text columns that contain elements of code. You can select whether the code is rendered or the markup is displayed.
- Header Align – Choose the justification for the column.
- Detect Emails/URLs – Allows the column to detect emails and URLs automatically.
- Custom Formatting – Allows for custom column JSON formatting similar to the SharePoint list column JSON format.
- Allow Inline Editing – This option allows the specified column to be edited and saved directly from the Lightning Conductor Grid View.
Calculated Columns
In addition to selecting existing columns in the Columns tab of the Lightning Conductor, you can also create a calculated column. A Calculated column may be a concatenation of two or more columns, a mathematical calculation, or a javascript expression. To add your own calculated column, click ‘Add Calculated Column’ and specify your calculation. You can then select to display the calculated column.
Column name: In the text box, type a name for the column.
Column type: Select one of the following values: String, DateTime, Integer, Double or Boolean. You must select the data type that is to be calculated. This may not be the same value as the columns involved in the calculation.
Expression: Use this section to create the formula for the calculated column. A formula can contain functions, column references, operators, and constants. To insert a column reference, select the column in the dropdown list and then click Insert field.
Example calculations included are ‘Merge Columns’, ‘Parent Site Link’, and ‘Parent List Link’.
TEXT FORMULAS
You can use formulas to manipulate text, such as combining or concatenating the values from multiple columns, comparing the contents of columns, removing characters or spaces, and repeating characters.
- To combine two or more columns, use the addition operator ( + ), for example to create a calculated column, fullname, which concatenates the columns, Firstname and Lastname, use the following formula:
[Firstname]+” “+[Lastname] - For example, to find the length of the values stored in the Title column:
[Title].Length - For example,
- To convert a string stored in the Title column to lower case,
[Title].ToLower() - To retrieve a substring for values stored in the Title column, starting from character position 5, for a length of 6 characters,
[Title].Substring(5,6) - To remove all spaces for values stored in the Title column,
[Title].Replace(” “,””)
- To convert a string stored in the Title column to lower case,
DATE AND TIME FORMULAS
You can use formulas to perform calculations that are based on dates and times, such as finding the day of the week, adding a number of days, months, or years to a date, calculating the difference between two dates, and converting time to a decimal value.
- Displaying the day of the week for values stored in the Created column,
[Created].Value.DayOfWeek - To add a date/time component to a column, for example, to add two hours to the Created column, use the following formula,
[Created].Value.AddHours(2).ToString(“YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM”) - Calculating the difference between two dates. For example, when using a task list, create a calculated column using the following formula to display the number of days to complete a task.
([DueDate].Value-[StartDate].Value).TotalDays
CONDITIONAL FORMULAS
You can use formulas to test the condition of a statement and return a value. Conditional expressions take the form of a ternary operator called the conditional expression operator, ?:, which use the following format:
(condition)?(evaluate if condition was true):(evaluate if condition was false)
For example, if you want to create a calculated column that contains either Before or After, depending on the year the item / file was created, then the formula would look similar to:
([Created].Value.Year<DateTime.Now.Year)?”Before”:”After”
MATHEMATICAL FORMULAS
You can use formulas to perform a variety of mathematical calculations, including adding ( + ), subtracting ( – ), multiplying ( * ), dividing numbers ( / ), remainder after dividing a number by a second number ( % ) etc. For example:
- Round values in the NoTasks column to the nearest integral value:
Math.Round([NoTasks].Value) - Calculate the area of a circle when the value of the radius is saved in the Radius column:
Math.Pow([Radius].Value,2)*Math.PI
GRID VIEW SETTINGS
Show Header – Show or hide the header (columns headings)
Sticky Header – Keep the header displayed whilst scrolling through the list items.
Hide Dynamic Filtering – Turn off the Dynamic Filter controls so that end users cannot filter the results.
Header Align – Align the column labels to a desired direction.
Enable Item Editing – Allows list items to be edited and saved directly in the Lightning Conductor Grid View. When enabled, a clickable pencil icon appears in the grid view beside the items.
All Data Summary Position – When displaying summary aggregate functions, select where they will be displayed for the entire results.
Allow Selecting Rows – Allows the selection of single or multiple rows in the grid view. When the option is chosen, it enables the Actions section of the Lightning Conductor.
Maximum Height – Set the maximum height for the rows in pixels. Empty is dynamic height to fit the content.
Records per page – How many results per page do you want to display.
Font Size – Set the font size.
No item returned message – If zero results are displayed, perhaps due to filters. A meaningful statement can be displayed, such as: “There are no tasks assigned to you”.
GROUPING AND LINKING
Linked Column – The column within the results which will be the hyperlink to open the item.
Show item type icon – This option will show the type of icon. For example, a Word document icon will display to the left of each Word document, an Excel icon will be displayed for an Excel file and so on.
Show item sub menu – The Show item sub menu option will display the drop-down menu providing the options: View Item or Edit Item.
Link to item directly – This option will link to the item directly.
Use Client Applications – This option will open the documents in the client application installed on the local machine instead of the cloud version. For example, a Word document will be opened on the Word application on the computer instead of opening it in the browser.
Open item in current window – This will open the item in the current window instead of in a new browser tab.
Open item view/edit form in side panel – When the submenu is opened to show the View Item or Edit Item options, clicking either option will open the form in a side panel.
Group by Hierarchy – This can be applied to lists and libraries that use folders, allowing the folder structure to be honoured within the results, and therefore providing navigation through the folders. The By Task Hierarchy option can be set with related tasks, allowing navigation through parent tasks to child tasks.
ACTIONS
The Lightning Conductor lets you perform actions directly within the aggregated view of SharePoint list items. Whether you need to approve an expense request, assign a task to a team member, or update a customer record, the command bar buttons enable you to carry out these actions seamlessly.
The Actions section is enabled after Allowing Selecting Rows in the Grid View Settings.
The Lightning Conductor allows you to insert your custom code relevant to the action you want to construct. You can also use any of the inbuilt actions that come with the product. Here’s a webinar demonstration.
