This month, we’re releasing a new build of Lightning Forms and Lightning List Actions. Before we explain the new features, below is a summary of Lightning Forms & Lightning List Actions and how these products can help you to build powerful business forms and workflow.
What is Lightning Forms?
Lightning Forms is a SharePoint SPFx App that enables you to contextually modify SharePoint list forms such as the New Form, Edit Form, and Display Form. You can modify the layout to include Rich Text, Tab Controls, Multiple Columns, Hide When Fields, Sub lists (embedded list), and Action Buttons. Business logic can be applied without the need to write code to conditionally display form elements such as tabs and fields, apply styling and conditional formatting, calculated values, validation rules, and much more. Building business forms like Purchase Requests, Annual Leave Booking, or Recruitment requests becomes a breeze.
What is Lightning List Actions?
Lightning List Actions is a series of actions that can be triggered against one, multiple, or all items in a SharePoint list. It’s easy to build Action Buttons on the SharePoint list command bar providing functionality such as sending emails, updating field values, copying items, etc. Quite often List Actions has been used as a bulk Approval workflow within many SharePoint lists such as Purchase Requests.
What’s new?
Version 3.4.0.0 of Lightning Forms includes the following improvements:
- Column and View formatting within sublists & Grouped views within sublists
- Tile View within sublibraries
- Drag and Drop files/folders into sublists/sublibraries
- Configure List Actions on the command bar of a sublist/sublibrary
- Create additional new forms from the Lightning Forms dialog
- New CAML Builder for adding filters to lookup columns and Get Items List Action
- New column layout options
- Import/Export different sections of the form configuration
- Clone Objects such as Fields and sections
Column and View formatting within sublists and grouped views within sublists.
Column formatting has been available for Modern SharePoint lists for several years now. However, the formatting that you may have applied to the underlying SharePoint list was not carried across if the same list was embedded on a form. The column formatting will now display on the sublist, providing your users with improved business decisions and awareness when viewing embedded items. In addition to column formatting, other list configurations such as grouping are also honoured in the sublist.
Tile View within sublibraries
When you add a document library as a sublibrary, the tile view can be displayed instead of the list view.
Drag and Drop files and folders into sublists and sublibraries
Rather than using the ‘Upload’ option only, Lightning Forms now supports the ability to drag and drop folders or files into sublists and sublibraries. This improves the speed in which forms can be completed by the end users.
Configure List Actions on the command bar of a sublist/sublibrary
Command Bar actions can be configured, renamed, and rearranged on the sublist or sublibrary. Integrating Lightning List Actions means that you can apply bulk updates to multiple items within the sublist or sublibrary with one action button click. Applying approval to multiple items is an example of a command bar action that you may create in your sublist.
Create new forms from the Lightning Forms dialog
Until now, if you needed multiple forms such as more than one Edit form, you would have to add the form via SharePoint Designer. Lightning Forms now enables you to create multiple forms from the Customize Form dialog.
New CAML Builder for adding filters to lookup columns and Get Items List Action
The new modern CAML query builder enables you to create filters against lookup columns, sublists, and actions such as Get Items. Additional new options include Row Limit, Order By, and Query Scope. You can also test your query against an item using the Run option at the bottom of the CAML Query Builder.
New column layout options
When adding a new row, or configuring a row within the SharePoint List Form, additional options include One-third left, and One-third right for the column configuration. This is ideal if you are organizing Rich Text fields vs single value fields within a forms layout side by side.
Import/Export different sections of the form configuration
Prior to this release, you could export your design of a form such as New Form, and then import the configuration of your form into the other list forms such as Edit Form and Display Form. It is typical that you would want the layout to be consistent across the three forms, but also typical that some business logic such as an Approval button or field calculation wouldn’t be required on the New Form, whereas it would be on the Edit Form. For that reason, you can now select which parts of the exported configuration you would like to import into another List Form.
Copy form element
It is now possible to copy form elements such as fields on a form. This helps to duplicate business logic or styling that may have been added against one of the form elements, saving you time when designing your SharePoint list forms.
Webinar
On the 17th November 2022, we’ll be demonstrating these new features in a webinar. Register today for your chance to ask questions, provide feedback to our product team, and maybe make a wish for new features!
