BC SharePoint Enhanced Lookup Certified by Microsoft

Its official! The Ballard Chalmers Enhanced Lookup feature for SharePoint is now a Microsoft Certified Product for Windows Server 2008 R2 and Microsoft .NET offering more power to SharePoint users.

SharePoint has always had a Lookup column type that allows one column in a list to be based on the contents of another list. However, this standard lookup column type has many limitations and can only be used as a lookup from a single list in the same web site.

The Ballard Chalmers Enhanced Lookup Feature takes things a lot further and supports:

• Non-linking Lookup Field : A Lookup Field which does not provide a link back to the lookup list
• Separate Value and Text Properties : A Lookup Field which can look up one column for the text to display in the selection drop-down and another column for the value to be stored - giving the ability to emulate a 'code/description' scenario where the user selects an item using the description but the item's code is stored in the list
• Store Lookup Values as Simple Strings : A Lookup Field which stores its value as a simple string rather than the complex

  ID;#Title;#ID;#Title

  pattern used by the OOTB Lookup columns - this allows for simpler manipulation of lookup values by subsequent processes
• Sorted Lookup Values : A Lookup Field where values are always sorted alphabetically - no need to keep the source list in a sorted order
• Cross-site Lookup : A Lookup Field which can access lists in any site within a Web App - works with multiple Site Collections using both Explicit and Wildcard Managed Paths
• Filtered Lookups : A Lookup Field which can be filtered based on a selection in another Lookup Field - giving the ability to create 'Parent/child' or Cascading Lookups
• Lookups across Permission Boundaries : A Lookup Field which can access values in a list for which the user does not have explicit permissions - giving the ability to use secure lists as lookups without compromising the security by granting read access to site members
• Auto-load Column Values : A Lookup Field which automatically loads column values when only one selection exists - when combined with Filtered Lookup, gives the ability to automatically load subordinate column values when a selection is made in a 'parent' lookup

This probably all sounds a bit technical so let's have a look at what it really means: Let's imagine that we have a list in our Intranet that contains all our customers as in the following example:

Then imagine we want to add a Contracts list that contains contracts for customer and in the list we want a lookup for the Customer. However we want to show the customer code in the list and not the customer name, as shown below:

However when someone adds a customer or updates an existing one we want to show the customer name and not the code, as shown below:

This can all easily be done using the Enhanced Lookup and the screen used to add the Customer column to the Contacts list is as follows:

It's as easy as that.

What's more now that the Ballard Chalmers SharePoint Enhanced Lookup has been submitted for and passed official Microsoft testing, it is an official Microsoft Certified Product for:

• Windows Server 2008
• Windows Server 2008 R2
• Microsoft .NET

All this for £500!

If you want to find out how the Ballard Chalmers SharePoint Enhanced Lookup can help your enterprise contact us at andrew.chalmers@ballardchalmers.com or call 01342 410223.

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