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How to Create SharePoint ReadOnly Site Columns?

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In this post I will show how to create a SharePoint readonly site column with following characteristics:

  1. Site column when added to a list or library should not be editable through UI (even datasheet view)
  2. Users should be able to add list columns based on site column to personal or shared list views of that list
  3. Users should not be able to modify any settings of the list column based on this site column (depends on field type and priviliges).
  4. Any updates to list column values can only be done programmatically

Long story short, I noticed that InfoPath promoted properties which are not editable have all these characteristics. So, I created site column defintion similar to one that is generated automatically for site columns based on an InfoPath form's readonly promoted property.

Here is a sample readonly site column definition:

<

Field ID="{102ED08D-CE13-4f56-B07E-7B5118191949}" Type="Text" Name="ReadonlyTest1" DisplayName="Read Only Test 1" StaticName="ReadonlyTest1" Group="Test Columns" Hidden="FALSE" ReadOnly="TRUE" Required="FALSE" ShowInDisplayForm="TRUE" ShowInViewForms="TRUE" PITarget="" PrimaryPITarget="" PIAttribute="" PrimaryPIAttribute="" Node=""/>

Essentially, add these attributes to any site column definition to make it readonly:

Hidden="FALSE" ReadOnly="TRUE" Required="FALSE" PITarget="" PrimaryPITarget="" PIAttribute="" PrimaryPIAttribute="" Node=""

Following is a sample code to modify the value of list column based on above sample site column when it's added to a custom list called "Test":

using (SPSite site = new SPSite("https://<your site>/"))

{

using (SPWeb web = site.RootWeb)

{

SPList oList = web.Lists["Test"];

SPListItem oListItem = oList.Items[0];

oListItem[

"Read Only Test 1"] = "Updated Text";

oListItem.Update();

}

}

Comments

  • Anonymous
    January 14, 2010
    Hi I am new to Customization Can you please tell me step by step how to slove this ?? Thanks Harish

  • Anonymous
    February 02, 2010
    Harish, How to create site columns and corresponding features is fairly documented in SDK, also found this article, hope you find it useful: http://sharethispoint.com/archive/2006/07/17/11.aspx

  • Anonymous
    January 14, 2011
    have been trying for this kind of solution for a long time, u saved my day. thnx Rajesh

  • Anonymous
    May 10, 2011
    @Manish Ahuja Not Found HTTP Error 404. The requested resource is not found.

  • Anonymous
    January 23, 2013
    Is there any way to do this without code?

  • Anonymous
    July 27, 2013
    There are many ways to make Read only fields in SharePoint:

  1. Using PowerShell to set ShharePoint column read only.
  2. Using jQuery/Javascript to make read only fields
  3. Using SharePoint Designer to make SharePoint list field read only. www.sharepointdiary.com/.../how-to-make-sharepoint-list-column-form-field-read-only.html