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FieldRef Element (ContentType)

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Specifies a column to reference in this content type.

<FieldRef
  Aggregation="sum" | "count" | "average" | "min" | "max" | "merge" | "plaintext" | "first" | "last"
  DefaultValue="Text"
  Description="Text"
  DisplayName="Text"
  Format="Text"
  Filterable="TRUE" | "FALSE"
  FilterableNoRecurrence="TRUE" | "FALSE"
  FromBaseType="TRUE" | "FALSE"
  Hidden="TRUE" | "FALSE" | "orResource"
  ID="Text"
  Locked="TRUE" | "FALSE"
  Name="Text"
  Node="Text"
  NumLines="Integer"
  PIAttribute="Text"
  PITarget="Text"
  PrimaryPIAttribute="Text"
  PrimaryPITarge="Text"
  ReadOnly="TRUE" | "FALSE"
  ReadOnlyClient="TRUE" | "FALSE"
  Required="TRUE" | "FALSE"
  Sealed="TRUE" | "FALSE"
  ShowInDisplayForm="TRUE" | "FALSE"
  ShowInEditForm="TRUE" | "FALSE"
  ShowInFileDlg="TRUE" | "FALSE"
  ShowInListSettings="TRUE" | "FALSE"
  ShowInNewForm="TRUE" | "FALSE"
  Sortable="TRUE" | "FALSE">
</FieldRef>

Attributes

Attribute

Description

Aggregation

If you use the Node attribute to specify an XPath expression that returns a collection of values, you can also include an Aggregation attribute that specifies the action to take on the value set that is returned.

This action can be either an aggregation function or an indication of the particular element within the collection.

Possible values include the following:

  • sum

  • count

  • average

  • min

  • max

  • merge

  • plaintext   Converts node text content into plain text.

  • first   Applies property promotion and demotion to the first element in the collection.

  • last   Applies property promotion and demotion to the last element in the collection.

For more information about how the Node, PIAttribute, PITarget, PrimaryPIAttribute, and PrimaryPITarget attributes are used for property promotion and demotion in XML documents, see Using Content Types to Specify XML Document Properties.

DefaultValue

Obsolete.

Description

Optional Text. Provides the description that is shown in the edit form for a list if a column description is specified. By default, columns in Windows SharePoint Services do not have descriptions.

DisplayName

Optional Text. The displayed name for the column. Maximum length is 255 characters.

This name is used as a form label when the column is displayed in a form.

Format

Optional Text. Specifies the formatting to be used for numerical values.

For date/time columns, the following values are possible:

  • DateOnly   Only display (and allow edits to) the date portion (the time portion is set to 12:00 A.M. for all edited values).

  • DateTime   Display and edit both date and time of day (default).

  • ISO8601   Display date and time in ISO8601 time format converted to UTC: YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ.

    This is the format used for document properties in the Microsoft Office system, as well as for the standard interchange format used in Windows SharePoint Services between New and Edit forms and the server.

  • ISO8601Basic   Use the abbreviated form of 8601 date/time formats: YYYYMMDDTHHMMSSZ.

    This is the format used for vCard/iCal.

For Choice fields, this attribute can be set to Dropdown (default), which provides editing options through a drop-down selection, or to RadioButtons, which provides options through a group of radio buttons.

For URL fields, this attribute can be set to Hyperlink (default), which displays the URL as a normal <A> tag, or to Image, which displays the URL as <IMG SRC=”URL” ALT=”Description”>.

Filterable

Optional Boolean. TRUE to define the column as filterable.

FilterableNoRecurrence

Optional Boolean. TRUE to define the column as filterable with no recurring values.

FromBaseType

Optional Boolean. This attribute has been deprecated in favor of the Sealed attribute.

Hidden

Optional Boolean. If TRUE, the field is completely hidden from the user interface. Setting ReadOnly to TRUE means the field is not displayed in New or Edit forms but can still be included in views.

If you do not include this attribute, Windows SharePoint Services treats the column as if this attributes was set to FALSE.

ID

Optional Text. Specifies the field ID of the column this FieldRef element references.

Locked

Obsolete.

Name

Optional Text. The name of a column. This is the internal name of a column and is guaranteed never to change for the lifetime of the field definition. It must be unique with respect to the set of fields in a list. The name is auto-generated based on the user-defined name for a field.

Node

Optional Text. Specifies the XML node in the document which contains the column value. Used for property promotion and demotion in XML documents.

For more information about how the Node, PIAttribute, PITarget, Primary PIAttribute, and PrimaryPITarget attributes are used for property promotion and demotion in XML documents, see Using Content Types to Specify XML Document Properties.

NumLines

Optional Integer. Recommends the number of lines (rows) to display in a TEXTAREA block during editing. This is merely a client UI hint; there is no enforced limitation on the number of lines of text that can be edited.

PIAttribute

Optional Text. Specifies the attribute in the document processing instruction (specified by the PITarget attribute) to use as the column value. Used for property promotion and demotion in XML documents.

If you specify the PIAttribute attribute, you must also specify the PITarget attribute.

For more information about how the Node, PIAttribute, PITarget, Primary PIAttribute, and PrimaryPITarget attributes are used for property promotion and demotion in XML documents, see Using Content Types to Specify XML Document Properties.

PITarget

Optional Text. Specifies the document processing instruction in which the column value is stored in documents of this content type. Used for property promotion and demotion in XML documents.

If you specify the PIAttribute attribute, you must also specify the PITarget attribute.

For more information about how the Node, PIAttribute, PITarget, Primary PIAttribute, and PrimaryPITarget attributes are used for property promotion and demotion in XML documents, see Using Content Types to Specify XML Document Properties.

PrimaryPIAttribute

Optional Text. Specifies an alternate attribute in the document processing instruction, specified by the PrimaryPITarget, to use as the column value.

If you specify the PrimaryPIAttribute attribute, you must also specify the PrimaryPITarget attribute. If specified, Windows SharePoint Services uses these values before those specified in the PITarget and PIAttribute attributes.

Used for property promotion and demotion in XML documents.

For more information about how the Node, PIAttribute, PITarget, Primary PIAttribute, and PrimaryPITarget attributes are used for property promotion and demotion in XML documents, see Using Content Types to Specify XML Document Properties.

PrimaryPITarget

Optional Text. Specifies an alternative document processing instruction in which the column value is stored for documents of this content type.

If you specify the PrimaryPIAttribute attribute, you must also specify the PrimaryPITarget attribute. If specified, Windows SharePoint Services uses these values before those specified in the PITarget and PIAttribute attributes.

For more information about how the Node, PIAttribute, PITarget, Primary PIAttribute, and PrimaryPITarget attributes are used for property promotion and demotion in XML documents, see Using Content Types to Specify XML Document Properties.

ReadOnly

Optional Boolean. If TRUE, the field is not displayed in New or Edit forms but can be included in views. Setting the Hidden attribute to TRUE completely hides the field from the UI.

If you do not include this attribute, Windows SharePoint Services treats the column as if this attributes was set to False.

Required

Optional Boolean. If TRUE, the field must not have an empty value assigned to it. If a nonempty field value is not given in a form post, either the standard required-field text or an explicitly specified message (that is, via <ErrorText> tags) is displayed in the error form. This validation is handled by the client only (the database always allows NULL for all user-defined fields).

Sealed

Optional Boolean. TRUE to define the column as sealed. You cannot edit sealed columns through the Windows SharePoint Services user interface or object model.

If you do not include this attribute, Windows SharePoint Services treats the column as if this attributes was set to FALSE.

ShowInDisplayForm

Optional Boolean. TRUE to display the column on the Display form for items of this content type.

ShowInEditForm

Optional Boolean. TRUE to display the field on the Edit Item page.

ShowinFileDlg

Optional Boolean. TRUE to display the column in the file dialog box for items of this content type.

ShowInListSettings

Optional Boolean. If FALSE, the field does not show up in a Fields enumeration when the display mode is set to New. Fields with this setting do not show up in the default New Item page for a given list.

ShowInNewForm

Optional Boolean. TRUE to display the column on the New form for items of this content type.

Sortable

Optional Boolean. TRUE if values in the field can be sorted.

Child Elements

None.

Parent Elements

FieldRefs Element (ContentType)

Occurrences

Minimum: 0

Maximum: No limit

Remarks

The FieldRef element is a reference to a column defined elsewhere, either at the site or list level. In the field reference, you can override a subset of the column properties, such as the following:

  • Display name

  • XML promotion and demotion attributes

  • Whether the field is read-only, required, or hidden

Changing these properties in the field reference changes them only as they apply to the specific content type that contains the field reference.

For more information about field references, see Fields and Field References.

Example

The following example shows FieldRef elements specifying several columns to include in the content type.

<FieldRefs>
  <FieldRef ID=FID_FileLeafRef Name="FileLeafRef" Required="TRUE"/>
  <FieldRef ID=FID_Created Name="Created" Hidden="TRUE" /> 
  <FieldRef ID=FID_Title Name="Title" Required="FALSE" ShowInNewForm="FALSE" ShowInEditForm="TRUE"/> 
  <FieldRef ID=FID_Modified Name="Modified"  Hidden="TRUE" /> 
</FieldRefs>

See Also

Concepts

Content Type Definition Schema

Fields and Field References

Other Resources

Content Types