Site Directory: Customization of the categories form

  • Article

It is possible to add more values to the default categories and even add more categories or properties to fill for your users creating subsites or site collections. The customization method is the same for both.

  1. Create the new custom columns using the supported types:
    1. Choice column - it will be a DropDownList with the choices of the field.
    2. MultiChoice - it will be a checkbox list with the choices of the field.
    3. Lookup field (single or multi valued ) - it will be a DropDownList with the values of the lookup list items.
    4. Boolean field - it will be a checkbox.
    5. All other types (including People, DateTime) - it will be a simple textbox.
  2. Add the new columns to the “Site Creation Categories” view.

Step by step guide can be found on Office online here.

This is how it looks like with the OOB default columns selected on an English MOSS 2007.

Edit view: Sites screenshot

Be aware that adding a lookup field with hundreds of items will negatively affect your rendering performance, not to mention usability and end-user experience.

It is not possible to extend the supported types or register custom controls to handle the display logic. Therefore you cannot use People nd DateTime column types with your custom controls either.

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