Hi Earnie.

I've done this at work. We set it up so that clicking on the name opens the document, the icon is there purely to indicate what type of file it is (it is not clickable) and we have a small (i) icon on the right hand side, which when clicked upon opens up the detail screen.

It was an older version though, and I needed to change the source code to do this at the time (there were some other changes to make also). We are about to upgrade to the latest version where I don't think this is required, but I can check it out for you if you like?

Cheers,
Andrew

Earnie,
I'm afraid that what started out as an attempt to make columns tailorable, turned into a too complex solution. I want to rework this part of the solution in a future version. For now I'll help anyone with specific column wishes. Here is what happens to the parameters:
''' Template for a column
''' 0: Name (i.e. in DB)
''' 1: Title
''' 2: Width in pixels
''' 3: CssClass
''' 4: Template (for dates)
''' 5: Show link or not
''' 6: Sort Expression
''' 7: Header ImageUrl
''' 8: Alternate text for icon
''' 9: EntryType starts with
''' 10: Id Field
''' 11: Description Field
''' 12: Parameters
''' 13: Open in new window
''' 14: Image Url
''' 15: Image Url Prefix
''' 16: Image Url Field
''' 17: Image Url No
''' 18: Image Url Yes
''' 19: Visibility Field
The first (0) parameter can also be one of
- "StatusDeleted", "StatusLocked", "StatusApproved", "StatusPrivate", "StatusAttention": generates an icon corresponding to that status
- "DownloadFileIcon" generates an icon of the file type that now points to the details page (used to be download)
- "ActionDownload" generates an icon for download
- "ActionJump", "ActionJumpNew" for hyperlinks
- "Description" shows title with link to default action
- "FileCheckBox", "FileSize" self-explanatory
- "TemplateLink", "TemplateIcon", "TemplateIconYesNo" direct access to columns template types
- "Collection" showing collection name and link to that

I hesitate in the redesign about 2 directions:
1. complete control for the customer by pouring the file list into a separate ascx
2. guiding the customer by using an xml file (improvement on the current solution using pipe symbols and semicolons).
The advantage of the former is that .net programmers can more easily adapt the rendering. The disadvantage is that non-net programmers probably find this harder. This will be a liability as it might break the working of the module if not correctly done. The advantage of the second is that it stays close to what is already there and this can thus be done quickly.

Peter

Being a .Net developer (albeit newbie) I prefer the former! [;)]

Thanks for this detailed list of parameters.

I make the assumption, then, that we are not limited to just 10 paramters or the x amount you used in the initial build.  But that we can use any number as long as we have | dividers up to the paramter we want to use.

such as if I wanted the Remarks to show, I don't have to have all the trailing empty parameters:
Remarks|Remarks|350

as opposed to
Remarks|Remarks|350||||||||

(note, I tried it out and it worked on DMX 3.3.1)

Earnie,
Almost. As I've said, this part of the code is far from perfect and needs a major revision. You'll find that leaving out some of the pipe symbols might give rise to issues. Start your debugging by adding the pipe symbols to the required number. I know it doesn't help legibility, but it is the safest.
Peter

Peter,

I would suggest the XML solution. The main advantage is that:

1. for earch attribute not being specified one can use a default
2. a check for a well formatted document is relatively easy
3. you don't have to be a programmer to change the thing...

Peter

I agree with with the advantages for XML. The following are the advantages for using ascx:

1. Way more powerful a solution to provide custom layout. Not only can you change the ascx, but you potentially add an ascx that inherits of another dll so you can do processing logic behind if you want. That way you can do almost anything. DMX just provides the data and tells it when to render.
2. Faster as it does not need to be parsed and turned into a control first

As a reaction to your 3rd point: I find people asking to tune file list layout are either programmers themselves (providing a custom solution for an intranet somewhere) or IT staff that might know just enough of asp.net to make basic changes to an ascx file.

Hi all,
Can anyone shed some light on the Visibility Field parameer and what values it can take? I was hoping to use this to make the View Details column only visible to Site Admins...

Any and all advice much appreciated :)

Ben

You can point it to a boolean column that tells the renderer whether to show this thing or not. It is used in the Icon templates where, for instance, the column 'IsApproved' determines whether or not a Not approved icon shows up.

Hi, from my understanding of the parameters listed above the following should open the link in the same window:

Description|Page Title|300|FileGrid_Description||True|Description||||||Default|False|||||||

where I'm guessing the 'False' in Column 13 controls this behaviour. However it doesn't make any difference to my links (they still open in a new window). I've tried Yes, No, True, False and _same but without any success. If anyone could shed any light on this that would be fantastic.

Many thanks in advance,
Ben.

Ben,
The 'Description' column is handled in a custom way and ignores this setting. Try the following:
TemplateLink|Page Title|300|FileGrid_Description|||||||EntryId|Description||False|||||||
What I've changed:
0 - TemplateLink
10 - Id Field (what to use in the link parameters)
11 - Description Field (text to show)

Peter

Hi Peter,
 Thanks for the reply. I've tried to incorporate the suggested parameters but am not having a great deal of luck. If I use the 'TemplateLink' as the first parameter it returns a page with:

'A critical error has occurred.
Object reference not set to an instance of an object.'

If I replace 'TemplateLink' with 'Description' then it loads fine but the only column which is selectable is the final one to view the details.

Would it be easier to use a different column for the link rather than the Description? I've included the ColumnList.Text value as I'm using it in the ViewCategory.asc.resx file in case there's a conflict or similar.

Previous Value (works but first column link opens in a new window):
Description|PageTitle|300|FileGrid_Description||True|Description||||||Default|False|||||||;
Remarks|Description|400|FileGrid_Summary|;
TemplateIcon||24||||||||EntryId||EntryId=[PARAMETERS]&Command=Core_ViewDetails|False|Images/Transparent.gif|~/||||||||

Testing Value (doesn't work unless I replace the 'TemplateLink' with 'Description' as the first parameter):
TemplateLink|PageTitle|300|FileGrid_Description|||||||EntryId|Description||False|||||||;
Remarks|Description|400|FileGrid_Summary|;
TemplateIcon||24||||||||EntryId||EntryId=[PARAMETERS]&Command=Core_ViewDetails|False|Images/Transparent.gif|~/||||||||

Many thanks for all your help so far with this :)
Ben.

Ben,
You are using a recent version of DMX?
Peter

Hi Pete,

 We're using version 03.04.08.

Regards,
Ben.

Sorry, I left out parameter 12: Parameters. It should be
TemplateLink|Page Title|300|FileGrid_Description|||||||EntryId|Description|EntryId=[PARAMETERS]|False|||||||
for the column you want

Peter

Hi Ppl,
Is there a column that could tell the file is newly uploaded like some icon indicating the file uplaoded is new and had not been downloaded or viewed even once.
I was trying to use Status|Status|||{0:d}||||Attention but it didn't work.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks!

There is not a column like that, because you'd have to define what is new. The challenge there is to find some date that you can use as threshold. The 'attention' works because it is used in conjunction with the recorded last date you accessed a document you subscribed to. If you're not subscribed to a document, no access time is recorded, however.
There is however another solution, which is to use the WhatsNew addon. That shows a list of documents sorted by the time of upload. Download it here on this site. I realize it does not show 'new' in the regular DMX, but it is as close as it gets now.
Peter