Date and Time Field in SharePoint 2010 Programmatically Using VS

Introduction

Today, in this article let's play around with one of the interesting and most useful concepts in SharePoint 2010.

Question: What is a list?

In simple terms "When you create a custom list, a new empty list is created with just two columns - Title and Attachments. The list contains a single default view. Once you create the list, you can add more columns, views, and so on".

I think we are now good to go and implement this wonderful concept.

Step 1. Create a custom list and modify the view.

Step 2. Open SharePoint 2010 Central Administration and navigate to a specific site.

Step 3. Open up Visual Studio 2010 and create an "Empty SharePoint project".

Step 4. Select "Deploy as a farm solution" and click on the "Finish" button. Now an empty project will be created:

Step 5. Add a new visual webpart for that project.

Step 6. The complete code of visualwebpart1usercontrol.ascx looks like this:

<%@ Assembly Name="$SharePoint.Project.AssemblyFullName$" %>
<%@ Assembly Name="Microsoft.Web.CommandUI, Version=14.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c" %>

<%@ Register TagPrefix="SharePoint" Namespace="Microsoft.SharePoint.WebControls"Assembly="Microsoft.SharePoint, Version=14.0.0.0, Culture=neutral,
PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c" %>
<%@ Register TagPrefix="Utilities" Namespace="Microsoft.SharePoint.Utilities" Assembly="Microsoft.SharePoint, Version=14.0.0.0, Culture=neutral,
PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c" %>
<%@ Register TagPrefix="asp" Namespace="System.Web.UI" Assembly="System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35"
%>
<%@ Import Namespace="Microsoft.SharePoint" %>
<%@ Register TagPrefix="WebPartPages" Namespace="Microsoft.SharePoint.WebPartPages"Assembly="Microsoft.SharePoint, Version=14.0.0.0, Culture=neutral,
PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c" %>
<%@ Control Language="C#" AutoEventWireup="true" CodeBehind="DateandTimeUserControl.ascx.cs"Inherits="DateandTimeList.DateandTime.DateandTimeUserControl"
%>
<div style="text-align: center;">
        <table>
            <tr>
                <td colspan="2">
                    <asp:Label ID="Label9" runat="server" Text="List Choice via Object Modelling - SharePoint 2010"
                        Font-Bold="true" Font-Size="Large" Font-Names="Verdana" ForeColor="Maroon"></asp:Label>
                </td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
                <td>
                    <asp:Label ID="Label10" runat="server" Text="Please Enter First Column Name" Font-Size="Large"
                        Font-Names="Verdana" Font-Italic="true"></asp:Label>
                </td>
                <td>
                    <asp:TextBox ID="TextBox7" runat="server"></asp:TextBox>
                </td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
                <td>
                    <asp:Label ID="Label11" runat="server" Text="Please Enter Second Column Name" Font-Size="Large"
                        Font-Names="Verdana" Font-Italic="true"></asp:Label>
                </td>
                <td>
                    <asp:TextBox ID="TextBox8" runat="server"></asp:TextBox>
                </td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
                <td>
                    <asp:Label ID="Label12" runat="server" Text="Please Enter Third Choice Column Name"
                        Font-Size="Large" Font-Names="Verdana" Font-Italic="true"></asp:Label>
                </td>
                <td>
                    <asp:TextBox ID="TextBox9" runat="server"></asp:TextBox>
                </td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
                <td>
                    <asp:Label ID="Label13" runat="server" Text="Please Enter Fourth Date & Time Column Name"
                        Font-Size="Large" Font-Names="Verdana" Font-Italic="true"></asp:Label>
                </td>
                <td>
                    <asp:TextBox ID="TextBox10" runat="server"></asp:TextBox>
                </td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
                <td colspan="2">
                    <br />
                    <br />
                    <fieldset>
                        <legend style="font-family: Verdana; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic">Enter ChoiceList
                            Items</legend>
                        <br />
                        <div style="text-align: center;">
                            <table>
                                <tr>
                                    <td>
                                        <asp:Label ID="Label14" runat="server" Text="Please Enter First List Item Name "
                                            Font-Size="Large" Font-Names="Verdana" Font-Italic="true"></asp:Label>
                                    </td>
                                    <td style="text-align: right">
                                        <asp:TextBox ID="TextBox11" runat="server"></asp:TextBox>
                                    </td>
                                </tr>
                                <tr>
                                    <td>
                                        <asp:Label ID="Label15" runat="server" Text="Please Enter Second List Item Name "
                                            Font-Size="Large" Font-Names="Verdana" Font-Italic="true"></asp:Label>
                                    </td>
                                    <td style="text-align: right">
                                        <asp:TextBox ID="TextBox12" runat="server"></asp:TextBox>
                                    </td>
                                </tr>
                            </table>
                            <br />
                            <br />
                        </div>
                    </fieldset>
                </td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
                <td colspan="2">
                    <asp:Button ID="Button1" runat="server" Text="Create List Fields" Font-Names="Verdana"
                        Width="166px" BackColor="Orange" Font-Bold="True" OnClick="Button2_Click" />
                </td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
                <td colspan="2">
                    <asp:Label ID="Label16" runat="server" Font-Bold="true" Font-Names="Verdana" ForeColor="Maroon"></asp:Label>
                </td>
            </tr>
        </table>
    </div>

Step 7. The complete code of visualwebpart1usercontrol.ascx.cs looks like this:

using System;
using System.Web.UI;
using System.Web.UI.WebControls;
using System.Web.UI.WebControls.WebParts;
using Microsoft.SharePoint;
using WebApplication1; 

namespace DateandTimeList.DateandTime
{
    public partial class DateandTimeUserControl : UserControl
    {
        protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            TextBox1.Focus();
        }
        protected void Button2_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(TextBox1.Text) || string.IsNullOrEmpty
                (TextBox2.Text) || string.IsNullOrEmpty(TextBox3.Text) || string.IsNullOrEmpty
                (TextBox4.Text) || string.IsNullOrEmpty(TextBox5.Text) || string.IsNullOrEmpty
                (TextBox6.Text))
            {
                Label5.Text = "Please Enter Some Values";
                Label5.ForeColor = System.Drawing.Color.Red;
            }
            else
            {
                SPSite site = SPContext.Current.Site;
                SPWeb web = site.OpenWeb();
                web.AllowUnsafeUpdates = true;
                SPList list = web.Lists["Person"];
                SPListItem item = list.Items.Add();

                item.Fields.Add(TextBox1.Text, SPFieldType.Text, true);
                item.Fields.Add(TextBox2.Text, SPFieldType.Text, true);

                SPFieldChoice fieldChoice = (SPFieldChoice)list.Fields.GetFieldByInternalName
                    (item.Fields.Add(TextBox3.Text, SPFieldType.Choice, true));

                string[] types = { TextBox4.Text, TextBox5.Text };
                fieldChoice.Choices.AddRange(types);
                fieldChoice.Update();

                SPFieldDateTime dateTime = new SPFieldDateTime(list.Fields, list.Fields.Add(
                    TextBox6.Text, SPFieldType.DateTime, true));

                dateTime.DisplayFormat = SPDateTimeFieldFormatType.DateTime;
                dateTime.Update();
                SPView view = list.DefaultView;
                view.ViewFields.Add(TextBox1.Text);
                view.ViewFields.Add(TextBox2.Text);
                view.ViewFields.Add(TextBox3.Text);
                view.ViewFields.Add(TextBox6.Text);
                view.Update();

                Label5.Text = "Fields Created Successfully";
                Label5.ForeColor = System.Drawing.Color.Green;
                TextBox1.Text = string.Empty;
                TextBox2.Text = string.Empty;
                TextBox3.Text = string.Empty;
                TextBox4.Text = string.Empty;
                TextBox5.Text = string.Empty;
                TextBox6.Text = string.Empty;
            }
        }
    }
}

Step 8. Deploy the solution file and add the created webpart to a SharePoint site.

Step 9. The output of the application looks like this:

Step 10. By entering a DateTime field, the output of the application looks like this:

Step 11. When entering data in the list output of the application, it looks like this:

Step 12. When data is entered in the list output of the application, it looks like this:

I hope this article is useful for you. I look forward for your comments and feedback. Thanks Vijay Prativadi