Publishing Page Layout DateTimeField formatting

By -

I wanted to have my DateTimeField show up with a different format than the 'short date' value that it defaults to. Unfortunately you can't just add a date format string to a field property to make this work. I've seen a few alternative ways to do this involving extending the DateTimeField control. But I didn't like those options and felt the way I finally figured out was a little nicer (in my opinion).

Here's what I did:

1. Add a code behind page to your page layout and wire it up. If you don't know how to do this watch this short video by Andrew Connell. The 2nd part has to do with Page Layouts but you do the exact same thing as he does in the first part with the master page.

2. Add an 2 EditModePanels to your page layout like so:

<PublishingWebControls:EditModePanel runat="server" ID="DateEditModePanel">
  <SharePointWebControls:DateTimeField ID="ArticleDateControl" runat="server" FieldName="NewsArticleDate" />
</PublishingWebControls:EditModePanel>
<PublishingWebControls:EditModePanel runat="server" ID="DateDisplayModePanel" PageDisplayMode="Display">
  <asp:Label runat="server" ID="lblFormatDate" />
</PublishingWebControls:EditModePanel>

3. Add the following control references to your code-behind class

protected Label lblFormatDate;
protected DateTimeField ArticleDateControl;

4. Add the following code in your code behind page:

protected override void OnLoad(EventArgs e)
{
 if (this.ArticleDateControl != null)
 {
   string dateString = "";
   try
   {
     dateString = Convert.ToDateTime(this.ArticleDateControl.ItemFieldValue).ToString("MMMM d, yyyy");
   }
   catch
   {
     dateString = "";
   }
   lblFormatDate.Text = dateString;
 }
}


5. Do the dance of joy.

Comments

Anonymous said…
It might be better to avoid adding code-behind to a page layout. If a user edits the page layout with SharePoint Designer, then the page will crash. I found this solution instead: http://panvega.wordpress.com/2009/03/16/masterpagepagelayout-format-date-field/

Regards,
Tomas
January 20, 2010 at 6:05:00 AM PST
Paul said…
That is a valid point. We have a strict no SharePoint Designer policy on modifying our Master Pages. But I'm going to check out your solution, Thanks for your suggestion!
January 20, 2010 at 6:08:00 AM PST
Phi said…
Remember base.OnLoad() or else your publshing commands will not be available in the ribbon!
June 3, 2012 at 6:32:00 AM PDT
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

ERROR: Failed to create feature receiver...

By -
I was working on a STSDev project which deployed a feature with a feature receiver. I had the feature working without the FeatureReceiver but as soon as I added the FeatureReceiver related attributes to my <Feature> element I got the following error: Failed to create feature receiver object from assembly "Org.Project.Solution, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=c632353d405b3209", type "Org.Project.Solution.MyFeature.FeatureReceiver" for feature 6a9b2358-ea4e-486d-a4e4-4f813c52ce88: System.ArgumentNullException: Value cannot be null. Parameter name: type at System.Activator.CreateInstance(Type type, Boolean nonPublic) at System.Activator.CreateInstance(Type type) at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPFeatureDefinition.get_ReceiverObject() After much digging around I discovered that STSDEV's Solution config file refers to a namespace as well as the dll. My FeatureReceiver's namespace was not prefixed with the right namespace So just
Read more

Microsoft Virtualilzation Headaches

By -
As a SharePoint consultant, I am constantly moving from client to client and the best way to develop and test the code, designs and configurations for each client while maintaining complete separation is to virtualize. Since I work for a Microsoft partner, we try to use Microsoft tools and technologies as much as possible, which can be quite frustrating, as you will find out below. I recently started working for a large client with a global presence whose IT policies are well-established, difficult to change and not always up-to-date. In that vein, enter the corporate VPN: it's a web-based signin with a host checker that doesn't support any x64 OS. This prompted me, running Win 7 x64, to try to get a co-worker's Hyper-V Win2k3 x86 MOSS VM and run it in Windows Virtual PC . Seems like a logical thing to do, right? I mean, a Microsoft VHD should work, and be able to be imported by other Microsoft tools, right? Wrong. After spending quite a bit of time trying to attach the VHD
Read more

Programmatically Update Page Layouts

By -
I updated my page layouts that I deployed as a feature, but found that I could not overwrite the Layout File. The solution was to add a new page layout and then you would have to associate the new layout with every page on your site that used it. Obviously with a site of any size you'd have a lot of manual work to get this done, so doing it programmatically makes for a much better (and thorough) approach. After you've got your new page layouts, you could do something like this (in your event receiver class): public override void FeatureActivated(SPFeatureReceiverProperties properties) { //replace current page layouts with new page layouts on all pages SPWeb web = SPContext.Current.Web; SwapPageLayout(web, "FullWidthContentWithTitleV1.aspx", "FullWidthContentWithTitleV2.aspx"); } private void SwapPageLayout(SPWeb web, string oldPageLayoutName, string newPageLayoutName) { PublishingWeb pubWeb = PublishingWeb.GetPu
Read more