The Actions tab on the administration interface is used to select the pre-defined actions that you want to make available for use against the items in the Active Display. When the Active Display is shown, the actions you select on this tab are listed in a drop-down menu at the top of the Active Display, next to the Search bar.
This topic includes the following subjects:
• Select Actions for Use in an Active Display
• How Action Definitions are Referenced by Active Displays
• Execute an Action Against Items in an Active Display
Before you choose the actions to enable for an Active Display, please make sure that they are compatible with the schemas of both the source lists included in the Active Display and the destination list. For example, if you are working with an Event Active Display, you do not want to select an action that updates the status of a task (or any action that references a column that does not exist in the affected list).
If you enable an incompatible action for the Active Display and a user selects that action, it will always fail. You need to be sure that the columns that are populated or updated exist in both the source list and the destination list. Naming your action definitions clearly goes a long way toward avoiding this potential problem.
1. Access the Actions tab on the Active Display’s administration interface. If the actions you want to make available are not located on the current site, type the desired list URL in the Site URL field and then click Add URL.
• If you are working with Spring 2007 or a later release, you also have the option to identify a Global Link in the Site URL field. (Make sure you place the link name within brackets, e.g., [MySite].) For information regarding Global Links, please refer to the Actions Wizard.
• If the actions are located in more than one URL, repeat this step as necessary.
• As you identify URLs, the Available Document Libraries area is automatically updated with the names of all the libraries that have the appropriate structure to store action definitions.
NOTE: The site can be identified as either absolute or relative. For maximum portability, a relative URL should be used. If an absolute URL is identified and the action is later ported to a new site, the URL may not be reachable. For more information, see “How Action Definitions are Referenced by Active Displays,” below.
2. The Available Document Libraries section shows all the document libraries in the current site and in all of the URLs identified above. Highlight the libraries used to store the actions you want to make available and click Load Available Actions. The page is refreshed and all of the action definitions in the selected libraries are added to the Available Actions area at the bottom of the tab.
3. Highlight the actions you want to make available for use and click the >> button to move them to the Selected Actions area.
NOTE 1: This is where the importance of naming your actions clearly comes into play. It is important that you make sure the actions you select here are compatible with the Active Display.
NOTE 2: If you are working with a version before the Winter 2006 Update, do not activate a Create List Item or Modify List Item-type action on a document Active Display. These two types of actions did not support document libraries until the Winter 2006 Update.
NOTE 3: If you are working with the Summer 2006 release or a later version, you can select a Go To URL action here. This action type was not previously available for selection from an Active Display.
4. When you are finished, either select another administration interface tab to continue your configuration or click OK to see the updated Active Display. The actions drop-down is included at the top of the Active Display, and there is a checkbox to the left of each item in the display.
For information on creating and modifying action definitions, see the Actions Wizard.
When you select an action to enable for a particular Active Display, the Active Display web part stores a reference to the location of the action definition. If the action definition is located in a library in the same site where the Active Display is located, a reference is stored with just the library name. If the action definition is located in a different site, a reference is stored with the entire path.
If you enable actions for an Active Display and then save the site as a site template, the references to action definitions that are stored in action libraries in the same site are maintained and are portable. Any references that include the entire path (are not in the same site) are not portable.
If you want to ensure that the action definitions referenced by Active Displays are always portable, use a Global Link to point to the site where the actions library(ies) is stored. If any changes need to be made to the Global Link, they can be made in a single location and affect all of the Active Displays that reference it. See the Actions Wizard help for details on Global Links.
No activity will happen regarding an action until the user selects the Active Display item(s) they want to work with and the action they want to execute. To do this:
1. Place a check mark next to each item in the Active Display you want to work with.
2. Select the desired action from the drop-down at the top of the Active Display.
• If the action is a delete-type action, a confirmation message is displayed before any items are deleted.
NOTE: If the Active Display is placed in web part zone with an invalid ID, the confirmation message will not be displayed, but the selected item(s) will still be deleted. For more information on invalid web part zone IDs, see the For Developers help topic.
• If the action definition includes any values that are set to “Select at Runtime,” an entry form is displayed. Any required fields are marked with a red asterisk (*). When you are finished entering the necessary information, click Go at the bottom of the entry form.
NOTE: If the entry form includes a user selection drop-down (e.g., Assigned To), the users are pulled from the site collection’s user list, not the individual site’s user list.
4. A status area is displayed with the success or failure message that is stated in the action definition. If any items failed, you will also see a bulleted list of links to the items for which the action did not succeed. Each link opens in a separate window. Additional SharePoint error messaging will also be displayed if that option was selected in the action definition.
• If you are working with Spring 2007 or a later release, the page is refreshed when the status area is displayed. The items you selected for the action are no longer marked in the Active Display.
• If you are working with a release prior to Spring 2007, the items you selected for the action are still marked in the Active Display. The page is not refreshed until you close the actions status window.
• Actions can fail for a number of reasons:
o One common reason is that the action definition is incompatible with the Active Display. One or more of the columns referenced in the definition may not in exist in the source or destination list(s).
o Another reason may be insufficient user access to one or more of the lists in the Active Display. Users must have a minimum of Contributor access to a destination list in order for an action to succeed in creating, modifying, or deleting items in that list.
o Active Displays do not support the use of list names that include commas. If you have a list name that includes a comma and attempt to perform an action on an item in that list, the Active Display will not be able to pass the information correctly to perform the action. It is a good idea to avoid all special characters in both list names and action names.
o If a user attempts to execute an action and the list identified in the action definition is not available, the following error message will be displayed:
The list [list name or list URL] does not exist.
5. Select the Close Actions Status Window link in the area where the success or error message is displayed. The status window is closed.
NOTE: Please do not refresh the screen or use your browser’s Back or Forward button until the action has finished executing and you have closed the status area.