ArtfulBits Discussion Columnfor Microsoft® SharePoint®

User GuideOverview .................................................................................................................................................................... 1
Feature List ............................................................................................................................................................. 2
Why ArtfulBits Discussion Column? ......................................................................................................................... 2
How to Use ................................................................................................................................................................. 3
Release Notes ............................................................................................................................................................. 4
See Also ...................................................................................................................................................................... 6Remarks...................................................................................................................................................................... 7

Overview
Discussion Column is intended to organize conversation in the list item without need to enable list versioning.
Component allows entering rich text with formatting, images, tables, hyperlinks, etc.
Actually Discussion is similar to an IM message system: many users are able to create rich-text messages, but there isno ability to modify previous messages. As IM, discussion control can show who and when has published post
(configured in column settings).

Useful thing is that it is possible to show all conversations in list view or just a hyperlink to "View Item" form. It is
helpful when discussion has many items and page becomes congested.

You can also arrange your comments in chronological or reverse chronological order. User signature could be
displayed on top or bottom of an entry.

Feature List
FeatureSharePoint
2007

SharePoint
2010

Organizing discussion without enabling list versioning
Filtering of empty records
Comments editing
Ability to show whole discussion history or only link to it in list viewShow user name as a link to user profile page

Display posts in chronological or reverse chronological order
Choosing position of user signature
Import data (text) from existing SharePoint Multiple lines of text column
Language pack support (desired localization could be added by request)

Why ArtfulBits Discussion Column?
It is possible to use standard SharePoint "Multiple lines of text" column with "Append Changes to Existing Text"
option for organizing discussion, but:Versioning of a list has to be turned onNew version is created each time items are edited

Even if you edit item, new record will be displayed in discussion history, whether it is empty or not.

ArtfulBits Discussion Column resolves these problems and avoids list versioning, also it does not append empty
records to discussion history.

How to Use
To use Discussion column you must select appropriate option in the list of available columns at the Create Column
page. In the Discussion Special Settings section you can change default setting in order to adjust column mode toyour needs. You can use option Show user login in order to display user login beneath every post in the discussion
history. You can also allow or restrict showing the discussion history in the list view.

Release Notes
Versionv1.61(June 09, 2011)

Notes
Bugs Fixed: Fixed column settings update

v1.6(June 01, 2011)

Improvements:
 Added support for new licensing model (ArtfulBits License Manager v1.4)
 Added "Save site as template" support

v1.54(April 27, 2011)

Improvements:
 Added Column Data Adapter integration

v1.53(March 23, 2011)

Improvements:
 Added item custom forms supportv1.52(February 4, 2011)

Bugs Fixed: Fixed column upgrading

v1.51(January 22, 2011)

Bugs Fixed: Fixed SharePoint Alerts

v1.5(November 16, 2010)

New Features: Added Russian and German localization
Bugs Fixed: Fixed minor issues

v1.41(July 08, 2010)

Bugs Fixed: Fixed error with 6622 Event ID in Event Viewer (Field type DummyField has
duplicated definition)

v1.4(June 11, 2010)

New Features: Added comments editing functionality
Improvements:
 Improved Setup Wizard

v1.3(May 13, 2010)

New Features: SharePoint 2010 support added
Bugs Fixed: Fixed column value clearing during item editing (when nothing entered)v1.2(February 01, 2010)

Bugs Fixed:
 Problem with product version (Setup Wizard only)

v1.2(January 21, 2010)

New Features: Added ability to import data (text) from existing SharePoint Multiple linesof text column

v1.1(January 12, 2010)

New Features: Added Entries’ order customization (chronological or reverse chronologicalorder) Added Signature position property (displays user signature on top orbottom of an entry)
Improvements: Improved Setup Wizard

v1.0(November 02, 2009)

Initial ReleaseSee Also
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Column Data Adapter
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Column Permissions
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Permissions can be assigned for individual users and for SharePoint groups as well and are
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Parent Selector Column
Parent Selector Column is used for organizing hierarchical relations in SharePoint list.
Picker dialog allows choosing data from large lists. Standard Lookup column can be easily
converted to Parent Selector column and vice versa.
Professional Calendar Web Part
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Remarks
Information in this document may be outdated. Please, visit www.artfulbits.com for the latest product version.