Archive for July, 2008
Use Javascript Redirects to hide SharePoint default sites
I’ve been working diligently on the new web application and I needed to record this little tip. I am creating new forms for entering items and viewing of lists, but users can still get to the default SharePoint pages through areas I haven’t customised – the search results is currently the easiest – but also the bread crumb trail on some pages.
To get around this, I am using the Javascript redirect and placing it in the <head> section of the default SharePoint pages for my lists – so even if I miss a link somewhere – the user never sees the SharePoint page. They are automaticaly redirected to the custom form I spent hours designing. After all, they really do need to see my spectacular work don’t they?
I started by creating a Content Place Holder in the master page so it would be available to all pages – I find this useful for inserting ANY Javascript and not just for this tip. Just before the closing </head> tag in the master page, I added the following line to create the place holder:
<asp:ContentPlaceHolder id=”PlaceHolderAdditionalPageHead” runat=”server”/>
Now, this is probably pretty basic to some of you, but others might not know how to add these to the master page. Any code on a SharePoint page that contains content place holders, must be in a content place holder - so don’t just try to slap the Javascript on the aspx page.
On the aspx page, for example dispform.aspx, I inserted the following code – just after the declarations at the top of the page - I want it to be the first thing that loads on the page:
<asp:Content ContentPlaceHolderID=”PlaceHolderAdditionalPageHead” runat=”server”>
<script type=”text/javascript”><!–
location.href = ‘http://sharepointsite/sites/webapplication/Lists/List name/customform.aspx’;
// –></script>
</asp:Content>
As you can see from the code, the Javascript just changes the location.href for the page to a new address and the user is instantly redirected. Hope this helps to hide any nasty SharePoint pages that jump in and ruin your nice designs.
Thanks for Reading
4 comments July 18, 2008
