Today I found out how to start workflows in JSOM (JavaScript Object Model in SharePoint). Nothing special, but since it is not documented, it took me a while to find a solution. Here is the code which I want to keep as simple as possible. What you need to start a SP2010 Workflow for a list item or a document in JSOM, you need to load SP.WorkflowServices.js and you need to create the manager and get the service, then you can trigger a workflow using the workflow name, the list guid and the guid of the list item: [code language=“javascript”] var ctx = SP.ClientContext.get_current(); var workflowServicesManager = SP.WorkflowServices.WorkflowServicesManager.newObject(ctx, ctx.get_web()); var service = workflowServicesManager.getWorkflowInteropService(); service.startWorkflow(workflowName, null, listGuid, plainItem.guid, initiationParams); [/code] Here is the code to trigger a workflow for multiple items: [code language=“javascript”] //fire the workflows function fire2010WorkflowForListItems(ctx, listGuid, plainItems) { var workflowServicesManager = SP.WorkflowServices.WorkflowServicesManager.newObject(ctx, ctx.get_web()); var service = workflowServicesManager.getWorkflowInteropService(); for(var i = 0; i < plainItems.length; i++) { var plainItem = plainItems[i]; console.log(‘scheduling workflow for id: ‘, plainItem.id); service.startWorkflow(options.workflowName, null, listGuid, plainItem.guid, options.initiationParams); } console.log(’now executing…’); ctx.executeQueryAsync(function() { console.info(‘yes, workflows completed for ’ + items.length + ’ items’); }, function() { console.error(‘it didnt go well’); }); } [/code]   The code above is inspired from this gist and sharepoint stackexchange. It is a simplified version that only works for list item workflows and SharePoint 2010 workflows. Here is an example how you can get multiple items and batch start a workflow: [code language=“javascript”] //just a couple of variables var options = { workflowName: ‘Behörigheter’, listName: ‘Documents’, initiationParams: {} }; //load list items function startWorfklows() { //Start 2010 Workflow for a List Item var ctx = SP.ClientContext.get_current(); var web = ctx.get_web(); var lists = web.get_lists(); var list = lists.getByTitle(options.listName); ctx.load(list); var items = list.getItems(new SP.CamlQuery()); ctx.load(items); ctx.executeQueryAsync(function() { var listGuid = list.get_id() + ‘’; var en = items.getEnumerator(); var plainItems = []; while (en.moveNext()) { var it = en.get_current(); //do not take checked out files, it won’t work if (!it.get_item(‘CheckoutUser’)) { plainItems.push({id: it.get_id(), guid: it.get_item(‘GUID’) + ’’ }); } } fire2010WorkflowForListItems(ctx, listGuid, plainItems); }, function() { alert(‘boom’); }); } //Load Worfklow Js dependency var wfScript = ‘SP.WorkflowServices.js’ SP.SOD.registerSod(wfScript, _spPageContextInfo.webAbsoluteUrl + ‘/_layouts/15/SP.WorkflowServices.js’); SP.SOD.executeFunc(wfScript, ‘’, startWorfklows); [/code]

Here is another article in my JSOM series. For one month ago I showed how to alter a column’s ShowInDisplayForm property with JSOM. This time I’ll show a code sample for changing a column’s (field’s) display name. If you want to alter the displayname with Server Object Model, grab the code in the sharepoint.stackexchange.com: Change Field’s DisplayName in a List. [sourcecode language=“javascript”]var ctx = SP.ClientContext.get_current(), //SP.ClientContext field = ctx.get_web() //SP.Web .get_lists() //SP.ListCollection .getByTitle(‘MyList’) //SP.List .get_fields() //SP.FieldCollection .getByInternalNameOrTitle(“Body”); //SP.Field ctx.load(field, “Title”); //load only Title ctx.executeQueryAsync(function() { field.set_title(“Beskrivning”); field.update(); ctx.executeQueryAsync(); });[/sourcecode]

Today I needed to “clean” a list, meaning to remove all list items. For some time ago I wrote a post about different ways of removing list items in bulk: Server Object Model, SPLinq and RPC.  This time I had only the web browser. So I tried the jsom way. By the way, the javascript documentation for jsom on msdn is getting really good. Don’t miss that: How to: Complete basic operations using JavaScript library code in SharePoint 2013. Now here comes theworking code I used to remove all items in my list:

In SharePoint 2013 Preview there is a new type of field: GeoLocation which is, like the old SPUrlField, a pair of values. The geolocation is described as longitude and latitude. Unfortunately you can’t add this field in list settings. You have to create this in code. In the provided link you can find the code C# code which uses the Client Object Model. In another link  you can find an example how to create the geolocation file using Server Object Model (in FeatureActivated EventReceiver). If you know me, you might already know that I will propose a JavaScript solution. Here is the code to create a geolocation field in an existing list using JSOM:

If there are many list items you try retrieve with javascript object model,paging could be very useful. Today I came across a wonderful blog post series about javascript object model in SharePoint: The SharePoint javascript object model - Resources and Real World Examples posted by David Mann and published on Aptilon Blog. There is an example how to achieve paging with JSOM. The key is items.get_listItemCollectionPosition() and query.set_listItemCollectionPosition() I have refactored David’s example to avoid global variables and to put into a module. Here is it. If you have a Tasks list in your site with many items, just hit F12 to open the console and paste this and see the result:

When you create a content type, you can define if your fields will be shown in DisplayForm, EditForm, NewForm. You can hide or show them, just as Yaroslav Pentsarsky says. If your list is already provisioned, you can change them with Server Object Model, why not in PowerShell: Technet: Setting ShowInDisplayForm, ShowInEditForm, ShowInNewForm properties with powershell. If you don’t have access to the server, then the same can be done with JSOM. Here is the code:

The data transfer between server and client can heavily affect the performance. One of the measures to reduce the amount data transferred from the server to the client is storing data on the client. In many modern browsers we can use html5 localStorage. Even in older browsers there are ways to store data. I would recommend a nice js lib called amplify.js. The interface is much easier, then:

amplify.store("key", { title: "value" });
```It comes in nicely, if we have much data which we get with JSOM. But we have to care about eventual changes to list items done after we got them the last time. So we have to store the [last modified date](http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/microsoft.sharepoint.splist.lastitemmodifieddate.aspx). This property is also available in JSOM:

var ctx = SP.ClientContext.get_current(); var web = ctx.get_web(); var lists = web.get_lists(); var list = lists.getByTitle(“Tasks”); ctx.load(list, “LastItemModifiedDate”); ctx.executeQueryAsync( function() { var lastmodified = list.get_lastItemModifiedDate(); }, function() {} );

SPServices is a great tool, really nice work, Marc Anderson (@sympmarc). It has been there all the time I have developed for SharePoint. But the fact that you work with XML and you must parse the attributes (!) was the reason why I prefered listdata.svc and Client Object Model, where you get objects in JSON or you have a nice API to get objects and their properties. But there is an area where SPServices are really the best tool: SharePoint Web Services which only understand SOAP like SocialDataService.asmx.