SharePoint 2010 List - Need direction

Question

I'm a coldfusion developer, and I've been asked to rewrite a coldfusion application for SP 2010. I have no SP experience, but I'm now the SP admin.

My application is a waiting list for customers that enter a service center. The customer is entered into a List that tracks the following:

• Name
• Location (drop-down list of physical store locations. no multiple/custom values)
• Check-In Time (timestamp for when customer was added to list)
• Service Required (drop-down list, not allowing multiple or custom values)
• Staff Member Requested (option, user select box)
• Time Seen by Staff (timestamp when list item edit begins)
• Seen By Name (name of user that edited record)
• Time Finished with Staff (timestamp when list item edit is saved)

There are a few pieces of functionality that I don't know how to build into this list. 1

1. The records on the list view must be automatically filtered by the location column. The location to be viewed should be based upon the users group membership. (one group per location)
2. The Time Seen date/time field must be a timestamp that occurs when the list item is opened for editing.
3. The Seen By name must be automatically entered when when the user opens the list item for editing.
4. The Time Finished timestamp must be automatically entered when the user saves the list item after editing.

I don't expect anyone reading this to create this for me, but I would truly appreciate any tips, suggestions, or tutorials you can point me towards that will help me to accomplish these goals.

Answer 1

You will have to create such a list with the SharePoint Administration. You have several possibilities to do this. You can build them in you web browser using your SharePoint Site with the necessary rights, you can use the Microsoft SharePoint Designer (similar, less functionalities but in my opinion easier to use) or you could deploy the list after you built it in Visual Studio (best solution if you want to deploy it on more than one server or you want to change your list afterwards, but difficult).

There are some things you have to know: A list manages one or more content types. A content type is a collection of columns that contain the types (and more information) of your data. There are templates for content types and columns, but you will have to create your own content type and maybe some new columns as the templates might not be enough for your demands.

I'm not sure how to manage your first point. There is definitely a solution but I'm beginner, too.

The other 3 points could be managed by workflows: You can define workflows for a list, that do things after an item of your list is created or edited. I'm not sure if this will be useful for your 2nd point.

Another possibility would be to build a webpart, but that wont be a solution for a coldfusion project as I think. In a webpart you could handle all the interaction that are made by an user and change your list item individually.

A third way is to build an event receiver (using Visual Studio) for your list, but then you would have to build your list with the help of the VS as well.

I'm sure that won't answer all your questions but I hope you have some directions that you can inform about.