Parent-Child® Cloud Part User Manual

 

Parent-Child Cloud Part^®

Turn SharePoint lists and libraries into a powerful relational database.

User Manual

1. Adding the Parent-Child configuration web part to a page
2. Activating the Parent-Child feature
3. Creating Parent-Child list relationships
4. Linking Child items to a Parent item
5. Changing the child display grid layout
6. Defining Cascading Columns
7. Defining Auto-Fill columns
8. Deleting Parent-Child relationships

Adding the Parent-Child configuration web part to a page

The Parent-Child web part must be added to a Wiki or Web Part page in order to activate the feature, define Parent-Child relationships, and other actions. The Parent-Child Web Part is activated and managed on per-site basis.

1. Go to the desired page.

NOTE: The Parent-Child Web Part should be added to a new, dedicated, wiki or web part page.

2. If the page is not already in edit mode, click Edit at the top right of the page.
   
3. Click the Insert tab, and then click Web Part.
   
4. Under Categories, select Miscellaneous, select Parent-Child and then click Add.
   

NOTE: Parent-Child must already be deployed to the site collection. See Installing/Updating a Cloud Part for Modern and Classic pages for information on how to deploy Parent-Child to your site collection.

5. When you have finished, on the Formatting Text or Page tab, click Save.

The Web Part is available on the page and ready to be activated.

Activating the Parent-Child feature:

Parent-Child relationships are managed per site from an activated instance of the Parent-Child web part. The Web Parts functionality is turned off by default and must be turned on before relationships between SharePoint lists and libraries can be defined.

1. Click the Off button to turn on the Web Part in the site.
   

On initial activation the following lists are created on the site:

• SPX_PC-EntityRelationships
  • List stores the relationships displayed in the Parent-Child Relationship grid.
• SPX_PC-LinkedColumns
  • List is accessed when the Define Auto-Fill Columns box is clicked.

The Web Part is now ready for you to use.

NOTE: If Parent-Child behavior is turned "off" or the web part is removed, the data and relationships defined in the web part is not deleted. Clicking the "on" button will reactivate Parent-Child behavior across your site.

 

Creating Parent-Child list relationships

Connections between SharePoint lists and libraries are managed in the Parent-Child Relationships grid. Each row in the grid represents a relationship between two SharePoint lists found on the local site. Parent-Child relationships can be one-to-one or one-to-many.

1. Go to the site page that has the Parent-Child Web Part added and activated.
2. In the Parent-Child Relationships, click +Add New Relationship.
3. Fill in the Site Collection for Parent and Child
4. Select the desired Parent and Child lists from the available SharePoint lists and libraries displayed in the drop-down boxes.
   
5. Click the Save button on the bottom right of this window.
6. Repeat as necessary to define the desired relational hierarchy.
   
   

The following changes are seen after a Parent-Child relationship has been created:

1. Title link for an item will open its default display form in a new slide-in panel.

WARNING: Parent-Child is only supported in the SharePoint Classic experience.

2. Default display and edit forms show any child lists or libraries that are related to the parent. Any child items associated with the parent item are shown.
   
3. When opened, child items show their relationship ancestry in the grey panel on the left, and the breadcrumb trail under the ribbon.
   
4. A list view called “parent-child” is automatically created in each list or library identified as a "child" in the relationship.
5. A single line of text field named “PID” is automatically added to each list/library identified as a "child" in the relationship.

Linking Child items to a Parent item

Items in a child list are associated with an item in a parent list or library using a relationship key (PID) that is automatically created by Parent-Child.

There are two ways to associated child items with a parent item in an associated list or library:

• Create a new child from the parent item
• Link already created child items to the parent item.

NOTE: A child item can only be associated with ONE parent item.

 

Create a new list item

1. Navigate to the Parent list or library.
2. Click the Title of the desired parent item.
3. Click the Add new icon () next to the desired child and select Create New Child.
4. Complete the fields in the New form of the child list.
5. Click Save. You are returned to the Parent item’s display form.

Link existing child list items

1. From the Display or Edit form of the desired parent item, hover over the Add new icon () next to the desired child list or library name.
2. Click on Link Existing Items.
3. Select the items you want to associate with the parent from the displayed orphaned items.
4. Click Add Selected Items.

Changing the child display grid layout

When a parent item is opened, the customized view/edit form displays child items from child lists associated with the parent.

The automatically-created parent-child view associated with the child list determines which columns are displayed in the grid.

For example, the columns shown in the Resources grid (above) are governed by the Resource list’s parent-child view.

Use the following steps to change the view, such as adding or removing columns, and changing the column display order.

1. Go to the list or library where you want to change the default parent-child view and click the List tab.
2. Select parent-child from the Current View drop-down list.
   
3. Click Modify View.
4. Make your changes, and then click OK at the bottom of the page. The changes are reflected in the child grid.

NOTE: The child grid does not support changes to the view’s sort order or filtering. Items are sorted by ID in ascending order.

 

Defining Cascading Columns

This will create a new column on the child list and populate it with data from the parent. 

1. Click the three dots to the right of the relationship on the Parent-Child Web Part.
2. Drag the names of the columns you wish to cascade from the parent to the child list down to the Selected Cascadable Columns.
3. Click Save

The column created will be named "ParentListName>ColumnName" as seen in the image above.

Defining Auto-Fill Columns

If you need a field value from the parent passed down to an already existing column on the child list.

While the field could be manually populated every time a new child item is created, Parent-Child simplifies this process and lets you automatically populate fields in the child list with information from the parent list.

1. Click F12 to open your browser's developer panel, then click the three dots to the right of the relationship on the Parent-Child Web Part. (Here you will find the list and column IDs you will need in the next steps. Click the arrow under the column name to expand and show the Id value.) 
                                 
2. In a separate tab open the SPC_PC-LinkedColums list, click edit to enter the Quick Edit view.
3. Enter information as you would in a spreadsheet.

• List/Library Name – Name of the child list or library
• Site Collection – The URL of the site collection where your child list resides  
• Column Name – Column in the child list or library to be populated with content from the parent item
• ColumnId – The Id found for the Child Column in Step 1 (Do not include quotation marks in any Id)
• ListId – The ChildListId found in Step 1 
• Linked Site Collection – The URL of the site collection where your parent list resides 
• Linked List/Library Name – Name of the parent list or library
• LinkedColumnName – Column in parent list or library that contains information that should be copied to the child item
• ColumnId – The Id found for the Parent Column in Step 1
• ListId – The ParentListId found in Step 1 

4. When you’re finished entering the information, click Stop editing this list.

The identified field will be automatically populated when a New child item is created.

Deleting Parent-Child relationships

1. From the Parent-Child Relationship grid, click the X on the row defining the unwanted relationship.
2. Click Delete in the confirmation dialog box.
   
3. If you had Linked or Cascading columns in that relationship, you may need to delete them from the SPC_PC-LinkedColums list.