Power Users often request the ability to pre-populate form fields. The most straight-forward approach involves passing form field values in the URL as a query string. A while ago, the SharePoint Designer bloggers posted a solution with POJ (plain old JavaScript). Since I’m on a roll, I figured it was time to update this script with some jQuery goodness.

Why This Works Better

This script requires no configuration. Drop it on the page and start passing query string values to the form. The original script required configuration to make it work with specific form fields.

What Kind of Data

So far, I’ve tested this with Text, Rich Text, Numbers, Dates, Date/Time, People, and Choice/Lookup. If you have a test that doesn’t work, please comment this thread.

But Browser Differences Will Break It, Right?

Again, I’ve tested and accounted for the variance in displays of FF3 and IE7. Date/Time and People are the main bad guys since FF3 is told to ignore the picker controls.

How Do We Use It?

First, copy the code and put it in a Content Editor Web Part on your form. Since most forms don’t allow the Edit mode naturally, I’ve kept the URL string you need in the first comment of the code.

Next, start adding to the URL (before the first parameter use ?, subsequent parameters all use & before them), for example:

• Data Type:Text, string:Title=abc123, examples:
• http://servername/site/Lists/listname/NewForm.aspx?Title=abc123
• http://servername/site/Lists/listname/EditForm.aspx?ID=1&Title=abc123
• http://servername/site/Lists/listname/EditForm.aspx?ID=1&Description=<b>bold text</b>
• Data Type:Date, string:Due Date=1/1/2010, examples:
• http://servername/site/Lists/listname/NewForm.aspx?Due Date=1/1/2010
• http://servername/site/Lists/listname/NewForm.aspx?Due Date=1.1.2010
• http://servername/site/Lists/listname/NewForm.aspx?Due%20Date=1-1-2010
• Data Type:Date/Time, string:Start Date=1/1/2010 10:30 pm, examples:
• Note: Because the interface uses a drop-down in 5 min increments, you must pass a time ending in 0 or 5.
• http://servername/site/Lists/listname/NewForm.aspx?Due Date=1/1/2010 1:30 PM
• http://servername/site/Lists/listname/NewForm.aspx?Due Date=1.1.2010 01:30 AM
• http://servername/site/Lists/listname/NewForm.aspx?Due%20Date=1-1-2010%2010:30 pm
• Data Type:Radio/Checkbox, string:MyChoice=1, examples:
• http://servername/site/Lists/listname/NewForm.aspx?MyChoice=true
• http://servername/site/Lists/listname/NewForm.aspx?MyChoice=TRUE
• http://servername/site/Lists/listname/NewForm.aspx?MyChoice=1
• http://servername/site/Lists/listname/NewForm.aspx?MyChoice=0
• http://servername/site/Lists/listname/NewForm.aspx?MyChoice=false
• http://servername/site/Lists/listname/NewForm.aspx?MyChoice=FALSE
• Data Type:Lookup/Select, string:MySelect=@1, examples:
• Note: You can use either the ID value or the text value. In a single select control, using the text will select the first match.
• http://servername/site/Lists/listname/NewForm.aspx?MySelect=@1
• http://servername/site/Lists/listname/NewForm.aspx?MySelect=Text for ID1
• Data Type:Multi-select Lookup/Select, string:MySelect=abc123,@1,abc,@2 examples:
• Note: You can use either the ID value or the text value. Text parameters can match multiple options. Separate options by comma.
• http://servername/site/Lists/listname/NewForm.aspx?MySelect=a,b,c
• http://servername/site/Lists/listname/EditForm.aspx?ID=1&MySelect=@1,@2,@3
• http://servername/site/Lists/listname/EditForm.aspx?ID=1&MySelect=@1,@2,@3,a,b,c
• Data Type:People-Picker, string:Assigned To=pgrenier, examples:
• Note: Previous versions of a prepopulate script could not populate multiple people-picker controls because they have the same title, “People Picker,” however this script works with the column title.
• http://servername/site/Lists/listname/NewForm.aspx?Assigned To=SP\pgrenier
• http://servername/site/Lists/listname/EditForm.aspx?ID=1&Assigned%20To=pgrenier

<script type="text/javascript">
//?PageView=Shared&ToolPaneView=2
if(typeof jQuery=="undefined"){
	var jQPath="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.3.2/";
	document.write("<script src='",jQPath,"jquery.min.js' type='text/javascript'><\/script>");
}
</script>
<script type="text/javascript">
/*
 * Prepopulate form fields in SharePoint
 * Copyright (c) 2008 Paul Grenier (endusersharepoint.com)
 * Licensed under the MIT (MIT-LICENSE.txt)
 */
(function(){
	var params = window.location.search.substring(1).split("&"),
		kv = {},
		opts,
		sp=/%20|\+/g,
		datetime=/([1-9]|0[1-9]|1[012])[\-\/.]([1-9]|0[1-9]|[12][0-9]|3[01])[\-\/.](19|20)\d\d\s([0-1][0-2]|[0-9]):([0-9]{2})\s(A|P)M/i,
		date=/([1-9]|0[1-9]|1[012])[\-\/.]([1-9]|0[1-9]|[12][0-9]|3[01])[\-\/.](19|20)\d\d/,
		clean = function(str){
			return str.replace(sp," ");
		},
		getKv = function(){
			$.each(params,function(i,e){
				var p=e.split("=");
				kv[p[0]]=decodeURIComponent(p[1]);
			});
			return kv;
		};
	jQuery.prepop = function(){
		$.each(getKv(),function(k,v){
			k=clean(k);
			v=clean(v);
			var f=$("[title='"+k+"']"),
				job;
			if (f.length>0){
				if (f[0].type=="text"){job=10;} //text
				if (f[0].type=="checkbox"){job=20;} //checkbox
				if (f[0].tagName=="SPAN"&&f.hasClass("ms-RadioText")){job=30;} //radio
				if (f[0].type=="select-one"&&f[0].tagName=="SELECT"){job=10;} //choice and non-IE lookup
				if (f[0].tagName=="TEXTAREA"){job=10;} //textarea
				if (f[0].type=="text"&&f[0].opt=="_Select"){job=70;} //IE lookup
				if (v.match(date)){job=40;} //date
				if (v.match(datetime)){job=50;} //datetime
			}
			if (f.length===0){
				var elm = $("nobr:contains('"+k+"')");
				if (elm.length>0){
					elm = elm.parents("td").next()[0];
					var s1 = $(elm).find("select:first"),
						s2 = $(elm).find("select:last"),
						p1 = $(elm).find("textarea[title='People Picker']"),
						p2 = $(elm).find("div[title='People Picker']"),
						vals = v.split(",");
					if (s1.length>0){job=80;} //multi-select
					if (p1.length>0){job=90;} //people picker
				}
			}
			switch (job){
			case 10:
				if (v.substring(0,1)=="@"){
					opts = f[0].options;
					$.each(opts,function(i,e){
						if (opts[i].value==v.substring(1)){f[0].selectedIndex=i;}
					});
				}else{
					f.val(v);
				}
				break;
			case 20:
				if (v.toUpperCase()=="TRUE"||v=="1"){f[0].checked=true;}
				if (v.toUpperCase()=="FALSE"||v=="0"){f[0].checked=false;}
				break;
			case 30:
				if (v.toUpperCase()=="TRUE"||v=="1"){f.find("input:radio").click();}
				break;
			case 40:
				v=v.replace(/[\-\/.]/g,"/");
				f.val(v);
				break;
			case 50:
				var dt=v.split(" "),
					d=dt[0].replace(/[\-\/.]/g,"/"),
					t=dt[1],
					hm=t.split(":"),
					hh=hm[0].replace(/^0/,""),
					mm=hm[1],
					ap=dt[2].toUpperCase();
				f.val(d);
				f.parent("td").siblings("td.ms-dttimeinput")
					.find("select:first").val(hh+" "+ap)
					.parent("td").find("select:last").val(mm);
				break;
			case 70:
				if (v.substring(0,1)=="@"){
					ShowDropdown(f[0].id);
					opts = $("#_Select")[0].options;
					$.each(opts,function(i,e){
						if (opts[i].value==v.substring(1)){$("#_Select")[0].selectedIndex=i;}
					});
					f.blur();
				}else{
					f.val(v);
					ShowDropdown(f[0].id);
					f.blur();
				}
				break;
			case 80:
				opts = s1[0].options;
				$.each(vals,function(i,e){
					var V=e;
					$.each(opts,function(i,e){
						if (opts[i].text==V){
							s2.append("<option value='"+opts[i].value+"'>"+V+"</option>");
						}
						if (V.substring(0,1)=="@"){
							if (opts[i].value==V.substring(1)){
								s2.append("<option value='"+V+"'>"+opts[i].text+"</option>");
							}
						}
					});
				});
				break;
			case 90:
				var p=vals.join(";");
				p1.val(p);
				p2.html(p);
				break;
			//default:
			}
		});
	};
})();
$(function(){
	$.prepop();
});
</script>