[SharePoint Lists] Ensuring 'Date & Time' fields are unique

[Calum Veteran]

I've created this thread here in the Web Server Side forum because I don't even know much about SharePoint as it is, but I know it runs on the server and the output is displayed on the Web, so... :p Also, I don't think this will end up requiring any programming.

The problem -

We have a list on our SharePoint site at work which allows users to reserve the board room. In that list we have a 'Start time' field and an 'End time' field. Currently, multiple users are able to book the board room at times when the board room has already been booked and there seems to be no way to ensure reservations can't be made at the same time as a previously input reservation :/

I've searched around everywhere and cannot seem to find anything. Is there an option in SharePoint to help me with my problem? Perhaps in the 'List Settings'? It should be noted, I do not have access to SharePoint on the server, but I have full administration access to the list on the site. I assumed there would be an option when editing a 'Date and time' field allowing us to keep that field unique.

I really would appreciate any help :happy:

[Calum Veteran]

Thread moved to: Programming (C#, C++, JAVA, VB, .NET etc.)

I have moved this thread here because it seems it may have been in the wrong place (?) Heh, as I said, I don't know enough about SharePoint to know where to place this thread.

I've looked around and I still cannot find any solid answer to my problem. It seems I may have to possibly code my own fields in C#? If anybody knows another, more simple, way of going about this, I would really appreciate any help :) Or, if anybody knows how to go about creating your own columns (for use in SharePoint Lists) with your own validation in C#, please let me know. Thank you in advance :happy:

[BGM]

This is quite a common problem, I am going to assume you are using a calendar list (which is just a list anyway, with a fancy view over the top)

take a look at this post on CodeProject, it is an extension of the default calendar control.. you will need access to the server to deploy it, but I honestly think your business case is strong enough to convince anyone that will get in your way :)

http://www.codeproject.com/KB/sharepoint/S...eservation.aspx

"To use the code, run setup.bat in the sample application zip file on an Microsoft SharePoint 2007 server, activate the Reservation feature in the desired site, and then create a Reservation List on that site. The setup needs to be run once per server, and the feature activation needs to be run once per site."

Good luck!

[Calum Veteran]

I do apologise for taking ages to get back to you here. I got held up with a couple of other projects and issues at work. I would like to say, I did see your post when you first posted it and it certainly helped me in the sense that I realised it was much more work than we thought it would be :p My boss has said to put this on the backburner and look at it after I have got other projects out of the way, so your link is certainly helpful. Thank you :)

I have noticed that SharePoint 2010 does have (or will have) an option to ensure certain columns in a list only contain unique values which is excellent to see, it's just a shame to see they overlooked that for the 2007 version; I don't see my boss upgrading to 2010 when it is released.