Remove hyperlink for lookup columns in SharePoint

I tried to look for how to remove the hyperlink for the lookup columns in SharePoint. I was expecting some kind of an XSL transformation. But all the posts i found in the internet were using JavaScript for this functionality.  So i decided to work on the XSLT myself. I know this is a much cleaner and efficient solution. And this is how it is done.

I have a list with a lookup column called "DeptLookup". To remove the hyperlink follow the below mentioned steps


Open this list in SharePoint designer. Click on the AllItems.aspx to open it.
Select the lookup column


Click on the formula on the ribbon
This will open a dialog for you called Insert formula
The default formula for the lookup column is

$thisNode/@*[name()=current()/@Name]

Change it to

substring-before(substring-after($thisNode/@*[name()=current()/@Name],'>'),'<')


Click on OK and save the changes. Now when you go to the list, you will see the lookup values without the hyperlinks.



If you want to remove the hyperlink for the item display form, create a new display form in SharePoint designer and follow the same procedure until you get the Insert Formula dialog.
In the dialog give the value as

substring-before(substring-after(@DeptLookUp,'>'),'<')

where DeptLookup is the name of the lookup column.

What we have done here is a very simple concept. The lookup columns are nothing but hyperlinks

<a href=something>LookupValue</a>

We have chopped down the portion after >
LookupValue</a>
From the resulting string we have removed the part after <
which will leave us with just the value we want LookupValue

Comments

  1. murugenthiranMay 19, 2011 at 12:01 AM

    If we have single lookup item, its working. But if we have multiple item its not working

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. UnknownAugust 1, 2013 at 1:26 AM

      Try to use this alternative solution: http://www.sparqube.com/SharePoint-Lookup-Column. It has option to display lookup values as links or as generic text.

      Delete
  2. Naveed MohammadMay 25, 2011 at 10:30 AM

    Yes this logic works only for a single lookup value. If your column is configured to have multiple lookup values, this logic does not hold good.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Liam HaysJanuary 18, 2018 at 9:41 AM

    Works well! Just what I need. Will add a slight modification. The LessThan sign needs to be escaped (at least for SP2016) with <

    Here's the code I use to remove the link from Department lookup:

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Create a Custom Timer Job in SharePoint 2010

Image
I had to create a custom timer job in SharePoint 2010 recently, but could not find a blog which explained the complete procedure to do this. So I decided to write one. In this post I will give a step by step process to create a Custom timer job in SharePoint 2010 using Visual Studio 2010. Timer jobs are created by extending the SPJobDefinition class and deployed as features. So we will create a class which extends the SPJobDefinition class. Then we will create a feature and we will handle the featureActivated() event of that feature. In that we will instantiate the class created. Let us see how to do all this. Create an empty SharePoint project in VS 2010. Give the Site Collection URL where you want this feature will be activated. Create a class in the project.   Add these namespaces using Microsoft.SharePoint; using Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration; class MyTimerJob : SPJobDefinition { public MyTimerJob() : base () { } public MyTimerJob( SPWebApplic
Read more

Create web part pages with custom layouts in SharePoint 2010

Image
SharePoint provides web part pages with eight layouts by default. Unfortunately the process of creating web part pages with custom layouts is a little complex. In this post i will show you how you can create web part pages with custom layouts. I have created a component which will deploy an application page which can be used to achieve this. Go to http://archive.msdn.microsoft.com/customspcf  and download the wsp file with the name CustomSPCF.wsp Deploy the solution. This will deploy an application page at /_layouts/customspcf/customspcf.aspx It will add four web part page layouts at 14\Template\1033\Sts\Doctemp\Smartpgs\CustomSPCF\ and four images corresponding to the layout at 14\Template\Images\CustomSPCF\ The below image shows how the application page will look like You can customize the application page and replace the deployed custom layouts or add new layouts. Follow the below steps to replace the exisitng layouts. 1. Go to the applciation page at 14\Templates\L
Read more

Config file for SharePoint custom timer jobs

Image
SharePoint timer jobs run under the OWSTIMER.exe process. This process has a configuration file associated with it. We can use this config file to specify the configuration settings that are to be used in custom timer jobs. Open the OWSTIMER.EXE.CONFIG and add the <appSettings> tag to it. Then add your key value pairs under this appSettings tag For this you have to add a reference to System.Configuration Then you can use the  System.Configuration. ConfigurationManager .AppSettings[ key ]  to retrieve the values for a key from the config file. Example:  string dept = System.Configuration. ConfigurationManager .AppSettings[ "Department" ];
Read more