Tridion 2011 CME column names

Question

How do I change the name, add or remove a column in the CME GUI of Tridion 2011. I believe this is an extension but not sure which file to modify. I am referring to the column headers that show up in the main pane of a publication while in content management. As of now, I see Name, Type, Modified......

Answer 1

You should create a UI Extension in order to add an extra column to your lists. It is a documented extension point as you can see here:

http://sdllivecontent.sdl.com/LiveContent/web/pub.xql?action=home&pub=SDL_Tridion_2011_SPONE&lang=en-US#addHistory=true&filename=AddingANewColumnToAListView.xml&docid=task_E4EFBE6E5CA24C01B2531FB15AE95AE2&inner_id=&tid=&query=&scope=&resource=&eventType=lcContent.loadDoctask_E4EFBE6E5CA24C01B2531FB15AE95AE2

You should be careful when you add columns to your lists in CME since it could be an expensive extension point, review the need and the performance issues that you might get by adding this extra column. For instance if you have to execute a query to retrieve an extra column value per row, it would be expensive.

All the lists in the CME receive data in the format of <tcm:Item ... /> in order to feed your new column you will need to add a new attribute to this element via some logic like a Data Extender.

If you want to rename an existing column, it can be easily done by updating the XML definition list (not supported by the way).

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<list:listDefinition xmlns:list="http://www.sdltridion.com/2009/GUI/extensions/List">
    <list:selectornamespaces>
        <list:namespace prefix="tcm" uri="http://www.tridion.com/ContentManager/5.0"/>
    </list:selectornamespaces>
    <list:rows>
        <list:itemSelector>/*/*</list:itemSelector>
        <list:titleSelector>@Title</list:titleSelector>
        <list:idSelector>@ID</list:idSelector>
        <list:stateSelector>@Icon</list:stateSelector>
        <list:thumbnailIconSelector>@Icon</list:thumbnailIconSelector>
        <list:emptyListMessage>{Resources: Tridion.Web.UI.Strings, ThereAreNoItemsInThisView}</list:emptyListMessage>
    </list:rows>
    <list:columns>
        <list:column id="IconColum" type="icon" title="" width="20" enableresizing="false" enablesorting="false" enablefiltering="false" selector="@Icon" />
        <list:column id="TitleColumn" type="data" title="**[COLUMN RENAMED]**" selector="@Title" enablefiltering="true" columnfilter="group"/>
        <list:column id="DescriptionColumn" type="data" title="**[COLUMN RENAMED]**" selector="@Description"  enablefiltering="true" columnfilter="group"/>
    </list:columns>
</list:listDefinition>