Getting and setting SharePoint form field values

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Forms Designer provides JavaScript-framework that allows to manipulate fields in a simple JQuery manner. You can find how to set or get current field values in the official website.

But what if the field is more complex than a simple input, what if it has multiple parts of values, like lookup or date and time? How do you get lookup id and lookup text? Below I placed the table that illustrates how you get or set different value types for the most SharePoint types of fields. To create this table I used the current last version of Forms Designer: 2.7.9.

Field Type	Get / Set	Script
Single Line of Text	Get	fd.field('Title').value();
	Set	fd.field('Title').value('Default title');
	OnChange	fd.field('Title').change(function(){});
Multiline Plain Text Field	Get	fd.field('MultipleLinePlain').value();
	Set	fd.field('MultipleLinePlain') .value('MultipleLinePlain');
	OnChange	fd.field('MultilinePlain').change( function(){alert('Field has been changed!')} );
Multiline RTF Field	Get	fd.field('MultilineRichText').value();
	Set	fd.field('MultilineRichText') .value('MultilineRichText');
	OnChange	fd.field('MultilineRichText').change( function(){alert('Field has been changed!')} );
Multiline Enhanced Rich Text Field	Get	fd.field('MultilineEnhanced').value();
	Set	fd.field('MultilineEnhanced') .value('MultilineEnhanced');
	OnChange	fd.field('MultilineEnhanced').change( function(){alert('Field has been changed!')} );
Choice Single	Get	fd.field('ChoiceSingle').value();
	Set	fd.field('ChoiceSingle').value('B');
	OnChange	fd.field('Choice').change(function(){ alert('Field changed!'); });
Choice Multiple	Get	var checkboxIndex = 2; fd.field('MultiChoice').control()._el() .find('input[type="checkbox"]').eq(checkboxIndex) .is(':checked');
	Set	var checkboxIndex = 2; fd.field('MultiChoice').control()._el() .find('input[type="checkbox"]').eq(checkboxIndex) .prop('checked', true);
	OnChange	fd.field('MultiChoice').change(function(){ alert('Field changed!'); });
Number	Get	fd.field('Number').value();
	Set	fd.field('Number').value('13');
	OnChange	fd.field('Number').change(function(){ alert('Field changed!'); });
Currency	Get	fd.field('Currency').value();
	Set	fd.field('Currency').value('23');
	OnChange	fd.field('Currency').change(function(){ alert('Field changed!'); });
Date	Get	fd.field('Date').value();
	Get Date-object	field('Date').control('getDate') // returns Date-object
	Set	fd.field('Date').value('4/21/2012'); // by String fd.field('DateTime') .value(new Date()); // by Date-object
	OnChange	fd.field('Date').change(function(){ alert('Field changed!'); });
DateTime	Get	fd.field('DateTime').value()[0]; // date fd.field('DateTime').value()[1]; // hours fd.field('DateTime').value()[2]; // minutes
	Get Date-object	field('DateTime').control('getDate') // returns Date-object
	Set	fd.field('DateTime') .value(['4/21/2012', '11 PM', '35']); // by Array fd.field('DateTime') .value(new Date()); // by Date-object
	OnChange	fd.field('DateTime').change(function(){ alert('Field changed!'); });
Hyperlink / Image	Get	fd.field('Hyperlink').value()[0]; // link fd.field('Hyperlink').value()[1]; // descr
	Set	fd.field('Hyperlink') .value(['http://someurl', 'description']);
	OnChange	fd.field('Hyperlink').change(function() { alert('Changed!'); });
Single Lookup Value	Get Text	fd.field('Lookup').control('getSelectedText');
	Get ID	fd.field('Lookup').value();
	Set Text	fd.field('Lookup').value('Text');
	Set ID	var ID = 4; fd.field('Lookup').value(ID);
	OnChange	fd.field('Lookup') .change(function(){});
Multi Lookup Values	Get All	var selectedItems = fd.field('LookupMultiple') .control()._el().find("select:eq(1) option"); var s = ''; for (var i = 0; i < selectedItems.length; i++) { s += selectedItems.eq(i).text() + ';'; } alert(s);
	Get First	fd.field('MultiLookup').control()._el() .find("select:eq(1) option").eq(0).text()
	Get Second	fd.field('MultiLookup').control()._el() .find("select:eq(1) option").eq(1).text()
	Get ID	// first selected: fd.field('MultiLookup').control()._el() .find('select:eq(1) option').eq(0).val(); // second selected: fd.field('MultiLookup').control()._el() .find('select:eq(1) option').eq(1).val();
	Set	var ID = 3; // select element by ID: fd.field('MultiLookup').control()._el() .find('select:eq(0)').val(ID); // add button click: fd.field('MultiLookup').control()._el() .find('button:eq(0)').click();
	OnChange	fd.field('MultiLookup').change(function(){ alert('Field changed!'); });
Boolean	Get	fd.field('Boolean').value();
	Set	fd.field('Boolean').value('1');
	OnChange	fd.field('Boolean').change(function(){ alert('Field changed!'); });
Client People Picker	Get All Logins	fd.field('User').control('ready', function() { var selectedUsers = fd.field('User').value(); for (var i = 0; i < selectedUsers.length; i++) { alert('Login: ' + selectedUsers[i].Key); } });
	Set	// assign value by a display name fd.field('User').value('Tim Watts'); // by a login fd.field('User').value('DEV\\ann'); // or by an e-mail: fd.field('User').value('AGibson@contoso.com');
	OnChange	fd.field('User').change(function(){ alert('Field changed!'); });
Server People Picker with multiple choice	Get All Logins	var logins = ''; $.each(fd.field('People').value() .dictionaryEntries, function() { logins += this.AccountName + '; '; });
	Set	fd.field('People').value('DOMAIN\\login');
	OnChange	fd.field('People').change(function(){ alert('Field changed!'); });
Server People Picker with single choice	Get	fd.field('PersonGroupSingle') .value().dictionaryEntries[0].AccountName
	Set	fd.field('Person').value('DOMAIN\\login');
	OnChange	fd.field('Person').change(function(){ alert('Field changed!'); });
External Data	Get	Returns field value of External List item: fd.field('ExternalData').value() .dictionaryEntries[0]['FieldOfExternalList'] 'ExternalData' is an internal name of the lookup column. 'FieldNameOfExternalList' is an internal name of the external list column. If you include additional columns to the target list in lookup settings you will be able to get them dynamically as well: fd.field('ExternalData').value() .dictionaryEntries[0]['AdditionalFieldOfExternalList'] 'AdditionalFieldOfExternalList' is an internal name of the external list column which has been added as additional field in lookup settings.
	Set	fd.field('ExternalData') .value({key: '__bg40003300', text: 'Item 1'}); key is BDC Identity of the selected item. text is a display name of the selected item.
	OnChange	fd.field('ExternalData').change(function(){ alert('Field changed!'); });
Plumsail Cross-site Lookup with single value	Get ID	fd.field('CrossSiteLookup').value()
	Get title	fd.field('CrossSiteLookup').control('data')['Title']
	Set	Set ID: fd.field('CrossSiteLookup').value(1); Set ID and display text: fd.field('CrossSiteLookup') .value({Id: 1, Title: 'Item 1'});
	OnChange	fd.field('CrossSiteLookup').change(function(){ alert('Field changed!'); });
Plumsail Cross-site Lookup with multiple values	Get IDs	Returns an array if selected ids: fd.field('CrossSiteLookup').value()
	Get titles	First item: fd.field('CrossSiteLookup').control('data')[0]['Title'] Second item: fd.field('CrossSiteLookup').control('data')[1]['Title']
	Set	fd.field('CrossSiteLookup') .value([{Id: 1, Title: 'Item 1'}, {Id: 2, Title: 'Item 2'}])
	OnChange	fd.field('CrossSiteLookup').change(function(){ alert('Field changed!'); });