People commonly ask about using a column of data type "Person or Group" in another column of data type "Calculated".
Bottom line, this does not work in WSS 3.0 (or MOSS).
When adding a calculated column, WSS shows the list of fields it allows you to use for the calculation. If you type in the name of a column that is not in its list, it tells you:
One or more column references are not allowed, because the columns are defined as a data type that is not supported in formulas.
Workaround: Use an event handler. The event handler fires when the user saves the item. It performs the update you would have wanted the calculated column to do for you.
Useful links on calculated fields in general:
- Using [Me] in a calculated column
- Examples of formula expressions (courtesy of http://jopx.blogspot.com/2007/10/calculated-fields-in-windows-sharepoint.html)
Quick disclaimer: I believe the above to be true and accurate, but I’ve seen enough clever tricks here and there in MOSS/WSS that I wouldn’t be extremely surprised (agog if you will) if someone has figured out a way to do this without resorting to code. If you’ve figured out clever work-around or know someone that did, please let me know!
What about using workflow with sharepoint designer? I could put person or column of data type "Person of Group" in a column with workflow. If you want to get more information about this, please send me an email. 🙂
hojun00.kim@samsung.com
This is quite surprising — being able to count or manipulate person information in a calculated column would be quite useful, and it’s disappoint to see a suggested work around being the deployment of custom code. I hope this is changed in the next version of Sharepoint.
Thanks for the information, Paul!
http://blogs.msdn.com/brianwilson/archive/2007/03/05/part-1-event-handlers-everything-you-need-to-know-about-microsoft-office-sharepoint-portal-server-moss-event-handlers.aspx