Working Hard on the Easy Tabs v5

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In the past couple weeks, I have been working on the Easy Tabs v5. I have completely rewritten the script to make it more generic. The objective is to accomodate various layouts, including SP 2007 Web Part pages, SP 2010 Web Part pages, and wiki pages. I am also taking this opportunity to include some of the options mentioned here (see the comments).

My script is in good shape, but still has a couple issues, linked in particular to wiki pages and Microsoft bugs. Today I sent the latest draft to the readers who have volunteered to test drive the new version.

Also, I am preparing another gift for you: I recently built a variation of the Easy Tabs for a group at Hewlett-Packard, and the manager has agreed to make the code public. I’ll publish it a month or two, after I make it compatible with SP 2010. This variation allows multiple Web Parts under a same tab, which makes it suitable for dashboards for example.

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For the record, the current Easy Tabs script for SP 2007 is available here:
http://www.pathtosharepoint.com/sharepoint-user-toolkit/default.aspx

15 thoughts on “Working Hard on the Easy Tabs v5”

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    • Greg,
      the Easy Tabs actually use cookies, for example to remember the current tab when the user expands a folder and the page is reloaded.
      In the current script, these are session cookies, they expire when you close the browser. I could certainly include an option where the cookie is valid for n days.
      Another similar idea is to have direct links to tabs, by using querystrings. For example, “?tab=2” would open the page with the second tab active.

      • Hello! Can we not link to a specific tab yet in version 5? I would love to be able to add ?tab=2 to my hyperlink! I have need right now to link to a particular tab and am just suffering whilst I can’t do it!

        • I have actually written for some of my customers varitions that use querystrings.
          The main issue is not the technical part, but to clarify the requirements. The querystrings conflict with other parts of the code (like cookies), so it is necessary to make choices.

        • Thanks for answering, Christophe! Is there anything I can do to make it work for me, at least, even if it can’t be in the official production?

        • Sure, you’re welcome to become one of my customers!

          In the script, the tabs activation is handled by a function activateTab(t), where t is the tab you need to activate. In the current script, the cookie decides which tab to pick. You need to modify this to link to the QueryString instead.

  3. Hi Christophe – Great web part! We can’t get it to work with PPS web parts in SharePoint 2007 though – is there some sort of trick? It seems to ignore them even if they have titles. I read through the website & blog comments but didn’t see any helpful hints. We’d love to use this for dashboards in 2007 if possible. Thanks! -Jimm

  5. Christophe,

    As always, a big hit!!

    Really looking forward to the ability to next multiple web parts under a single tab in SP 2007.

    Any update on the timeline for its release?

    Thanks again for all your efforts!

  6. You know I love your work, following your writtings now for several years. I am playing agaion with you easy tabs v5 and i am trying to figure out a way to expand all on age load. to default to all open. Can you shed some light?

    • the very last line of the code calls the activateTab function which initializes the tabs. If you remove it, the content should stay visible until you click a tab.

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