How can I set a field value in a display form when a list item is first read?

Question

I have a list with multiple columns.

This list may include multiple records. I want the value of a specific field to be changed when a special record is read for the first time.

Answer 1

You could edit the DispForm of the list item and in it have a delegatecontrol (or some other custom control) to count how many times the page has been loaded by unique user id's other than the authors id.

Update

Create a new user/web/delegate control and insert the following code:

var web = SPContext.Current.Site.OpenWeb();
var list = web.Lists["Name of the list"];
var itemId = Page.Request.QueryString["ID"];
var item = list.Items.Cast<SPListItem>().FirstOrDefault(i => i.ID.Equals(itemId));
var isRead = (bool)item["Internal name of the column"];
if(!isRead)
{
    item["Internal name of the column"] = true;
    item.Update();
}

This should pretty much do the job of updating the items column stating if it's read or not.

Answer 2

You can set the default value for the field in list....

Answer 3

There are several solutions:

1. You can open this form in SharePoint designer, add to this form Edit Content WebPart. To this web part you can add java script that finds your drop down box and set your value.
2. You can create your own field in VS2010. In this field you can set your value.
3. You can create your own template in VS2010 for this form. In this template you can use JS, remove ListFieldIterator and set your own markup, or use your own iterator.