Renaming Title Column in SharePoint List Definition

Question

I am defining a custom list content type for SharePoint (using VSeWSS 1.3 and schema.xml).

I want to change the display name of the default title field ('Title') to 'Serial Number':

<Fields>
  <Field Name="Title" DisplayName="Serial Number" Type="Text" />
</Fields>

I am using the LinkTitle column in my definition of the default view for this list (in schema.xml). However, after creating an instance of this custom list type and creating a new item, the first column still shows 'Title' instead of 'Serial Number'.

I want to reuse the Title column so the user can access the items action menu from the serial number column.

Answer 1

I had the Similar Issue. You need to do that same thing for the LinkTitle as well to get Name in the Default View. Though in the <ViewFields> <FieldRef> tag you have an option for DisplayName it didnt work as expected. Only way I found is to

<Field Name="LinkTitle" DisplayName="Serial Number" Type="Text" />

Answer 2

That's because LinkTitle is the column you had in your view. :)

The Title column comes in three primary flavours for standard lists:

• Title | fa564e0f-0c70-4ab9-b863-0177e6ddd247
• LinkTitle | bc91a437-52e7-49e1-8c4e-4698904b2b6d
• LinkTitleNoMenu | 82642ec8-ef9b-478f-acf9-31f7d45fbc31

Additionally you can set the StaticName parameter in your field definition.