Get URL of list item attachment from Sharepoint Designer 2010

Question

I've found tons of questions where people are looking to get the URL of an attached file after the fact via CSOM or JSOM, or some other means.

I am looking to get the URL from Sharepoint Designer, and then insert that URL in an email from a Sharepoint Designer Workflow.

To clarify, I have a list where users are adding attachments (1 attachment) to their list item (within a Sharepoint 2010 environment). I have a workflow that sends an email after a new row is created, and basically prints all of the columns in the email.

Here is where I am hung up. I also want the attached item URL to be shown in the email.

I can see the structure of the URL will be:

http://example.com/mysite/Lists/TestList/Attachments/ID/FileName.txt

And since I'll know the domain, site name, list name, and ID of the row created, I can build my URL a decent amount. But, I don't know the file name. If I could get the file name from Sharepoint designer, I could build the URL.

At the moment, the only thing I see within Sharepoint Designer is a boolean value if my list item has attachments or not.

To clarify, I do not want to attach the file to the email that gets sent as a part of the work flow. I'd like to link to the item that is already upload to my Sharepoint list and is attached to a specific row item.

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EDIT:

FYI to others who might be looking for a solution to this, although I did this was a while ago, I believe this was how I solved the problem.

I ended up using a custom JS callback after the List Item was created. This callback would update the row I just created with the filename(s) as a concatenated string in a separate column.

So the logic was something like:

1. User clicks "Create New", and a SP Modal window would open, with my form loaded in the modal window. (using a modal was integral, because I could attach JS listeners to its onSubmit function).
2. I'd attach a listener to the modal window, so on Submit or Cancel, I'd run a function.
3. If the user canceled, the function just exited.
4. If the user submitted, I'd check to see if an attachment was added to the row item. If so, using JS I could get the file name(s), then concat those names together with a separator (I think I used a colon, :, since that can't be used in a file name) into a string and write that string to an empty column within the same row.
5. I'd also mark a boolean on the row to true that I'd check in the SP Designer Workflow. When true, my Workflow would actually run.
6. The workflow would have access to that col, could split the string, and I was able to build the URL string.

The problem with this is that, I couldn't add items to the row manually. I have to use this custom Modal interface so I'd have the ability to run updates to the row via JS.

That is to say, this solution was 100% client side. I'd rather have a server side solution, so adding to the row manually or through this custom Modal interface wouldn't matter. But alas, at the time I didn't have access to change things server-side, so this client-side solution was good enough for me.

Answer 1

It seems it is not doable. See https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/22ddd28d-d074-49ac-9044-074ceb155ffb/how-to-get-attachment-url-in-sharepoint-designer.

You can write a custom sandboxed workflow action to item's Attachment URL.

Answer 2

I got round this issue by using Infopath Designer to inject the filename into a "single line of text" field that my workflow could target.

The steps were as follows.

1. create a "single line of text" field in your list. I called mine "AttachmentURL"

2. Load infopath designer. and load your SharePoint list

3. Right click on the "single line of text" field "AttachmentURL" and select "Text box properties"

4. In the "Default Value" section next to "Value", click the "Fx" button

5. In the "Formula" dialog box, select the "Insert Field or Group" button

6. In "Advanced view", expand the "Attachments" folder, and select the ":attachmentURL" icon and click "OK" all the way back to your form

7. After making any other alterations in your form, publish the form to the SharePoint list (I used rules to hide the AttachementsURL in the form)

8. Open SharePoint Designer and go to your list workflow

9. You will now be able to build the Attachment's URL by creating a hyperlink that follows this construction :

   https://site/Forms/Lists/LISTNAME/Attachments/ID/AttachmentURL

which will look like this in your workflow string builder :

https://site/Forms/Lists/LISTNAME/Attachments/[%CurrentItem:ID%]/[%CurrentItem:AttachmentURL%]

I had no issue posting the attachment URL in a designer workflow email with this method.

I must point out, that with this method, only the 1st attachment link will be shown in the output. Any subsequent attachment links will not be displayed.

Answer 3

We used a client side JavaScript solution and a field for the file name.

1. Create a new field (attachment name, for example)
2. Add an html div webpart to the NewForm.aspx and EditForm.aspx in SharePoint Designer. These files can be found in All Files->Lists->[ListName].

3. Add code similar to this. Please note, I've also added jQuery - you'll need to add it as well if you want to use this, or rewrite to not use jQuery. This overwrites SharePoint's builtin UploadAttachment function to add a handler whenever an attachment is added:

   UploadAttachment = (function() {

   var cached_function = UploadAttachment;
   
   return function() {
       var result = cached_function.apply(this, arguments); // use .apply() to call microsoft's builtin function.
   
       // extension code
       fileInput = $("input[type='file']", "#contentBox");
       $(fileInput).change(function () {
           var name = $(fileInput).val().split('\\').pop();
           $('input[title="YOURFIELDNAME"]').val(name);
       });
   
       return result;
   };
   })();
   

4. You may also want to override RemoveLocal in the same way, so if they remove an attachment it removes from your field. This is optional, because you can see if attachments is true in the workflow and overwrite your attachment name field to blank if there aren't attachments.

   RemoveLocal = (function() {

       var cached_function = RemoveLocal;
   
       return function() {
           var result = cached_function.apply(this, arguments); // use .apply() to call it
   
           // extension code
           $('input[title="YOURFIELDNAME"]').val('');
   
           return result;
       };
   })();