Replacing the default listforms with custom.aspx pages SharePoint 2010

Question

I have heard that we can replace the list forms (newform.aspx, dispform.aspx, editform.aspx) with custom.aspx pages SharePoint 2010 which have aspx controls instead of SharePoint form fields. Are there any articles somebody came across?. I have noticed that customizing the SharePoint list form with SharePoint form field is a painstaking task, the forms breaks pretty easily.

Answer 1

The best practice approach is to make copies of each of the forms then edit the copies.

Then on the custom forms you can add in custom list form web parts and style and change until your heart's content.

With SharePoint 2010, you can also utilize InfoPath to customize the forms pretty easily. Here (from MSDN) is a nice excercise on that process.

Answer 2

This looks like good place to start:

Custom SharePoint List Forms

It will give you some insight on what can be done. Replacing default forms with custom application pages is briefly explained at bottom of the article. I am very fond of this technique but I never come across some really good article that explains everything.

Answer 3

This was the solution for me. I added her code to the OnActivate method of my feature.

http://blog.qumsieh.ca/2009/05/15/how-to-change-the-default-editform-newform-and-dispform/