How To Customizing Lists in SharePoint

To view all the contents of a SharePoint site such as team site, Document Workspace, or Meeting Workspace, click the All Site Content link on the Quick Launch bar. If you carefully look at the various components-Document Libraries, Picture Libraries, Lists, Surveys, and so on-you will note that all of them are some kind of list or library. Remember, even though Surveys and Discussion Boards don't immediately appear like lists, they are lists in SharePoint.

You can create a SharePoint component from the All Sites Content page by clicking the Create link. The resulting Create page will give you a mixed set of components available on SharePoint including the different types of Workspaces and team sites.

Use the List filter to view the lists. The following components are available as List types: Announcements, Calendar, Contacts, Custom List, and Custom List in Datasheet View, Discussion Board, External List, Import Spreadsheet, Issue Tracking, Links, Project Task, Survey, and Tasks. While most of them such as Calendar, Tasks, and Contacts are very useful, the available types seems insufficient for the various kinds of information that you might want to store and share. This is why SharePoint offers the Custom List and Custom List in Datasheet View options. Both views display the same content even though they are presented differently. With these options, you can customize lists to your requirement. While the Custom List in Datasheet View option is a spreadsheet like presentation, which helps you make multiple entries quickly, the Custom List option is slightly different.

Let's take a scenario. Rudolf works for a Quick Hire, a car rental agency. He needs to maintain a list on his SharePoint team site of the cars his agency is renting out. The list must contain the following information: Car Details, Rental Rates, Customer Name, Contact Information, Customer Identity number, Starting Hire Date, No. of Days, Discounts, Starting Location, Ending Location, Total Cost including taxes, Advance Paid, Balance Payment.