Sharepoint Workflow running on Old Version after publishing

Observed a weird behavior in Sharepoint Designer workflows. We have Workflows designed on designer and being used in our application. There are multiple versions on it as we added new features time to time. Recently we added some more features and published to latest version. It updated to server and could see latest version in Workflows section of the corresponding List in website.

But, when we run the workflow, we observed that its of too old version, many latest features were missing.

After doing some online research, we realized that the problem is due to cache of workflow activities in the local machine where we implemented them using Designer.

Sometimes, SPD might be using the old DLL fro mthe cache than the updated one and thus we see old version running. To correct this issue, we need to clear the Cache and run the Designer and republish the workflow. And also, its better to disable option to cache site data in designer, to avoid similar problems in future. To do this, follow below steps.

• If Sharepoint Designer is open, close it
• Open My Computer and enter '%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WebsiteCache' in address bar
• Delete files and other folders in this location
• Now go to this location '%APPDATA%\Microsoft\Web Server Extensions\Cache' and delete all fiels and folders

This would solve the issue and now if you re publish the workflow, it would work fine.

To disable Site Data caching, follow below steps

• Navigate to the "File" menu then select "Options" -> "General" -> "Application Options"
• On the “General” tab, under the “General” heading, uncheck “Cache site data across SharePoint Designer sessions” 

Configure Redirect URLs after Record Saved in Salesforce

In general, after a record is saved in Salesforce, it will redirect to Detail Screen or list of records of its corresponding Object.

There are many cases where we want to override this functionality. For example, after a new Account created, we want user to create Tasks to it, so once the New Account is saved, page should redirect to New Task screen with Current Account ID details.

To accomplish this, we in general need to create a Custom New Form for Account and in that form, we override default save action and once default save action is accomplished, we redirect using PageReference

We also save one more easy way to accomplish this on default forms, adding details through URL parameters.

By default, Salesforce provided 3 URL parameters,  'retURL', 'saveURL', 'cancelURL'.

We can make use of these parameters to redirect the screen after default button actions.

lets understand with below simple example.

https://demo.salesforce.com/a08/e?retURL=%2Fa08%2Fo&saveURL=/apex/google&cancelURL=/apex/yahoo

The above URL is actually a new form for a custom object.

https://demo.salesforce.com/a08/e

But we also provided other parameters along with URL.

saveURL=/apex/google, this parameter is used for redirection after the record saved. So, once a record is saved, it redirected to a custom page 'google', also the newly created record Id is sent as a parameter by default.

https://demo.salesforce.com/apex/google?newid=a08o0000006rTSR

cancelURL=/apex/yahoo, this parameter is used for redirection if user clicked on default Cancel button . This redirects to a custom page 'yahoo' if user cancelled the form.

Mathematical Operations & Number formatting in Visualforce Page

In a Visualforce page, if we want to do some basic mathematical Operations and display on the screen, eg: display percentage along with the existing value in a Table, we can use apex:outputtext

Sample code to implement it is as below, here we are displaying it in a PageBlockTable, display marks for each subject in one column and  Percentage (Calculated) for each subject in another column

 <apex:pageBlockTable value="{!score}" var="item">  
      <apex:column value="{!item.subject}"/>   
      <apex:column value="{!item.marks}" dir="RTL">  
           <apex:facet name="footer" >  
                {!total}  
           </apex:facet>  
      </apex:column>       
      <apex:column >  
           <apex:outputText value="{!(item.marks / total) * 100}%" />  
      </apex:column>  
 </apex:pageBlockTable>   

In above example, we already have a variable 'total' with sum of marks of all subjects.

In some scenarios, we  might need to format the text when we display on screen like, Currency notation / Date in a specific format etc.. apex:outputtext also has this functionality.

Sample code to implement it is as below, here we send input to outputtext as params, which are used with number notations {0} as in C, C++

 <apex:outputText value="{0, number, 000,000.00}$">  
   <apex:param value="{!AnnualRevenue}" />  
 </apex:outputText>  
  <apex:outputText value="The formatted time right now is:   
       {0,date,yyyy.MM.dd G 'at' HH:mm:ss z}">  
   <apex:param value="{!NOW()}" />  
 </apex:outputText>  

Display Images based on field value in Salesforce

It's very common requirement to display images for a specific field value in a record, as pictorial representation will be more conveying than text.

For example, to display Status of a record pictorially, lets have some rule as

• If status Open - display Green image
• If status Planning - display Amber image
• If status Closed - display Red image

To implement this requirement in Salesforce, we have to store images in Salesforce , either in Documents or Static Resources and then, using Formula Field in the object, by comparing data of the actual field, we will set Image  relative path of the stored images

Lets do step by step as shown as below

Step 1 : Create images with the 3 colors as required and zip them.

Step 2: Add this zip file to the static resources and set the access of it as public

To do this , follow below steps

1.  Login to salesforce environment and Go to Setup
2. Under Build, select 'Develop' and then 'Static Resources' 
3. Click on New and fill in the required information by uploading the Zipped file
4. select Cache Control 'Public' and save

Step 3: Open the Object in which we need to set the images and create a Choice field to select Status and then a new Formula field to set image according to the data of the created Choice Field

To do this, follow below steps

1. Go to Setup
2. Under Build, Select 'Create' and then 'Objects'
3. List of all objects displayed. Click the object in which we need to create these fields
4. Go to Custom Fields section and click 'New'
5. Choose 'Picklist' for Data type and provide required information as below
   
   
   
6. Save it and then in similar way click on 'New' in Custom Fields section and for Data type, choose 'Formula'
7. Provide Field name and label, then select Return type as 'Text'
8. Now, under 'Advanced Formula' section, write formula as below
   

    IMAGE(CASE( Status__c ,  
    'Open', '/resource/status/green.png',  
    'Closed', '/resource/status/red.png',  
    'Planning', '/resource/status/yellow.png',  
    ''), "rating")  
   

   
   
9. And, for Blank Field Handling, select Treat blank fields as blanks'
10. Provide the required access and also add it into the layouts

Step 4: Now, add this formula field in detail screen layout and also View if required.
Once you add it into the layout, you can see the same in detailed screen of a record. Also, if you add these fields in a View, it will be displayed as in below image

Create a List from Custom Template using Powershell in Sharepoint

Lets consider a situation where we have lots of team sites under a Site collection. Now a new requirement has come and we want to store Team Updates in their corresponding sites.

To do this, creating the custom list with required fields in every list is a long time process. If we create a list in one site and save it as template, we can create New list using this template in other sites. Still manually opening all sites and creating a new list will take long time.

This creation part can be achieved using Powershell. For this, lets assume we created a list and saved it as template. This template will be available in site collection. We can also import List template to Site Collection gallery from external.

Now, open the server and use below Powershell commands in Sharepoint Management Studio

 //Get Site collection through SPSite command  
 $spSite = get-spsite("http://Site Collection URL")  

 //Get current website into which new template to be added  
 $SPWeb = Get-SPWeb("http://Site URL") 
 
 //Get list of all custom templates existing in the site collection  
 $listTemplates = $spsite.GetCustomListTemplates($spweb)  

 //Create list using the above templates, by selecting the custom template you are looking for  
 $SPWeb.Lists.Add("Title of List","Description",$listTemplates["Template Name"])
  

Above example is shown for a single site. We can loop the command for list of sites by storing them into an array or if for all subsites, we can fetch them through command and loop.

As our List template is custom one, we need to follow above steps. If we want to create list from sharepoint's default templates, we can use below commands

 //Get current website into which new template to be added  
 $SPWeb = Get-SPSite("http://SiteURL")  

 //Get list of all templates. Its just for your reference to see list  
 $SPWeb.ListTemplates | Select Name, type, type_client, Description  

 //Create list using the template name. The template name should be in above list  
 $SPWeb.Lists.Add("Title","Description","Template Name")  

You can also save an existing list as a template using below commands

 //Get current website in which the list is created  
 $SPWeb = Get-SPSite("http://SiteURL")  

 //Get the list by using list name which to be saved as template  
 $list = $web.Lists["List Name"]  

 //Use below command to save it as template.   
 //Lat parameter ( 1 / 0 ) indicates if to be stored with data or without data  
 $list.SaveAsTemplate(“Template Name”,”Template Title”,”Template Description”,1)  

Calculated Column & Caclulated value in Sharepoint 2010

We have Calculated columns in Sharepoint. The data in these columns can be set based on other column Information. These columns will not be displayed in New / Edit forms as the data in these columns and are calculated internally according to the formula provided by us, before saving the record in database.

You can see simple example in below image, where we are fetching Request Created Day based on created date field.

Use this link to know more about the formulas for calculated columns.

One important point to remember about these columns is, The calculation of the value is done only when an Item created and updated. So, we can't use general functions like 'Today' , 'Me' in the formula.

We can also set Calculated value for Default value to a column. If there are any requirements where default value is to be calculated, we use this.

As an example, if we want to set default value for a title in Status list with Date in it as "Status as on [Date]", we can use below formula in Default value by selecting 'Calculated Value'

 ="Status as on "&TEXT(Today,"dd/mm/yyyy")

Important point to remember here is, We can't use other columns in these formulas as these are calculated before the Edit / New screen loaded and by then we don't have data in other columns.

We can use generic formula like 'Today' or 'Me' and the value set with corresponding data when the screen loaded.

Restrict Record level Access in Salesforce

There are different approaches available to restrict access at different levels in Salesforce.

In this article we look into options available to restrict record level access in a object.

To restrict access at a record level, first we need to configure Organization-Wide Default (OWD) sharing of the object to 'Private'. This configuration once set, all the records will be private. Other users can't access them. Now, we open access using variety of means, like roles, groups, profiles ,sharing rules and manual sharing.

To configure OWD sharing, follow below steps.

1. From Setup, click Security Controls > Sharing Settings.
2. Under Organization Wide-Defaults, click Edit.
3. Change the picklist next to the 'Custom object' to Private.
4. Click Save

The check box is 'Grant Access Hierarchy'. If checked, access to a record will be provided to the Owner's top level hierarchy as per roles defined in the Organization.

Let us assume we already have some Roles and Profiles created as per our Org structure.

Now, to assign access to the records, we use 'Sharing Rules'. These are rules we define to provide access to record based on some criteria of data / owner.

We can provide access to a  Role. In some cases, we might need to provide access to multiple people of different Roles and Profiles. In such cases, we can create a User groups and provide access to the group through these rules.

To create a Sharing Rule, follow below steps,

1. From Setup, click Security Controls > Sharing Settings.
2. Under 'Custom Object' Sharing Rules, click New.
3. In the Label field, Rule Nmae, provide relevant name.
4. For Rule Type, select Based on Criteria.
5. In Criteria, choose the criteria you are looking for, as a sample selecting the following values:
• For Field, choose City.
• For Operator, choose equal to.
• For the Value type, enter 'Hyderabad'.
6. For Share With, we have different options i.e. Roles / Groups. Choose Roles and Subordinates and select Warehouse Manager from the picklist.
7. For Access Level, choose Read/Write.

 Once the rule is saved, a job will be executed to run the rule on the object we created. So, each time you update the rule, it is executed.

Internally, for every object we have 'object__Share' table with corresponding apex modal object. When a Sharing rule is executed, if the criteria is met on a record, corresponding access entries are entered into this table.

Irrespective of rules / criteria if we want to provide access on a record, we can provide through Manual sharing,  by using default 'Sharing' option available on detailed screen

To implement Manual Sharing, follow below steps

1. Click on the record for which we want to add i.e. open detailed screen
2. Click on 'Sharing' button available along with other default action buttons
3. A list with available accesses for the record are displayed. click on 'Add'
4. A screen to choose User / Role / Group is displayed. 
5. Select the corresponding people / group to whom we need to provide access and click on Save

In this way we  can restrict access to a Record.

If we need to provide access to a record dynamically based  on a criteria where value and access mappings are dynamic, we can implement the above 'Manual Sharing' option using Apex.

We can create a Custom object to map criteria and corresponding access details. Now, using a trigger on our Object, upon insert or update, we validate the criteria and if true, add record to the 'Object__Share' table through Apex with corresponding details.

 if(/* Condition to validate */)  
       {  
         //If true,   
         TF_Location__Share jobShr = new TF_Location__Share();  
         // Set the ID of record being shared.  
         jobShr.ParentId = record.id;  
         // Set the ID of user or group being granted access.  
         jobShr.UserOrGroupId = '005j000000BYezb';  
         // Set the access level.  
         jobShr.AccessLevel = 'Read';  
         // Set rowCause to 'manual' for manual sharing.  
         // This line can be omitted as 'manual' is the default value for sharing objects.  
         jobShr.RowCause = Schema.TF_Location__Share.RowCause.Manual;  
         // Insert the sharing record and capture the save result.   
         // The false parameter allows for partial processing if multiple records passed into the operation.  
        Database.SaveResult sr = Database.insert(jobShr,false);  
        // Process the save results.  
        if(sr.isSuccess()){  
            // Indicates success  
        }  
       }  

Custom Timer job in Sharepoint 2010 using Visual Studio

Sharepoint provided a platform to develop timer jobs and deploy in its environment. We can monitor the jobs in central admin along with other jobs. Scheduler configuration is also possible through central admin.

To manage timer jobs, acces to Central Administrator > Monitoring > Review Job definitions
And to monitor job executions, Central Administrator > Monitoring > Check Job Status

Let’s create a sample Timer job and deploy it for better understanding.

Requirement: We have project sites for each project where their health statuses etc. are maintained in predefined template lists.  Now, customers need a dashboard to look into the project status at one place along with individual sites’ links.

Approach: For this, we are creating a list with required details in parent site and we develop a Timer Job to which runs at certain interval and updates the statuses of all sites into this list and a dashboard is created using this list.

Step 1: Create ‘Project Statistics’ list in Site collection / Parent site and ‘Project Details’ in child site (Individual project sites)

Step 2: Now we need to create a Timer job. To do this, follow below steps

1. Open Visual Studio and create a new project using  ‘Empty Sharepoint Project’ Template
   
   
   
2. If Sharepoint has single Server, provide the web application where it has to be deployed and don’t forget to select ‘Deploy as a Farm Solution’ and then click on ‘Finish'
   
   
   
   Note: If site url is not provided, we can package it and deploy the WSP solution using Powershell.
3. Now, create a new class file in visual studio and extend the class from ‘SPJobDefinition’. Use below code as sample reference
   

        public StatusUpdateTimerJob()  
          : base()  
        {  
        }  
        public StatusUpdateTimerJob(string jobName, SPService service,  
            SPServer server, SPJobLockType lockType)  
            : base(jobName, service, server, lockType)  
        {  
          this.Title = "Project Status Update Timer Job";  
        }  
        public StatusUpdateTimerJob(string jobName, SPWebApplication webapp)  
          : base(jobName, webapp, null, SPJobLockType.ContentDatabase)  
        {  
          this.Title = "Project Status Update Timer Job";  
        }  
        public override void Execute(Guid targetInstanceId)  
        {  
          //Write your logic to delete existing records from main list (Project Statistics) in parent site and then  
          //Iterate through all child sites and insert new records to above list from 'Project Details' list  
        }  
   

   Above code has 3 overloaded constructors which will be called internally as per need and write your logic in Execute method
4. Now we create a feature to install and uninstall the Job. To do this, right click on ‘Features’ in solution explorer or Visual studio and click ‘Add Feature’
   
   
   
   Provide Feature Title and Description , this will be displayed in Features list of a site collection and select scope to ‘Site’
   
   
   
   In the event Receiver class of the above created feature, replace the code with below

    const string JobName = "ProjectStatus Update Timer Job";  
    public override void FeatureActivated(SPFeatureReceiverProperties properties)  
    {  
         SPSite site = properties.Feature.Parent as SPSite;  
         DeleteJob(site); // Delete Job if already Exists  
         CreateJob(site); // Create new Job  
    }  
    private static void DeleteJob(SPSite site)  
    {  
         foreach (SPJobDefinition job in site.WebApplication.JobDefinitions)  
              if (job.Name == JobName)  
                   job.Delete();  
    }  
    private static void CreateJob(SPSite site)  
    {  
         StatusUpdateTimerJob job = new StatusUpdateTimerJob(JobName, site.WebApplication);  
         SPMinuteSchedule schedule = new SPMinuteSchedule();  
         schedule.BeginSecond = 0;  
         schedule.EndSecond = 5;  
         schedule.Interval = 5;  
         job.Schedule = schedule;  
         job.Update();  
    }  
    public override void FeatureDeactivating(SPFeatureReceiverProperties properties)  
    {  
         DeleteJob(properties.Feature.Parent as SPSite); // Delete the Job  
    }  
   

   
   The above methods are to Create Job and Delete job which are called when feature activated and deactivated accordingly.
5. Now are ready with our Timer job and we have to deploy it in the server. We can deploy it directly from Visual studio using ‘deploy’ Option in ‘debug ‘ or by packaging and installing the Solution
   To install Solution, use below Powershell commands
   

    Add-SPSolution -LiteralPath c:\SampleTImerjob.wsp  
    Install-SPSolution -Identity SampleTImerjob.wsp -GACDeployment  
    enable-spfeature -identity SampleTImerjob _Feature1 -url ‘Site collection URL’  
   

   We deployed it in GAC, as it’s a Timer job and should be accessed globally.
   
   Note: 1st 2 commands should be executed in one window and the last one should be in a new window as the dll is deployed in GAC, it will not reflect for the powershell window if we try to enable in same window

Step 3: Using above commands, we even activated the feature. So, the job will be created and it is scheduled. You can see it in ‘Central Admin’ as explained in the starting

We can also reconfigure the schedule by clicking on the title.

With this we implemented our requirement and for every 2 minutes, statuses for all project sites are updated in parent site and the dashboard is prepared on top of the list.

One important point to not to forget is, if we are modifying the Timer job, we have to update the Assembly version number. If not, the changes might not reflect properly

Word Document Creation Dynamically in Sharepoint 2010

CodeProject

Though I have been working on SharePoint from past 4+ years, I didn't notice this awesome feature, We can create / update word documents dynamically in SharePoint. This is a very useful feature which will be helpful in creation of standard word documents like Approval forms / Employee Offer letters etc. It just takes few minutes to setup.

Lets try to create one sample form (Employee Offer Letter) using this feature.

I'm implementing this example in Sharepoint 2010. We need Design rights on SharePoint site and also Sharepoint Designer, MS Word  are needed for this example.

 Step 1: Create a Document library to generate and store the Offer letter documents in the  site. Create the columns that are dynamically need to be updated in the document, eg: Name, salary etc. The columns in Library acts as properties for a document, which can be added directly in the word document. In this example I added 4 such fields

1. Employee Name
2. Salary
3. Designation
4. Proposed Joining Date

 Step 2: For every Document library we will have a default file template for that library. This can be word document too. To edit it, go to Settings > Advanced Settings . Document template will be available, click on 'Edit Template'. This opens up MS Word with the standard template file (.dotx)

 Step 3: Now, writeup the standard content that to be there in the Offer letter and in the places where data to be filled dynamically i.e. Employee name, salary etc. insert the Document Properties that we created in above steps. To add a document property, Select 'Insert' in word ribbon and Go to Quick Parts > Document Properties. All the above created columns are displayed along with default ones. Select corresponding property.

Step 4: Once added , click on Save as and change the format from '.dotx' to '.docx' ( this step is needed to automate document generation, we can't update a '.dotx' from back-end.) Now the document looks as in below screen.

With above step, we are ready with document library and if we create a new document in this library, it will automatically fill in all the corresponding placeholders and our document is ready.

Step 5: Now, create a document to test it. If you click on 'New Document' in the document library, a word document with previously created template opens. Also, a form with all the new fields we created will be displayed on top.

Step 6: If we fill-in the corresponding details,  the place holders will be automatically updated and once you save it, a new document with these details is created in the document library. A sample document will appear as in below screen after filling all details.

To, create this document dynamically, we need to create new item through back end in the library, by filling all the properties we created. This can be achieved in multiple ways. 

I created a list with same details and using a workflow on the list, when a new list item created,  it will create a new item in the document library by filling all corresponding properties in library.

To do this, follow below steps. 

Step 7: Create a Sharepoint list with the same columns we created for library.

Step 8: Open Sharepoint designer and Go to the list we created and click on New workflow. Fill in the Workflow Name, description

Step 9: Select action 'Create List Item' from Actions tab in ribbon

Step 10: Click on 'this list' and choose the document library we created.

Step 11: Using 'Add' option, choose each column and fill it with the current item corresponding column data. Also, modify default field 'Path and Name' with the convention you prefer.

Step 12: Once all the fields are mapped. Save the workflow. And, select the option to 'Start workflow automatically when item created' and publish it. I also added another step to send email with the newly created document link.

With these steps we completed our configuration / development process for the functionality.

To test it, create a new item in the list with  all the details. Then, open our document library to see the newly created document with the details.

This feature not only automates document creation, but also helps us in logging the details in online system which will be helpful for future references / audit purposes.

Accessing / Controlling Form fields in Visualforce pages using Jquery

It's a most common requirement that we need to access Form fields using JavaScript in any web technologies, for different reasons. In Salesforce too we can access / control using JavaScript. Lets understand how to accomplish this using below example.

Problem Statement: We have an object named Locations in Salesforce in which we store location details, that includes Address, City, Province / State , Country, Geo Co-ordinates etc. So, in a new or edit screen of a record, we want to provide a map where user can pick the location and it should automatically fill all the available details into the fields and on top of it, user can modify if any changes needed, then Save the record.

Solution: One among the easiest ways to provide a solution for above problem is having a map in the Form screen using JQuery Maps API and upon location changed in the map, updating the details of location ( fetched using API ) into the existing fields using JavaScript by accessing  through DOM.

To do this, we need to create a Visualforce page as we can't directly add custom code into default form screens in Salesforce. You can follow below steps to accomplish it

1. Login to Salesforce
2. Under Logged in User name drop down, select 'Setup'
3. In left navigation, under 'App Setup' section go to 'Develop' and then 'Pages'
4. List of all Visaulforce Pages are displayed. Now click on New button
5. Fill in all the basic details of the new Page
   
6. In the Visualforce Markup section, add below code and save it.

 <apex:page id="LocationPage" standardcontroller="Location__c" tabstyle="Location__c">  
      <apex:form id="FormLocation" >  
           <apex:sectionheader title="Information" subtitle="{!if(Location__c.Id==null,'New Location',Location__c.Name)}"></apex:sectionheader>  
           <apex:pageblock mode="edit" id="locationPB" title="Location Edit">  
                <apex:pageblockbuttons >  
                     <apex:commandbutton action="{!save}" value="Save"></apex:commandbutton>  
                     <apex:commandbutton action="{!cancel}" value="Cancel"></apex:commandbutton>  
                </apex:pageblockbuttons>  
                <apex:pagemessages ></apex:pagemessages> <!-- displays all message generated by the component -->  
                <apex:pageblocksection id="AddressInformationPBS" title="Address Information">  
                     <apex:inputfield value="{!Location__c.Address__c}" id="Address" ></apex:inputfield>  
                     <apex:inputfield value="{!Location__c.Zone__c}" ></apex:inputfield>  
                     <apex:inputfield value="{!Location__c.City__c}" id="City" ></apex:inputfield>  
                     <apex:inputfield value="{!Location__c.Geo_Location__Latitude__s}" id="Latitude" ></apex:inputfield>  
                     <apex:inputfield value="{!Location__c.Province__c}" id="Province" ></apex:inputfield>  
                     <apex:inputfield value="{!Location__c.Geo_Location__Longitude__s}" id="Longitude" ></apex:inputfield>  
                     <apex:inputfield value="{!Location__c.Country_Code__c}" id="Country" ></apex:inputfield>  
                     <apex:inputfield value="{!Location__c.Zip_Code__c}" id="Zip" ></apex:inputfield>  
                </apex:pageblocksection>  
                <apex:pageblocksection id="AddressPickerPBS" title="Pick Address using Map">  
                     <div id='map' style='width:100%;height:200px;'></div>  
                     <script src="https://code.jquery.com/jquery-1.10.2.min.js"></script>  
                     <script type="text/javascript" src='https://maps.google.com/maps/api/js?sensor=false&libraries=places'></script>  
                     <script src="https://rawgit.com/Logicify/jquery-locationpicker-plugin/master/locationpicker.jquery.js"></script>  
                     <script>  
                          $('#map').locationpicker({  
                               location: {    
                                    latitude: {!if(Location__c.Geo_Location__Latitude__s==null,17.4512887508432,Location__c.Geo_Location__Latitude__s)},  
                                    longitude: {!if(Location__c.Geo_Location__Longitude__s==null,78.38132679614262,Location__c.Geo_Location__Longitude__s)}  
                                    },  
                               radius: 100,  
                               onchanged: function (currentLocation, radius, isMarkerDropped) {  
                                    var addressComponents = $(this).locationpicker('map').location.addressComponents;  
                                    $('#LocationPage\\:FormLocation\\:locationPB\\:AddressInformationPBS\\:Address').val(addressComponents.addressLine1);  
                                    $('#LocationPage\\:FormLocation\\:locationPB\\:AddressInformationPBS\\:City').val(addressComponents.city);  
                                    $('#LocationPage\\:FormLocation\\:locationPB\\:AddressInformationPBS\\:Province').val(addressComponents.stateOrProvince);  
                                    $('#LocationPage\\:FormLocation\\:locationPB\\:AddressInformationPBS\\:Zip').val(addressComponents.postalCode);  
                                    $('#LocationPage\\:FormLocation\\:locationPB\\:AddressInformationPBS\\:Country').val(addressComponents.country);  
                                    $('#LocationPage\\:FormLocation\\:locationPB\\:AddressInformationPBS\\:Latitude').val($(this).locationpicker('map').location.latitude);  
                                    $('#LocationPage\\:FormLocation\\:locationPB\\:AddressInformationPBS\\:Longitude').val($(this).locationpicker('map').location.longitude);  
                               }  
                          });  
                     </script>  
                </apex:pageblocksection>  
           </apex:pageblock>  
      </apex:form>  
 </apex:page>  

Most of the code is Visualforce Markup. All tags used in it are basic default ones used for building a form. Most of the tags are self explanatory by their names.  Lets understand some important tags we used in above code along with the Javascript.

As mentioned in problem statement, we are creating Visualforce page for a custom object 'Location__c' as mentioned in 'StandardController' attribute of 'Page' tag.

 <apex:pageblockbuttons >  
      <apex:commandbutton action="{!save}" value="Save"></apex:commandbutton>  
      <apex:commandbutton action="{!cancel}" value="Cancel"></apex:commandbutton>  
 </apex:pageblockbuttons>  

Command buttons are the action buttons displayed for a page on top and bottom of the form. We added the default 'Save' and 'Cancel' actions provided for any object by Salesforce.

 <apex:pageblocksection id="AddressInformationPBS" title="Address Information">  
      <apex:inputfield value="{!Location__c.Address__c}" id="Address" ></apex:inputfield>  
      <apex:inputfield value="{!Location__c.Zone__c}" ></apex:inputfield>  
      ......
 </apex:pageblocksection>  

From above code we can understand that we are using 8 custom fields in the 'Location' Custom object to store the detailed address information of the location.
 
'InputField' tag automatically displays the corresponding control of the field , along with data if it is used in edit screen.

 <script>  
      $('#map').locationpicker({  
           location: {    
                latitude: {!if(Location__c.Geo_Location__Latitude__s==null,17.4512887508432,Location__c.Geo_Location__Latitude__s)},  
                longitude: {!if(Location__c.Geo_Location__Longitude__s==null,78.38132679614262,Location__c.Geo_Location__Longitude__s)}  
                },  
           radius: 100,  
           onchanged: function (currentLocation, radius, isMarkerDropped) {  
                var addressComponents = $(this).locationpicker('map').location.addressComponents;  
                $('#LocationPage\\:FormLocation\\:locationPB\\:AddressInformationPBS\\:Address').val(addressComponents.addressLine1);  
                $('#LocationPage\\:FormLocation\\:locationPB\\:AddressInformationPBS\\:City').val(addressComponents.city);  
                ...
           }  
      });  
 </script>  

Above script is the default configuration of the 'Jquery Locationpicker' plugin. You can understnad more about this plugin  at this link, Jquery Locationpicker . 

Most important code to understand in above block is accessing fields.

$('#LocationPage\\:FormLocation\\:locationPB\\:AddressInformationPBS\\:Address').val('...');

In Salesforce, for a HTML Control, DOM Id is generated dynamically. A control ID has all the parent sections' IDs hierarchically with colon ( : ) separated. 

So, in our above example, HTML rendered ID of a control ( Client side ID ) is

"Page ID:Form ID:PageBlock ID:PageBlockSection ID:Control ID"

If you are adding any extra section or removing some section, ensure these blocks are updated.

Now, you can set this page as default New / Edit form by overriding the existing buttons in the 'Location' Object. This can be accomplished using below steps,

1. Login to Salesforce
2. Under Logged in User name drop down, select 'Setup'
3. In left navigation, under 'App Setup' section go to 'Create' and then 'Objects'
4. All the custom objects are listed. Click on 'Location' object
5.  Go to 'Buttons, Links and Actions' section and Edit the existing buttons 'New' and "Edit'
6. Now Choose 'Visualforce Page' radio option and select the newly created page from the drop down and save it.
   

Now when you click on New or Edit record of Locations, screen will be displayed as below.

Try changing the point displayed in map. It automatically updated above fields. Now user can change is any information to be updated and then save it accordingly.