Deploying reusable Data Form Web Parts for SharePoint

hvdkamp — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 10:51:00 GMT

An introduction into Data Form Web Parts

The Data Form Web Part is a Web Part component that is available out-of-the-box with WSS 3.0. It allows you to display information from different data source types, with the possibility to change or insert new data. You can display a single item or a collection of items, use grouping, sorting, conditional formatting, share information between Web Parts and much more. Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer 2007 supports the Data Form Web Part which gives you a WYSIWYG way of setting up your Web Part.

For more information on the Data Form Web Part see e.g. the Data Form Web Part presentation in Dutch of Maarten van den Dungen and the MSDN documentation. The "Getting to Know the Data Form Web Part" series of SharePoint Beagle give you also a good overview:

Deployment of Data Form Web Parts

Now you know where to find introductions how to work with Data Form Web Parts, you can quickly create data views and forms. To deploy and reuse your Data Form Web Parts on multiple (sub)sites and environments keep the following tips in mind.

Reference SharePoint lists based on the list name instead of the list ID

By default a data form web part that has a SharePoint list as its data source, gets the data from that specific list. The list is referenced by using the list's GUID identifier, which means that theoretically only one list in the world is referenced. When lists are deployed using a CAML List Definition, a list is created and automatically gets a new GUID identifier. The Data Form Web Part I have used for the original list cannot be used to reference the new list instance without changing the ListID reference.

The trick is to reference a SharePoint list based on it’s name instead of it’s ID. To change the DataFormWebPart’s ListID attribute to ListName, use the following steps:

Replace all ListName="{GUID}" to ListName="LIST_NAME"
Replace
<WebPartPages:DataFormParameter Name="ListID" ParameterKey="ListID" PropertyName="ParameterValues" DefaultValue="{GUID}"/>
to
<WebPartPages:DataFormParameter Name="ListName" ParameterKey="ListName" PropertyName="ParameterValues" DefaultValue="LIST_NAME"/>
Replace
<ParameterBinding Name="ListID" Location="None" DefaultValue="{GUID}"/>
to
<ParameterBinding Name="ListName" Location="None" DefaultValue="LIST_NAME"/>
Save your Web Part

Thanks to Sandeep Rohilla.

Reference a Lookup field based on the lookup value ID instead of the text value

Displaying data from multiple lists or using web part connections can easily be done. When you want to filter items based on a Lookup field but don’t want to reference items based on the string value, use the ID of the item. Use an ID e.g. if you want to filter information based on an ID in the query string.

The Data Form Web Part uses a CAML query to fetch data, which means you can use the LookupId attribute to refer a field based on it’s ID. The CAML attribute is:

LookupId='True'

The Data Form Web Part’s .webpart file contains HTML encoded values, so the LookupId attribute has to be encoded to get things done. In SharePoint designer open the code view of the Data Form Web Part and follow these steps:

Find <property name="DataSourcesString" type="string">.
Inside the DataSourceString property, replace:
&lt;FieldRef LookupId=&quot;TRUE&quot; Name=&quot;NAME_OF_THE_LOOKUP_FIELD&quot;/&gt;&lt;Value Type=&quot;Text&quot;&gt;LOOKUP_VALUE&lt;/Value&gt;&
with:
&lt;FieldRef LookupId=&quot;TRUE&quot; Name=&quot;NAME_OF_THE_LOOKUP_FIELD&quot;/&gt;&lt;Value Type=&quot;Text&quot;&gt;LOOKUP_ID&lt;/Value&gt;&
Save your Web Part

Specify on which (sub)site your list is located

By default the Web Part that has a SharePoint list as its source, expects the list to be at the same site level as the Web Part. When you want a list to be at a different site level, specify the WebURL parameter. The WebURL parameter is also located inside the <property name="DataSourcesString" type="string">.