Data View Web Parts (DVWPs) are, to me, the most powerful feature in SharePoint. You’ve probably heard them called the Swiss Army Knife of SharePoint and there’s really very little that you can’t display with them if you understand how they work. But understanding the inner working of DVWPs requires knowledge of some pretty crufty concepts: CAML and XSL. In this series, I hope to demystify the XSL side of things a bit by explaining the most common XSL tags you’re likely to see in DVWPs and what you can do with them.
Unlocking the Mysteries of the SharePoint Data View Web Part XSL Tags is also available as an eBook for $25.00 as (downloadable PDF file – 72 pages)
Cross-posted from EndUserSharePoint.com… <xsl:variable> A value you create for use within a template which is only defined within the scope of that template. Parameters and variables are used interchangeably, but how you create them is a bit different. While a parameter is a value which you expect to receive, a variable is something which you…
Cross-posted from EndUserSharePoint.com… <xsl:for-each> A way to iterate over a nodeset (group of rows). Once you have a rowset like the $Rows I talked about in the prior article about <xsl:variable>, you’ll want to do something with it. If you’ve ever used a report writer or created reports in an application like Microsoft Access, the…
Cross-posted from EndUserSharePoint.com… <xsl:sort> Used within an <xsl:for-each> to determine the sort order in which the nodeset (group of rows) are processed. <xsl:sort> allows you to change the default sort order of the items as they are displayed in a Data View Web Part (DVWP). By default (in almost all cases), the items will be…
Cross-posted from EndUserSharePoint.com… <xsl:if> A single conditional test. If the test is true, then the contained code is executed. <xsl:if> is one of the simple workhorses in the Data View Web Part (DVWP) XSL arsenal. Its entire goal in life is to determine whether the code it contains is executed or not. Looking at our…
Cross-posted from EndUserSharePoint.com… <xsl:choose> Like <xsl:if>, but with multiple possibilities, more like if-then-else. <xsl:when> Used within <xsl:choose> as a conditional test. If the test is true, then the contained code is executed and the <xsl:choose> is exited. <xsl:otherwise> Used within <xsl:choose> as the “fall-back” condition. If none of the prior <xsl:when>s have been executed, the…