Chapter 17. Working with the Data Form Web Part
Understanding the basics of the Data Form Web Part
Using the Data Form Web Part
Using the Common Data View control tasks
Working with the Conditional Formatting task pane
The Data Form Web Part qualifies as one of the most powerful and extensible SharePoint Web parts. Available with WSS v3 and MOSS sites, the Data Form Web Part extends the capabilities of its predecessor — the Data View Web Part available with WSS v2 and SPS 2003 sites — by providing features for inserting, editing, and deleting data stored in SharePoint data sources in addition to displaying and formatting data. In other words, while the Data View Web Part is only capable of providing a way to create views of data stored in SharePoint data sources, the Data Form Web Part allows for creating both views for displaying data and forms for inserting and manipulating data from SharePoint data sources. You can use the Data Form Web Part with almost all available SharePoint data sources. These include all SharePoint lists and libraries, business data catalogs, database connections, XML files, etc.
The Data Form Web Part expands the data-displaying capabilities of the Data View Web Part by providing the creation of single- and multiple-item views, subviews, and joined subviews of data. Subviews and joined subviews allow Web designers to aggregate data from various data sources into a single view, thereby enhancing data analysis and review abilities. Like its predecessor, the Data Form Web Part allows parameter-based filtering, sorting, and grouping of SharePoint data. You can also make use of advanced formatting for showing and hiding content as well as applying styles for changing data appearance and layout.
The Data Form Web Part allows creation of single- and multiple-item forms as well as new item forms for inserting, updating, and deleting data stored in SharePoint data sources. Along with this, the Data Form Web Part can also be used to create customized new item, edit item, and display item forms for list and document libraries.
This chapter discusses the internals of the Data Form Web Part and how you can use this wonderful Web part to work with data sources on SharePoint Web sites. I also take you through a number of exercises that help you develop your understanding about using the Data Form Web Part in a number of scenarios.
Unlike other Web parts provided by SharePoint sites, you can't use the SharePoint user interface to insert and configure the Data Form Web Part. Instead, you use SharePoint Designer to work with the Data Form Web Part. SharePoint Designer offers a simple, wizard-driven approach to insert the Data Form Web Part on Web pages. SharePoint Designer also provides a number of task panes and dialog boxes to specify settings for manipulating and formatting data being fed to the Data Form Web Part by SharePoint data sources.