Perhaps the most popular type of XML data are RSS feeds. Every SharePoint site can produce an RSS feed of its list data. Other sites also produce RSS feeds that you can leverage to provide content for your site. In this exercise, you will create an XML data source from an external RSS feed and display it on a web part page:

1. Open a SharePoint site in SharePoint Designer.
2. From the Navigation pane, click Data Sources.
3. From the Ribbon, click XML File Connection.
4. Type http://research.microsoft.com/rss/news.xml in the Location box of the Source tab.
5. Click the General tab.
6. Type Microsoft Research News in the Name text box and then click OK to save. You now have a new XML data source called Microsoft Research News.
7. In the Navigation pane, click Site Pages.
8. From the Ribbon, click the Pages menu and then click Web Part Page to create a new web part page.
9. Name the file XMLExample.aspx.
10. Click the filename and then click Edit File to open the new web part page in Edit mode.
11. Make sure that you are in Design mode and click in the main web part zone.
12. On Ribbon's Insert tab, click Data View and then select Empty Data View.
13. In the web part zone, click the Click Here to Select a Data Source link.
14. Find the newly created Microsoft Research News data source, select it, and then click OK.
15. In the data source details pane, you will see two folders, one called channel and the other called item.
16. Ctrl+click the Title and Description fields under the channel folder and drag them to the web part zone.
17. Ctrl+click on the description, link, and pubDate fields under the item folder and drag them to the web part zone. Your page should look something like Figure 10-1.
    
    

    Figure 10-1. XMLExample.aspx

18. Click the title and description fields at the top of the web part and fix the capitalization to Title and Description, respectively.
19. Click the lower Data View web part. In the Tag Properties pane (usually on the right-hand side of SharePoint Designer), locate the Appearance section and change the chrome type to None.
20. With the web part still highlighted, click Add/Remove Columns on the Ribbon menu.
21. When the dialog box opens, change the order of the fields to link, description, pubDate and then click OK to save your changes.
22. On the header row of the DataView, rename the link field to Title, change description to Description, and change pubDate to Publication Date, as illustrated in Figure 10-2. You place the fields into Edit mode by clicking each field name.
    
    

    Figure 10-2. Editing headers

23. Click a link in the first row of the first column and open the Common xsl:value-of-Tasks menu (see Figure 10-3). From the Format As drop-down list, select Hyperlink. When the dialog asks you to confirm, click Yes.
    
    

    Figure 10-3. Common xsl:value-of-Tasks menu

24. In the Edit Hyperlink dialog box, change the Text to Display text box entry from {link} to {title}, as shown in Figure 10-4. Click OK to save your changes.
    
    

    Figure 10-4. Edit Hyperlink properties

25. Press Ctrl+S to save your changes, and click Preview in Browser from the Home tab on the Ribbon. Your page should look like the Figure 10-5.

In this exercise, you will create a data source based on a RESTful service and display the data on a web part page.

1. Open a SharePoint site in SharePoint Designer.
2. In the Navigation pane, click the Data Sources menu.
3. From the Ribbon's Data Sources menu, click REST Service Connection.
4. When the Connection Wizard opens, make sure you are on the Source tab and then configure the data source by using the following options, shown in Figure 10-6:
   
   1. HTTP Method: HTTP Get
   2. Command: Select
   3. Connection Info:
      http://api.twitter.com/1/statuses/user_timeline.xml
5. Add the following parameter by clicking the Add button:
   

   d. Name: screen_name

   e. Value: ApressBooks

   f. Click OK to save the parameter. (Note that the wizard will add your parameters to the query string so you don't have to.)

   

   Figure 10-6. REST service properties

6. Click the General tab.
7. Type Apress Books Twitter Status for the name and click OK to save your data source.
8. In the Navigation pane, click Site Pages and create a new web part page called RESTExample.aspx.
9. Click the filename and click Edit File again to put the page in Edit mode.
10. Ensure you are in Design mode and click the main web part zone.
11. From the Ribbon's Insert menu, click Data View and select Empty Data View.
12. Click the data view link to select a data source.
13. Select Apress Books Twitter Status from the Data Sources Picker. Click OK.
14. In the Data Source Details pane, Ctrl+click text and created_at and drag them into the web part zone.
15. Edit the headings and change the text header to Text and change created_at to Date, as shown in Figure 10-7.
    
    

    Figure 10-7. Editing headings in Data view

16. Press Ctrl+S to save your work and then click Preview in Browser on the Home tab of the Ribbon. Your page should look like Figure 10-8.

In this next exercise, you will connect to a SharePoint-provided SOAP web service. Because the configuration of the SOAP-based service is slightly more complicated than the other data sources, this exercise describes in detail the different sections of the wizard.

1. In the Navigation pane, click Data Sources. From the Ribbon, click the SOAP Service Connection menu item. The Data Source Properties dialog box opens with the following SOAP-specific configuration options:
   
   1. Service Description Location: This is the URL to the service description (WSDL) file. You specify this by adding a ?WSDL to the end of the service URL. You can view the WSDL file by pasting the same URL in a browser and viewing the page that is returned. Type http://[SharePoint Site URL]/_vti_bin/lists.asmx?wsdl (where SharePoint Site URL is the URL to your SharePoint site). Click Connect Now so SharePoint Designer can retrieve the description file.
   2. Data Command: Like a REST service connection, this box identifies the command that your data source is going to be configured to run. If the web service supports all of the commands, a separate data source will have to be configured for each command. Most of the time, you would use only Select.
   3. Port: If the web service supports multiple interfaces, they will be listed here. The default port will be selected.
   4. Operation: When the Connect Now button is clicked, the wizard retrieves the WSDL file, which defines all of the operations that can be performed on the web service. If you click the drop-down list and look at the Lists service, you can see that some operations have required parameters and some don't. For this exercise, select GetListCollection from the drop-down menu.
   5. Parameters: As mentioned previously, if the operation selected in the previous step requires parameters, those will be listed. You can modify the values of the parameters. Parameters with an asterisk (*) are required. For this exercise, there are no parameters.
2. The wizard has two other tabs that are the same as the other data sources. The Login tab can be used to set default login credentials. For this exercise, you will use the default credentials. The General tab is used to provide a description of the data source configuration. Click the General tab and type Site List Collection for the name and click OK to save your new data source.
3. As you did in the previous two exercises, create a new web part page, this time named SOAPExample.aspx, and open it in Edit mode.
4. Click in the web part zone, and then from the Ribbon, click Data View and find the newly created Site List Collection data source.
5. Your page should now be filled with a listing of all of the lists contained in your site. Click Add/Remove Columns from the Ribbon menu.
6. Remove all columns except the DefaultViewUrl column and click OK.
7. Click the first list item, select Hyperlink, and then confirm Yes.
8. In the Edit Hyperlink dialog box, change the Text to Display text box to {@Title}, as shown in Figure 10-9. Then click OK.
   
   

   Figure 10-9. DefaultViewUrl hyperlink properties

9. Press Ctrl+S to save your changes and then click Preview in Browser from the Home tab. You should see a page displaying a list of all of the SharePoint lists in your site. Clicking the links should take you to the default view of that list.

To create a new external content type, click the External Content Types link in the Navigation pane and then click External Content Type from the Ribbon. You will be shown a page that requires you to configure your new external content type. You can give it a name by clicking the Name hyperlink. The display name will change automatically. You can change the display name if you don't want it the same as the external content type name.

After you have named it, the next step is to determine what Office Item Type it will be. The selector defaults to Generic List, but you can choose Appointment, Contact, Task, or Post if they are closer to the type of content you will be connecting to. Offline Sync is enabled by default. This setting allows mobile devices to disconnect from the network and still perform operations on the list and then sync back up when they are connected. If you are performing only read operations, this setting doesn't apply.

The next setting is selecting the external system you will be connecting to. When you click the hyperlink, the Operation Designer window opens. When you click the Add Connection button, you are presented with three options, as shown in Figure 10-10:

• .Net Type
• SQL Server
• WCF Service

Figure 10-10. External data source type selector

Even though the most common choice is SQL Server, let's take a closer look at how to create a connection to each of these systems.

.NET Type

The .NET Type is a custom connector that has to be developed in Visual Studio. If you or someone in your organization has already developed a .NET connector in Visual Studio, SharePoint Designer 2010 will allow you to make a connection to that interface.

If you choose .NET Type, you will be presented with the dialog box shown in Figure 10-11.

Figure 10-11. .NET type selector

To configure a connection to a .NET type, you select the .NET assembly from those that have already been deployed. You will then see all of the operations that the custom connector offers. If you do not specify a name, it will use the assembly name. When you save your connection, you will be shown all of the methods that are available to you (see Figure 10-12).

Figure 10-12. .NET connector methods

SQL Server

When you select SQL Server, you define the database server name, the database name, and the credentials you will use to connect to the database (see Figure 10-13). The default option is to use the user's identity. This option is important because it ensures that the user of your SharePoint site will be able to view only the data that user has access to. You can also use credentials stored in the secure store if you are using the Standard or Enterprise version of SharePoint. The secure store is a special location in Central Administration that stores usernames and passwords for accessing external systems through SharePoint. Finally, if you don't specify a name, the connection wizard will use the database name as a reference.

Figure 10-13. SQL Server Connection dialog box

WCF Service

A Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) service is the new service communication API developed by Microsoft and has to be created by developers in Visual Studio. Like the .NET connector, a WCF service has to be developed and deployed to a web server before you can connect to it. If you have WCF services deployed in your organization, SharePoint Designer can enable you to connect to it.

If you choose WCF Service as the connection, you will be presented with the dialog box shown in Figure 10-14 to configure your WCF service connection.

Figure 10-14. WCF Connection dialog box

To configure the WCF connection, you enter the service metadata URL to allow the service to retrieve the service description file. You have an option to use either WSDL or Metadata Exchange mode to retrieve the metadata. The service endpoint is similar to the metadata URL except that the endpoint URL is the URL that SharePoint will use to communicate with the service. If you are required to use a proxy to access the web service, the proxy server address can be entered as well. The authentication settings are similar to the SQL Server authentication options.

When you save your WCF connection settings, a new Connection entry will be visible, and all of the methods provided by the service will be listed, as you can see in Figure 10-15.

Figure 10-15. WCF web methods listing

Create Operations

After you have created your connections, you have to define the operations you want to perform on the connected external systems.

Figure 10-16. Operations warning

As the warning indicates (Figure 10-16) you cannot save an external content type without defining one operation. All external content types must have a Read Item and a Read List operation if you are going to use it to create an external list.

When you make a connection to an SQL server, the tables will be listed in a folder labeled Tables. The views will be in a folder labeled Views, and the user-defined stored procedures will be in a folder labeled Routines. In a WCF connection, all methods provided by the service will be listed as illustrated earlier in Figure 10-15.

To define an operation, select the object you want to perform the operation on and right-click it. A context menu will appear, allowing you to create All Operations or any specific CRUD operation, as shown in Figure 10-17.

Figure 10-17. Create Operations context menu

When you select an operation to create, the Create Operation Wizard, shown in Figure 10-18, will pop up and lead you through the process of creating the operations you selected.

Figure 10-18. Create All Operations Wizard

When you click Next, you are able to map the fields to properties. You will also be shown any errors that exist that you can correct (see Figure 10-19). One of the options you can configure is which fields to display in the picker. The picker is a dialog box much like the People Picker from SharePoint that will provide a quick lookup of valid values to assist your user in entering the correct values. You can set these values by highlighting the fields and then configuring the field settings on the right.

For this exercise, you will create an external content type and list so that you can interact with it in SharePoint:

1. From the Navigation pane, click External Content Type. From the Ribbon menu, click External Content Type.
2. Click the Name hyperlink and change the name to Customer.
3. From the Office Item Type drop-down list, select Contact (see Figure 10-21).
   
   

   Figure 10-21. New external content type information

4. Click the hyperlink to discover external data sources and define operations.
5. Click Add Connection and select SQL Server.
6. When the dialog box opens, type the name of your SQL Server and AdventureWorksLT2008R2 as the database. Give it a name of AdventureWorks. Leave the identity settings to Connect with User's Identity. Click OK.
7. In the Data Source Explorer, right-click the Customer table and select New Read List Operation from the context menu.
8. Click Next until you get to the Return Parameter Configuration window.
9. We aren't going to do anything with the passwords, so you can deselect PasswordHash, PasswordSalt, and rowguid.
10. Click CustomerID. In the Properties pane, select Map to Identifier, and if not already selected, select CustomerId as the identifier. Make sure that the Read-Only check box is selected.
11. For the FirstName, LastName, and CompanyName fields, select Show in Picker in the Properties pane.
12. Click Finish to save.
13. Right-click Customer again and select New Read Item Operation.
14. Click Next until you get to the Return Parameter window.
15. You will see a couple of warnings indicating that your FirstName and LastName fields are not mapped to an Office property. Make the mappings shown in Table 10-2 to your fields.SharePoint:
    

    

16. Click Finish to save.
17. Right-click the Customer table and select New Update Operation.
18. When the Update operation dialog box opens, just accept all of the defaults and click Finish to save. Your external content type should look like Figure 10-22.
    
    

    Figure 10-22. Customer external content type with operations defined

19. Press Ctrl+S to save.
20. Once your external content type is created, you can let SharePoint Designer create your external lists. Click the Create Lists and Forms button on the Ribbon menu.
21. When the Create List and Form for Customer dialog box opens, name your list AdventureWorksCustomer and give it a description, as illustrated in Figure 10-23.
    
    

    Figure 10-23. Create List and Form for Customer dialog box

22. Click OK. Your new external list will be created.
23. From the Navigation pane, click Lists and Libraries. In the External Lists section, you should see your newly created list. Click the list name and then click Preview in Browser. The browser should open and display your list (see Figure 10-24). Click the CustomerID and see that you can view an individual item. Click the Edit Item option to view how the form changes to an Edit form. Edit the name of one of the contacts, save it, and notice how it updates the data.
    
    

    Figure 10-24. AdventureWorks customer external list

    If you get an access denied message, you have to configure permissions to access the new external content type in Central Administration. If you do not have access to Central Administration, work with your administrator to set permissions.

24. Open Central Administration and click Manage Service Applications in the Application Management section, as shown in Figure 10-25.
    
    

    Figure 10-25. Application Management section from Central Admin

25. Find the Business Data Connectivity Service and ensure that it is started, and then click the hyperlink (see Figure 10-26).
    
    

    Figure 10-26. Business Data Connectivity Service links in Central Admin

26. You should see your external content type listed. Click Set Permissions from the context menu, as shown in Figure 10-27.
    
    

    Figure 10-27. Set Permissions context menu

27. In the dialog box, search for your login ID or a group that you are a member of. The best practice is to always assign permissions to groups. Click Add and then OK.
28. Click your login name and then assign the appropriate permissions you want to allow on this external content type (see Figure 10-28).
    
    

    Figure 10-28. Set Object Permissions dialog box

29. Click OK and now go back to your list to view it.