How to use XSLT in sharepoint 2010

In this post we are going to see how to use XSLT in Sharepoint 2010, to display the list data in a customized way on a webpart page.

This article will be helpful for those who are just starting with XSLT in MOSS 2010.

Consider the below list EmployeeDetails

At the end of this post we will be displaying the above list data as below in the web part page.

Expected Result:

Step1:

To start with, whenever we talk about creation of XSLT we must be ready with the HTML markup how we want to display.

In order to achieve the above expected result I have created the HTML markup as below.

<table border="1">

        <tr>

            <td rowspan="3" valign="top" width="30%">

                <img src="" />

            </td>

            <td style="text-align: left" valign="top" width="70%">

                Name

           </td>

        </tr>

        <tr>

            <td style="text-align: left" valign="top" width="70%">

                Skills

            </td>

        </tr>

        <tr>

            <td style="text-align: left" valign="top" width="70%">

                Summary

            </td>

        </tr>

</table>

Step2:

Now let’s start with the creation of XSLT. The above highlighted yellow fields will be replaced by XSL values of the fields.

Lets create the below XSLT Template with the name MyCustomStyle.

<xsl:template name="MyCustomStyle" match="Row[@Style='MyCustomStyle']" mode="itemstyle">

    <table border='1'>

      <tr>

        <td rowspan="3" valign="top" width="30%">

          <img>

            <xsl:attribute name="src">

              <xsl:value-of select="substring-before(@UserImage,',')" />

            </xsl:attribute>

          </img>

        </td>

        <td style="text-align: left" valign="top" width="70%">

          <h3>

            <xsl:value-of select="@UserName" />

          </h3>

        </td>

      </tr>

      <tr>

        <td style="text-align: left" valign="top" width="70%">

          <xsl:value-of disable-output-escaping="yes" select="@UserSkillset" />

        </td>

      </tr>

      <tr>

        <td style="text-align: left" valign="top" width="70%">

          <xsl:value-of disable-output-escaping="yes" select="@UserSummary" />

        </td>

      </tr>

    </table>

</xsl:template>

Step3:

Now we are going to add this XSL Template to a existing XSLT(ItemStyle) present in XSL Style Sheets which is present under Style Library.

Download the ItemStyle xslt and add the above template at the end of the style sheet.

You can even create a new XSLT rather than adding in any existing one.

Step4:

With the above steps we are ready with our XSLT changes and ready to add this to a webpart page.

      A)     Create a webpart page.

      B)      Add a Content Query Webpart.

      C)      Open the tool pane of the above webpart(Edit Webpart).

      D)     Select the list EmployeeDetails in the source section.

      E)      Expand the Styles Section which is present under Presentation Group.

      F)      In the Item Style Drop down, you will be able to see the XSLT template name MyCustomStyle and select it.

      G)     Once after you select our custom created style, You must be able to see the green colored highlighted variables present in XSLT in the Fields to display section.

      H)     Add the respective Field internal name to the respective Variables.

       I)        Finally Click Apply and Press Ok button.

Your expected result will be available now.

Hope this helps...

What is a Property Bag in sharepoint 2010

In this post we are going to discuss what is Property Bag in sharepoint 2010.

Basically this property bag is a feature available in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0.

It is a Hash Table where in we will maintain key-Value information. The basic fundu of this Property bag is to add the properties to the objects of the SharePoint site.

Why Property bag instead of web.config?

While defining the property bag we said it is an Hash Table where we will maintain Key-Value information. The question arises here is, when we can maintain key-value information in web.config(appsettings section-Ref below appsettings) why should we go for Property bag.

<configuration>

    <appSettings>

        <add key="MyKey" value="MyValue" />

    </appSettings>

</configuration>

And the answer is, When we add key-value in web.config which will become common to the entire web application.

What, if there is any setting specific to individual site in the web application?

In this scenario we will have to adopt either of the below cases.

è        1) Maintain multiple key-value entries in web.config.

è        2) Use sharepoint property bag. With this we can store the properties in several levels like SPFarm, SPWebApplication, SPSite, SPWeb and SPList.

Property Bag in sharepoint 2010:

There is no specific user interface available to add/modify the property bag settings. We have to do it through object model.

Also there is an option available in SharePoint designer to add/modify the property bag settings. Go to Site -> Site Settings. click on the Parameters tab.  On this tab, you will be able to manipulate all of your custom property bag values.

Add/Modify Property bag with Object model:

In the below example we are adding/reading/updating/deleting the properties at the farm level. Similarly we can do it for rest all the scopes mentioned above.

Adding:

SPFarm myFarm = SPFarm.Local;

myFarm.Properties.Add("myFarmKey", "myFarmValue");

myFarm.Update();

Reading:

SSPFarm myFarm = SPFarm.Local;

if (myFarm.Properties != null && myFarm.Properties.Count > 0)

{

if (myFarm.Properties.ContainsKey("myFarmKey"))

{

String myFarmValue= myWebApplication.Properties["myFarmKey"];

}

}

Updating:

SPFarm myFarm = SPFarm.Local;

myFarm.Properties["myFarmKey"] = "myNewFarmValue";

myFarm.Update();

Deleting:

SPFarm myFarm = SPFarm.Local;

myFarm.Properties["myFarmKey"] = null;

myFarm.Properties.Remove("myFarmKey");

myFarm.Update();

Hope this helps…

Programatically set the welcome page of a sharepoint site MOSS2010

In this post we will see how to change the welcome page of a sharepoint site using object modelling.

Normally for any sharepoint site, the welcome page will be default.aspx. In this post we will set the Home.aspx page(present in pages library) as the welcome page, so that home.aspx will open as soon as user opens the site.

Below is the code snippet::

        /// <summary>
        /// method to add welcome page
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="publishingWeb"></param>
        /// <param name="oWeb"></param>
        /// <param name="pageName"></param>
        private void CreateWelcomePage(PublishingWeb publishingWeb, string pageName)
        {
            try
            {
                string fullPageUrl = publishingWeb.Url + "/Pages/" + pageName + ".aspx";
                SPFile fileNew = publishingWeb.Web.GetFile(fullPageUrl);
                publishingWeb.DefaultPage = fileNew;
                fileNew.Publish(pageName + ".aspx set as Welcome Page");
                fileNew.Approve(pageName + ".aspx set as Welcome Page");
                publishingWeb.Update();
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
               
            }

        }

Call the above method as below
CreateWelcomePage(myPublishingWebObj,"Home");


Hope this helps...
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