Walkthrough: Creating an External List in SharePoint by Using Business Data

Start Visual Studio 2010.

Open the New Project dialog box, expand the SharePoint node under the language that you want to use, and then click 2010.

In the Templates pane, select Business Data Connectivity Model. Name the project AdventureWorksContacts, and then click OK.

The SharePoint Customization Wizard appears. This wizard enables you to select the site that you will use to debug the project and the trust level of the solution.

Click Finish to accept the default local SharePoint site and default trust level of the solution.

On the Tools menu, click Connect to Database.

The Add Connection dialog box opens.

Add a connection to the SQL Server AdventureWorks sample database. For more information, see Add/Modify Connection (Microsoft SQL Server).

In Solution Explorer, click the project node.

On the Project menu, click Add New Item.

In the Installed Templates pane, select the Data node.

In the Templates pane, select LINQ to SQL Classes.

In the Name box, type AdventureWorks, and then click Add.

A .dbml file is added to the project and the Object Relational Designer (O/R Designer) opens.

On the View menu, click Server Explorer.

In Server Explorer, expand the node that represents the AdventureWorks sample database, and then expand the Tables node.

Drag the Contact (Person) table onto the O/R Designer.

An entity class is created and appears on the design surface. The entity class has properties that map to the columns in the Contact (Person) table.

In Solution Explorer, expand the BdcModel1 node, and then double-click the BdcModel1.bdcm file.

The Business Data Connectivity model file opens in the BDC designer.

In the designer, right-click Entity1, and then click Delete.

In Solution Explorer, right-click Entity1.vb (in Visual Basic) or Entity1.cs (in C#), and then click Delete.

Right-click Entity1Service.vb (in Visual Basic) or Entity1Service.cs (in C#), and then click Delete.

On the View menu, click Toolbox.

From the BusinessDataConnectivity tab of the Toolbox, drag an Entity onto the BDC designer.

The new entity appears on the designer. Visual Studio adds a file to the project named EntityService.vb (in Visual Basic) or EntityService.cs (in C#).

On the View menu, click Properties Window.

In the Properties window, set Name to Contact.

On the designer, right-click the entity, click Add, and then click Identifier.

A new identifier appears on the entity.

In the Properties window, change the name of the identifier to ContactID.

In the Type Name drop-down list, select System.Int32.

On the BDC designer, select the Contact entity.

On the View menu, click Other Windows, and then click BDC Method Details.

In the BDC Method Details window, from the Add a Method drop-down list, select Create Specific Finder Method.

Visual Studio adds the following elements to the model. These elements appear in the BDC Method Details window.

• A method named ReadItem.

• An input parameter for the method.

• A return parameter for the method.

• A type descriptor for each parameter.

• A method instance for the method.

In the BDC Method Details window, click the drop-down list that appears for the Contact type descriptor, and then click Edit.

The BDC Explorer opens. The BDC Explorer provides a hierarchical view of the model.

In the Properties window, click the drop-down list that appears next to the TypeName property, click the Current Project tab, and then select Contact.

In the BDC Explorer, right-click the Contact, and then click Add Type Descriptor.

A new type descriptor named TypeDescriptor1 appears in the BDC Explorer.

In the Properties window, set the Name property to ContactID.

Click the drop-down list next to the TypeName property, and then select Int32.

Click the drop-down list next to the Identifier property, and then select ContactID.

Repeat step 6 to create a type descriptor for each of the following fields.

In the BDC designer, on the Contact entity, double-click the ReadItem method.

The Contact service code file opens in Code Editor.

In the ContactService class, replace the ReadItem method with the following code. This code performs the following tasks:

• Retrieves a record from Contact table of the AdventureWorks database.

• Returns a Contact entity to the BDC service.

Note
Replace the value of the ServerName field with the name of your server.

public static Contact ReadItem(int contactID)
{
    const string ServerName = "MySQLServerName";
    AdventureWorksDataContext dataContext = new AdventureWorksDataContext
          ("Data Source=" + ServerName + ";" +
           "Initial Catalog=AdventureWorks;Integrated Security=True");

    Contact Contact =
        (from contacts in dataContext.Contacts.AsEnumerable().Take(20)
         where contacts.ContactID == contactID
         select contacts).Single();
    return Contact;
}

In the BDC designer, select the Contact entity.

In the BDC Method Details window, collapse the ReadList node.

From the Add a Method drop-down list that appears below the ReadList method, select Create Finder Method.

Visual Studio adds a method, a return parameter, and a type descriptor.

In the BDC designer, on the Contact entity, double-click the ReadList method.

The Contact service code file opens in Code Editor.

In the ContactService class, replace the ReadList method with the following code. This code performs the following tasks:

• Retrieves data from the Contacts table of the AdventureWorks database.

• Returns a list of Contact entities to the BDC service.

Note
Replace the value of the ServerName field with the name of your server.

public static IEnumerable<Contact> ReadList()
{
    const string ServerName = "MySQLServerName";
    AdventureWorksDataContext dataContext = new AdventureWorksDataContext
          ("Data Source=" + ServerName + ";" +
           "Initial Catalog=AdventureWorks;Integrated Security=True");

    IEnumerable<Contact> Contacts =
        from contacts in dataContext.Contacts.Take(20)
        select contacts;
    return Contacts;

}

Press F5.

The SharePoint site opens.

On the Site Actions menu, click More Options

In the Create page, click External List, and then click Create.

Name the custom list Contacts.

Click the browse button next to the External Content Type field.

In the External Content Type Picker dialog box, select AdventureWorksContacts.BdcModel1.Contact, and then click Create.

Click Create to create the contacts list.

SharePoint creates an external list. Contacts from the AdventureWorks sample database appear in that list.

To test the Specific Finder method, click a contact in the list.

On the Ribbon, click the Items tab.

In the Items tab, click View Item.

The details of the contact that you selected appear on a form.