Using external data columns
External data columns enable you to add external content to a
standard SharePoint list or library. You create an external data column
as you would any other column; that is, on the List or Library tab,
click the Create Column command and then, on the Create Column page,
enter a column name and then select External Data as the column type.
In the Additional Column Settings section, to the right of the External
Content Type text box are two icons: the Check ECT icon, which you use
when you type the name of the ECT in the check box, and the Select ECT
icon, that, when clicked, opens the External Content Type Picker dialog
box.
Once an ECT is selected, the Additional Column Settings
section contains a list of properties associated with the ECT, as shown
in Figure 3.
In the Select The Field To Be Shown On This Column drop-down list,
select the column that your users will usually associate with the
external data. If the external system is a CRM system, then this may be
the company name or contact name. You can then choose to add one or
more fields from the external content to become columns in the list or
library, such as the customer’s email address or phone number. You can
then choose to add the fields to all content types, as well as adding
it to the default view.
It is only when you add
a new list item and click the Select External Item(s) icon that the BDC
server run time will connect to the external system to retrieve data to
populate the Choose dialog box, as shown in Figure 4.
The dialog box will only show those fields which had the external item
picker check box selected when you configured the ECT operations. When
the external item picker check box is not selected for any field, all
fields are displayed in the Choose dialog box.
When the new list item is saved, the external content is stored in
the list in the SharePoint SQL content database, unlike the external
list, which only contains a link to the ECT definition. To update the
data in the list, you can click the Refresh icon to the right of the
external data column name, as shown in Figure 5.
A webpage is displayed that warns you that this operation could take a
long time. You can choose to sync this folder only or this folder and
all subfolders. If you click OK, the BDC server run time connects to
the external system to return the necessary data. By copying the
external content in the list, it has inherited all list type
operations, such as views, filters, and the ability to be used to
trigger list workflows.
To
the right of the items in the external column is an icon and a down
arrow; this is the External Data Action menu, as shown in Figure 6.
The menu provides links to pages that display information relevant to
the ECT item, such as displaying all the values for all the properties
of the ECT item, known as the profile page, or by using the postal code property of the ECT item displaying a map of that location.
Creating external data actions External data actions can be created with the SharePoint Central Administration website by following these steps:
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Navigate to the BDC Service where the ECT is defined, and then, on
the Edit tab of the Service Application Information page, select
External Content Types from the drop-down menu in the View group.
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Click the ECT to display the External Content Type Information page, as shown next.
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On the Edit tab, click Add in the Actions group.
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On
the Add Action page, type a name for the action, add the URL, specify
whether to start the action in a new browser window or not (default),
add parameters to the URL if required, and add the icon to display next
to the action. You can choose from the Delete, Edit, or New icons, or
you can choose your own image, as shown next.
Business data web parts
SharePoint 2013 ships with seven generic external data web parts, six
of which are functionally the same as they were for the business data
web parts in SharePoint Server 2007: Business Data Actions, Business
Data Connectivity Filter, Business Data Item, Business Data Item
Builder, Business Data List, and Business Data Related List. The
seventh is the Chart Web Part, which was introduced in SharePoint 2010.
These web parts can be used to display any data using any ECT
without writing any code. After they are configured, they will
automatically be named after the entity data they are displaying. The
web parts that display data from the external systems query the
metadata cached on each web front-end server, and then the instance
data is retrieved from the data source. To use the business data web
parts on a site, you must activate the SharePoint Server Enterprise
Site Collection features at the site-collection level.
Surfacing external data in Word
When an external data column is added to a library, the values in the
external column can be made available in a .docx Word file by inserting
a Quick Part onto a document, enabling you to embed BCS data. The first
column to select would be the External Data column’s display name (for
example, Customer), as shown in Figure 7. You can only choose fields from the ECT that you choose to display in the library.
The document properties are inserted onto the page as controls, as shown in Figure 8, with two icons that allow you to select data from the external system.
