Microsoft® Office SharePoint® Designer 2007 Bible

17.1. Understanding the Basics of the Data Form Web Part

To understand the internals of the Data Form Web Part, follow these steps to insert a simple view of data by using the Data Form Web Part. Then, I help analyze the key components that make the Data Form Web Part work:

1. Open a WSS v3 site in SharePoint Designer by using the Open Site dialog box to specify the location of the Web site. Alternatively, you can open the WSS v3 site in Internet Explorer and then choose File Edit with SharePoint Designer to open the site in SharePoint Designer.

2. Choose File New Create from Master Page to open the Select a Master Page dialog box, click the Default Master Page radio button, and then click OK. This creates a new Web page with the default master page of the SharePoint site attached to it.

3. Open the newly created Web page in the Design view and then hover over the body area of the Web page to locate the PlaceHolderMain content region. As shown in Figure 17.1, clicking the arrow in this region opens the Common Content Tasks menu.

4. Click the Create Custom Content link in the Common Content Tasks menu to open the PlaceHolderMain content region for editing.

5. Choose Data View Manage Data Sources to ...