Beginning SharePoint® Designer 2010

Chapter 7. Data Sources and External Content Types

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN IN THIS CHAPTER

• The different types of data that SharePoint can access

• How to display data from your SharePoint list and libraries

• The methods SharePoint supports to access remote data

• How to make external data sources appear as lists in your SharePoint site

In the previous chapter, you saw how SharePoint can store your data and documents. This chapter covers reusing your lists and libraries and integrating the rest of your data into SharePoint.

GETTING AT YOUR DATA

SharePoint supports several types of data sources, including lists and libraries in SharePoint itself and databases and data from web pages and web services. When you have a site open in SharePoint Designer, click Data Sources in the navigation bar to list the data sources available for your use. In Figure 7-1, you can see how the data sources are automatically grouped by type.

Figure 7.1. Figure 7-1

The following table lists the various types of data sources and their characteristics.

SECTION	DESCRIPTION
Lists and Document Libraries	Lists and libraries are intrinsic data sources in SharePoint. Whenever you create a list or library, whether through the web interface or SharePoint Designer, it automatically becomes available in the appropriate section.
External Lists	External lists represent data sources outside SharePoint, including databases and WCF Services, but ...