SharePoint Business Connectivity Services - Part 5

Business Data List Web Part

Now that you have learned how to setup Business Connectivity Services, you will learn how to use Business Data list web part to show external data on any SharePoint page  you want.


1. Open SharePoint page where you want to show external data.
2. Edit page and go to INSERT tab.
3. Click the Web Part button.
4. Select Business Data in Categories. Select  Business Data List in Parts.
5. Click Add button.
6. Click on Open the tool pane link or go directly to the web part properties.
7. Click on Select External Content Types button.

Figure 19: Select External Content Types

8. You may see the following error in the external content types picker:

The Business Data Connectivity metadata store is unavailable. Check configuration and try again.

This is because you have not setup Metadata Store Permissions yet.

9. Go to Central Administration site and under Application Management click Manage service applications.

Figure 20: Manage service applications

10. Select Business Data Connectivity Service from the list. Do not click on the link but just select the row by clicking anywere on the row except the link. This will highlight the row. Then click Manage button in the ribbon.

11. Select the content type that you want to use by checking the checkbox before it and click Set Metadata Store Permissions button in the ribbon.

12. Enter the user account that is setting up the web part in the account box and click Add button.

13. Select all permissions below by checking all the check boxes. Also, check the checkbox that says Propagate permissions to all BDC Models ... and click OK.

14. Now go back to the SharePoint page, edit the web part properties and select an external content type using the picker. Click Apply and then OK to close the properties.

15. Click Save button to save the page. The web part now shows data from the external data source. This is how the web part looks:

Figure 21: External data in a web part