What is a Data View?

A Data View is a live, customizable view of a data source that leverages Microsoft ASP.NET technology. Office SharePoint Designer 2007 retrieves data from a data source in the form of Extensible Markup Language (XML) and displays that data by using Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformations (XSLTs). You can modify a Data View by using Office SharePoint Designer 2007. A Data View can display data from a wide variety of sources, including database queries, XML documents, Web services, SharePoint lists and libraries, and server-side scripts. You can also create a Data View that displays data from multiple data sources.

Data Views present live views of data that you can filter, sort, or group. You can also change the layout, apply styles, or apply conditional formatting in a completely WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) environment.

After you insert a Data View into your page, you can also use the WYSIWYG tools in Office SharePoint Designer 2007 to add or remove columns, change font formatting, or apply colors. When you format a Data View by using the WYSIWYG tools available in Office SharePoint Designer 2007, Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL) is inserted directly into the HTML. While it is possible to edit the XSL directly in Code view, you can use the formatting tools in Office SharePoint Designer 2007 to apply XSL quickly and easily without knowing any XSL.