DataSource Element (List Instance)

Applies to: SharePoint 2016 | SharePoint Foundation 2013 | SharePoint Online | SharePoint Server 2013

Specifies the data source that is used to provision the list instance.

Definition

<DataSource>
  <Property />
</DataSource>

Elements and attributes

The following sections describe attributes, child elements, and parent elements.

Attributes

None

Child elements

Parent elements

Occurrences

Remarks

The DataSource element must have at least one child Property element whose Name parameter is set to "Service". If some middle tier service, other than Microsoft's Business Data Connectivity (BDC) service, is being used to bring external data to a SharePoint external list, the documentation of that other service must provide you with the name of the service (the value of the Value parameter of the Property element) and information on what other Property elements may be allowed or required as children of the DataSource element. If BDC is being used, use "Business Data Catalog" as the value of the Value parameter.

Also, if BDC is being used, you must have four other Property element children of the DataSource element whose Name attributes have the values shown in the following example.

    <DataSource>
          <Property Name="Service" Value="Business Data Catalog" />
          <Property Name="Entity" Value="Friendly name of external content type (entity)" />
          <Property Name="EntityNamespace" Value="Fully qualified namespace of the class that defines the external content type (entity)" />
          <Property Name="LobSystemInstance" Value="NameOfExternalDataSource" />
          <Property Name="SpecificFinder" Value="Name of method that reads a single item; for example ReadItem" />
    </DataSource>