Here is a little puzzle for you WSS/SPD veterans to figure out.
The scenario is that I have a small WSS 3.0 site going. There are now
10 subsites, each with the usual libraries and lists. In the
libraries, the uploader of a document must enter values in at least
two added metadata columns that define the document's scope (5
possible values including 'General') and classification (9 possible
values). Each library typically has a only folders at the 'root', and
each folder can have sub-folders, etc.
The 10th site is a wiki where users can discuss the various
classifications. Management wanted a listing of the relevent
documents from the other sites filtered by scope and classification
shown on the wiki pages.
No problem, sez I! I had done this sort of thing in a 2.0 site. And
with the increased versitality of ver 3.0, should be no problem.
So I fired up SP Designer, added the libraries, and created the
dataview. Then in Dataview Properties, selected "Item and folder
scope" value as "Recursive" instead of "Default" so the folders would
be eliminated, and...
"The server returned a non-specific error when trying to set data from
the data source...."
Of course, at this point I was no longer able to set parameters,
filters, sorts, etc. Very frustrating! However, at some point in the
head-banging process, I discovered that if I save the page _with_ the
error, the dataview renders perfectly in IE!! But no matter how I
generated the dataview, the same error would pop up in SPD after
selecting anything but "default".
Eventually, I developed a work-around, which was to set all the
filters, sorts and other parameters, including formating, hyperlinks,
etc EXCEPT the "Item and Folder scope" value. To do this, I had to
upload a dummy file to the 'root' of the Library, as I could not set
all the Data Source parameters if there were only folders there. Then,
as the final step, selected "recursive". Immediately, the error is
generated. But when I save the page, the new DataView renders
perfectly in IE!
I am NOT a programmer, XSL and I are merely nodding aquaintances, so I
must do 90% of any sharepoint customization in a design tool such as
SPD.
And to answer in advance some of your suggestions... The decision to
use folders in the Libraries is concrete. Some of the Libraries are
expected to grow into the hundreds of files, so practical managment of
these files by typical corporate users dictates a familiar orgaization
of the files, Additionally, we will be switching most users to to use
their Sharepoint sites as their Default locations for MS Office.
However, the dataviews were requested in a no-folder format. Go
figure.
So- my questions after all this are... Has anyone else come across
this SPD bug? Is there a easier work-around than the one I described?
Is there a fix for this- a setting change, etc? I would like an
better method of generating these dataviews, as there is no way to
edit them, unless you really know XSL, once the error has occured.
I Googled this problem and came up with some people who posted similar
problems, but none of the inquiries generated a reply. And I did not
find this exact problem addressed at Microsoft. There were several
close misses, but no solutions.
Thanks for your help!
BH