How do I change the underlying list in an XsltListViewWebPart?

Question

I have a list of lists and an empty XsltListViewWebPart. When the user clicks on a list in the list of lists, I'd like to show that list inside the XsltListViewWebPart. How can I change the underlying list of an XsltListViewWebPart?

This is the code I've tried so far:

using (SPSite spSiteTest = new SPSite("http://MySite"))
{   
    using (SPWeb web = spSiteTest.OpenWeb())   
    {
        SPList boardrooms = web.Lists["Boardrooms"];    // Boardrooms is just an arbitrary list I've chosen for testing purposes
        SPView view = boardrooms.Views["Test"];
        listViewWebPart.ListId = boardrooms.ID;
        listViewWebPart.ViewGuid = view.ID.ToString();
        listViewWebPart.XmlDefinition = view.GetViewXml();

        //update spWeb object     
        web.Update();
    }
}

The list view shows up initially, but when I click the button that this method is attached to, I get an error saying that the specified view is invalid. I've specifically designed the view (it's just all the columns and items in the list), and in the Visual Studio debugger have verified that it's been instantiated.

This is the code for my XsltListViewWebPart:

<WebPartPages:XsltListViewWebPart id="listViewWebPart" runat="server"></WebPartPages:XsltListViewWebPart>

Answer 1

You might want to try to set the ListUrl instead. This works for me. So, do not set the ListId and ListName. ListUrl can be something relative like 'Lists/My List'.

Regarding the view you might have an issue there as well. Try to not set the view at all - SharePoint will create a view automatically and see if the webpart works. Than you can try to get your view to work. I have been working all day on a similiar issue. The only way I could get a custom View on a XSLT List View WebPart was by defining it in the page like so:

<asp:content ContentPlaceHolderId="PlaceHolderMain" runat="server">
  <WebPartPages:WebPartZone runat="server" FrameType="None" ID="Main" Title="loc:Main">
    <ZoneTemplate>
        <WebPartPages:XsltListViewWebPart runat="server" ListUrl="Lists/My List" [abbreviated...]>
            <XmlDefinition>
                <View Name="Some View" Type="HTML" Hidden="TRUE" TabularView="FALSE" DisplayName="" Url="View.aspx" Level="255" BaseViewID="1" ContentTypeID="0x" ImageUrl="/_layouts/images/generic.png">
                    <Query>
                        <OrderBy>
                            <FieldRef Ascending="FALSE" Name="ID"/>
                        </OrderBy>
                    </Query>
                    <ViewFields>
                        <FieldRef Name="ID"/>
                    </ViewFields>
                    <RowLimit Paged="TRUE">1</RowLimit>
                    <Aggregations Value="Off"/>
                    <Toolbar Type="Standard"/>
                </View>
            </XmlDefinition>
            <DataFields>
            </DataFields>
        </WebPartPages:XsltListViewWebPart>
    </ZoneTemplate>
</WebPartPages:WebPartZone>

Even creating a list view WebPart via UI, choosing another view, exporting the webpart and than importing the very same file again does not work. It just shows a generic error message and creates than a default view.

Good luck!

Answer 2

I know your error indicates the view, but error messages can often be misleading. Try setting the ListName, ListUrl, or ListDisplayName property instead of the ListID property.

I haven't set any of these properties personally, but the MSDN Article XsltListViewWebPart and Custom List Views states the following:

One of the List* properties (ListName, ListUrl, or ListDisplayName) must be present and must specify a reference to a valid list. If more than one property is present, the order of evaluation is ListName, then ListUrl, and then ListDisplayName.

Answer 3

I fixed this same problem by moving the View creation outside of the context of the SPLimitedWebPartManager:

SPView view = CreateHiddenView(list);
using (SPLimitedWebPartManager manager = file.GetLimitedWebPartManager(PersonalizationScope.Shared))
{
    try
    {
        XsltListViewWebPart webpart = new XsltListViewWebPart();
        webpart.ListName = list.ID.ToString("B").ToUpperInvariant();
        webpart.TitleUrl = list.DefaultViewUrl;
        webpart.WebId = list.ParentWeb.ID;
        webpart.Title = list.Title;
        webpart.ViewGuid = view.ID.ToString("B").ToUpperInvariant();
        manager.AddWebPart(webpart, "Right", 1);
    }
    finally
    {
        manager.Web.Dispose();
    }
}

For more details, see “The specified view is invalid” in call to LimitedWebPartManager.AddWebPart in SharePoint 2010.