Sharepoint 2013 - Filter list view based on the site name, without code

Question

I'm experimenting with Sharepoint 2013. I'd like to set up a structure to store our client and supplier documentation and details. What I've done is to create a main suppliers site (/sites/suppliers) and one subsite for each supplier (/sites/suppliers/SUP0001), where we're storing documents for each supplier. Nothing complicated.

One of the aims is to store all the invoices to eliminate paper. So I also have /sites/suppliers/invoices/ where I have a list which contains scanned invoices. I load these pdfs into the list using a small powershell script, which is working fine.

Now I'd like to display the invoices for each supplier under the suppliers site - just a view of the main invoices list. I'm able to create a data view and display it under a suppliers branch, manually adding a filter for the suppliers code. I would like to have the data view filtered based on the supplier reference extracted from the site name.... but this is limited and I would imagine there is a better way.

Whats the simplest way to achieve this? Can it be done using caml? Are the filter fields able to contain variables or something similar?

This posting filter items by Site name and List Name using SPSiteDataQuery seems to be on the same topic but describes a solution based on coding an extension of some kind, which I want to avoid if possible just to maintain things as simple as possible.

At the moment I'm doing this with Foundation, partly as an exercise to see just how much I can do with it before needing the full sharepoint.

Answer 1

Few points to highlight

1. Invoices list sits on the top level site and you try to display the same list under each supplier's own site. There is an approach called "Re-purposing a list or library" to achieve this. Basically you save the list or library as a web part in SPD linking contents and add that webpart to your subsite. Problem is this approach is both unsupported and it has its limitations. For example, on document libraries folders doesn't work in the re-purposed view. Would be an issue if number of invoices increases in time and you want to put them in folders for each year for example. I don't recommend this approach unless you absolutely have to.

2. What is the reason for giving a separate site for each Supplier ? This is only justified if you would like to give access to each supplier to their own site, otherwise it complicates things.

3. To achieve your specific requirement, I would update document permissions on invoices list for each supplier. And instead of trying to display this list within supplier subsite I would put a link in supplier subsites back to the main document library. This allows them to see only their invoices.

4. Two ways to update permissions: a. Manually - error prone b. Using a SPD workflow (you would need 2010 workflow with impersonation)