what are the differences between JSLINK and Client Side rendering in SharePoint Server 2013

Question

I have read many articles about client side rendering & JSLINKs but i am unable to differentiate between these two topics. now I have used JSLINK to implement 2 things inside my SharePoint server:-

1. I wanted to prevent users from editing a site column inside the Quick Edit grid. and to achieve this i created a JavaScript file, which mainly disable the column inside the quick edit (AllowGridEditing = false), then i define the javascript file to be the JSLINK for the site column using powershell code .

   $web = Get-SPWeb http://*****
   $field = $web.Fields["Item Number"]
   $field.JSLink = "~siteCollection/Style Library/JS/HideItemNumberInQuickEdit.js"
   $field.update($true)
   

2. I also used JSLINK to create a non-standard list view, where i define a javascript which render the view, and I link the list view's JSLINK with the javascript.

so I am a bit confused if JSLINK is a sub topic under client side rendering? or client side rendering in SharePoint 2013, means creating JSLINKs for site columns, list views etc.?

Answer 1

Client-Side Rendering is simply a term for when the data is transformed using the client rather than the server. This means using client-side technologies, such as HTML and JavaScript. It allows us to style SharePoint elements using JavaScript, rather than having to write XSLT. You can use it to style complete List Views, Fields, Search Results and more. This makes it a lot simpler and more intuitive, especially for web developers who haven’t used SharePoint before.

When talking about Client Side Rendering in SharePoint, there are really 2 mechanisms: search Display Templates, and JSLink.

So JSLink is nothing but one of the mechanisms in Client Side Rendering. It is a property available on many SharePoint objects, including Fields, Lists, Views, and Content Types. In its simplest form, the JSLink property simply adds a JavaScript file to the page. Depending on the JavaScript, this could then do anything – either related to the object of which it was attached, or something completely irrelevant if desired.

This is an excellent blog which I referenced about Introduction to Client-Side Rendering in SharePoint 2013.