Sharepoint 2010 Discussion Board Thread.xsl

Question

Ok, I have searched and searched for an answer on how to customize the thread.xsl file. So I have copied the file, and renamed it as thread2.xsl. In the threaded.aspx page, I have changed the GhostedXslLink to reference the new file GhostedXslLink="thread2.xsl". I have save the page, I can see my changes reflected within SPD, but the browser still shows me the old template. Any Ideas Why??

Update: Here's the code:

<WebPartPages:XsltListViewWebPart runat="server" Description="Use the Team Discussion list to hold newsgroup-style discussions on topics relevant to your team." ListDisplayName="" PartOrder="2" Default="TRUE" HelpLink="" AllowRemove="True" IsVisible="True" AllowHide="True" UseSQLDataSourcePaging="True" ExportControlledProperties="False" IsIncludedFilter="" DataSourceID="" Title="Team Discussion" ViewFlag="402653185" NoDefaultStyle="" AllowConnect="True" DisplayName="Threaded" PageType="PAGE_DEFAULTVIEW" FrameState="Normal" PageSize="-1" PartImageLarge="" AsyncRefresh="False" ExportMode="NonSensitiveData" Dir="Default" DetailLink="/Lists/Team Discussion" EnableTheming="False" ShowWithSampleData="False" ListId="eb26c71f-c466-411d-a9ae-7372a657b18e" ListName="{EB26C71F-C466-411D-A9AE-7372A657B18E}" FrameType="Default" PartImageSmall="" IsIncluded="True" SuppressWebPartChrome="False" AllowEdit="True" ViewGuid="{0B1EA108-E3E5-46E5-8813-E747175FF805}" AutoRefresh="False" AutoRefreshInterval="60" AllowMinimize="True" WebId="00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000" ViewContentTypeId="0x0120020061C489FDBE1EA34DB10A6609E7D509AE" InitialAsyncDataFetch="False" GhostedXslLink="" MissingAssembly="Cannot import this Web Part." HelpMode="Modeless" ListUrl="" ID="g_0b1ea108_e3e5_46e5_8813_e747175ff805" ConnectionID="00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000" AllowZoneChange="True" TitleUrl="/Lists/Team Discussion" ManualRefresh="False" __MarkupType="vsattributemarkup" __WebPartId="{0B1EA108-E3E5-46E5-8813-E747175FF805}" __AllowXSLTEditing="true" WebPart="true" Height="" Width="" __designer:customxsl="fldtypes_Ratings.xsl"><ParameterBindings>
        <ParameterBinding Name="dvt_sortdir" Location="Postback;Connection"/>
        <ParameterBinding Name="dvt_sortfield" Location="Postback;Connection"/>
        <ParameterBinding Name="dvt_startposition" Location="Postback" DefaultValue=""/>
        <ParameterBinding Name="dvt_firstrow" Location="Postback;Connection"/>
        <ParameterBinding Name="OpenMenuKeyAccessible" Location="Resource(wss,OpenMenuKeyAccessible)" />
        <ParameterBinding Name="open_menu" Location="Resource(wss,open_menu)" />
        <ParameterBinding Name="select_deselect_all" Location="Resource(wss,select_deselect_all)" />
        <ParameterBinding Name="idPresEnabled" Location="Resource(wss,idPresEnabled)" />
        <ParameterBinding Name="NoAnnouncements" Location="Resource(wss,noitemsinview_discboard)" />
        <ParameterBinding Name="NoAnnouncementsHowTo" Location="Resource(wss,noitemsinview_discboard_howto3)" />
        <ParameterBinding Name="CAML_Expand" Location="Form(CAML_Expand)" />
        <ParameterBinding Name="CAML_ShowOriginalEmailBody" Location="Form(CAML_ShowOriginalEmailBody)" />
        <ParameterBinding Name="ByText" Location="Resource(wss,2000)" />
    </ParameterBindings>
    <XmlDefinition>
        <View Name="{0B1EA108-E3E5-46E5-8813-E747175FF805}" DefaultView="TRUE" DefaultViewForContentType="TRUE" Type="HTML" TabularView="FALSE" IncludeRootFolder="TRUE" DisplayName="Threaded" Url="/Lists/Team Discussion/Threaded.aspx" Level="1" BaseViewID="1" ContentTypeID="0x0120020061C489FDBE1EA34DB10A6609E7D509AE" ImageUrl="/_layouts/images/vwdisc.png" CssStyleSheet="discthread.css">
            <Query>
                <OrderBy Override="TRUE">
                    <FieldRef Name="Threading"/>
                </OrderBy>
            </Query>
            <ViewFields>
                <FieldRef Name="Threading"/>
            </ViewFields>
            <RowLimit Paged="TRUE">25</RowLimit>
            <Aggregations Value="Off"/>
            <Toolbar Type="Standard"/>
        </View>
    </XmlDefinition>
    <XslLink>/Style%20Library/XSL%20Style%20Sheets/thread2.xsl</XslLink>
            <DataFields>
            </DataFields>
            </WebPartPages:XsltListViewWebPart>

Here is the error that I get:

06/13/2012 13:59:53.78 w3wp.exe (0x1DB4) 0x1F44 SharePoint Foundation Web Parts 89a1 High Error while executing web part: System.Xml.Xsl.XslTransformException: An item of type 'Attribute' cannot be constructed within a node of type 'Root'. at System.Xml.Xsl.Runtime.XmlQueryOutput.ThrowInvalidStateError(XPathNodeType constructorType) at System.Xml.Xsl.Runtime.XmlQueryOutput.WriteStartAttribute(String prefix, String localName, String ns) at System.Xml.Xsl.Runtime.XmlQueryOutput.WriteStartAttributeLocalName(String localName) at (XmlQueryRuntime {urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xslt-debug}runtime, XPathNavigator {urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xslt-debug}current) at (XmlQueryRuntime {urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xslt-debug}runtime) at Ro... 877aac16-ef57-4be7-9035-029f71c7b215

Answer 1

When you change a page in SPD, it becomes customized (unghosted). Thus, GhostedXslLink no longer works.

More details about ghosted and unghosted pages here:

• http://www.etechplanet.com/blog/ghosted-and-unghosted-pages-in-sharepoint.aspx

You should use XslLink property instead of GhostedXslLink for unghosted pages. Just change it in the property editor in SPD:

Also, I'd recommend you to use xsl:import rather than copying the whole thread.xsl file.

Update:

I was able to attach custom XSLT file to a Discussion board without any difficulties in my local environment. Here is how I've done it (in case this could help you):

1. copy-pasted thread.xsl to thread2.xsl
2. added html code <h1>test!</h1> to EmptyTemplate of this file, inside <td> element (full code snippet below)
3. created blank new discussion board list
4. switched page into edit mode and opened webpart properties for the list view webpart
5. in webpart properties tab, entered "/_layouts/XSL/thread2.xsl" to Miscellaneous => XSL Link (which produces exactly the same result as changing XslLink property in SPD)
6. applied changes

The result:

XSLT code for the EmptyTemplate:

  <xsl:template name="EmptyTemplate">
    <tr>
      <td class="ms-vb" colspan="99">
        <xsl:value-of select="$NoAnnouncements"/>
        <xsl:if test="$ListRight_AddListItems = '1'">
          <xsl:if test="not (BaseViewID='1' or @BaseViewID='2')">
            <xsl:text ddwrt:whitespace-preserve="yes" xml:space="preserve"> </xsl:text>
            <xsl:value-of select="$NoAnnouncementsHowTo"/>
            <h1>test!</h1>
          </xsl:if>
        </xsl:if>
      </td>
    </tr>
  </xsl:template>