Send current user's parameter to External Content Type

Question

Is it possible to send the current user's username as a parameter for my External Content Type query? I am on SharePoint 2010 Standard.

Answer 1

Hi Rick131,

Base on my research, we can only get Business Data Connectivity Filter to work with external content type/list. But Business Data Connectivity Filter can’t use to get current user.

So a workaround is to create a data source and directly get data from your data base. And use current user filter directly to filter a data view web part which you used to display the database data source.

(And you can also try to add a filter directly in view settings page, set your field = [Me], but I failed to get it work this way because of an invalid data type.)

Thanks & Regards,
Emir

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Emir Liu

TechNet Community Support

Answer 2

Hi,
additionally to the one from Emir Liu please take a look at this thread with possible solutions How to get [Current User] on a Business Connectivity Services(BCS) List

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Dmitry

Lightning Tools Check out our SharePoint tools and web parts | Lightning Tools Blog

Answer 3

I had created an External Content Type List using SQL Server's SUSER_SNAME() function to get the current user's user name but it seems to get the server's SharePoint Farm Admin User Name.

Answer 4

Are BCS list available in the Standard version?

Answer 5

I had created a Data Source but which type of Web Part would I need to connect to the Data Source? I changed the SQL View to show records for all users, with the UserID field in the follwoing format: "Domain\User".  Where do I find the current user filter web part? 

Answer 6

Hi,

Please take a look at this article External Lists (BCS): Read List User Context filter

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Dmitry

Lightning Tools Check out our SharePoint tools and web parts | Lightning Tools Blog

Answer 7

I am stuck on the third step, which is to add the Filter to the Read Item. I get the error: "This operation will be saved without filter property for data source element UserID. The data source element must be defined as a field, identifier, or foreign identifier to add this property."

Answer 8

Hi,

What is UserID column? In order for the field to be filterable you need to map it to an identifier (primary or foreign key identifier).

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Dmitry

Lightning Tools Check out our SharePoint tools and web parts | Lightning Tools Blog

Answer 9

UserID is my user\domain field in the External Content Type (SQL Server View). If I select to "Map to Identifier" I get the error messages:

• The data Surce elements TransactionNo, UserID references to the same identifier:TransactionNo. Make Sure that each data source element is mapped to an identifier that is not already referenced or remove the mapping.
• Data Source element UserID is of data type Syste,.String, the mapped item TransactionNo is of data type System.Int32.These data types cannot be converted automatically at runtime.
• For this data source element TransactionNo the 'read-only' and 'required' properties are set to true. This is a valid combination used only for write-once scenarios. Make sure that this is the intended scenario.
• Data source element UserId has null-able type. Null able identifiers are not supported in Business Data Connectivity. A null value returned from this data source may cause run-time errors.

TransactionNo  is the primary key. The last message doesn't bother me much since I can filter out the nulls in the view.

Answer 10

You shouldn't map TransactionNo, UserID fields to one identifier TransactionNo. There should be 2 different identifiers TransactionNo, UserID.

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Dmitry

Lightning Tools Check out our SharePoint tools and web parts | Lightning Tools Blog

Answer 11

How would I create another Identifier?

Answer 12

I managed to set a filter using this post. I created a SQL Server View with all the User Names and used the artice as a guide to create a filter based on the current user using User Context filter.

Answer 13

glad you got it working.

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Dmitry

Lightning Tools Check out our SharePoint tools and web parts | Lightning Tools Blog