The Layer2 Business Data List Connector for SharePoint solves many issues that still exist with the SharePoint out-of-the-box external data integration. It makes it as easy as possible to connect native SharePoint lists to almost any external data sources, codeless and bi-directional. All native SharePoint list features are available for the connected lists, including search, change notifications and workflows.

​Please take a look at our product video to see how easy it is, to connect external data sources to SharePoint:

 

The fast, easy and complete integration of external data sources is a common requirement in the use of Microsoft SharePoint technology. Solutions, such as the Business Data Catalog (BDC) for SharePoint 2007 or the Business Connectivity Services (BCS) for SharePoint 2010/2013, are often complex at the facility, require additional tools or programming, have serious limitations or are available for certain SharePoint editions only. The Layer2 Business Data List Connector for SharePoint completely solves those issues.

 

Fig.: Simply click "Connect to external data source" in the General List Settings to synchronize any native SharePoint list with almost any external data source automatically.

• Create a native list of any type to host the data and simply click "Connect to external data source" in the list settings dialog.
• In the BDLC settings dialog choose from the installed connection providers and enter the appropriate connection string (e.g. OLEDB, ODBC, .NET, OData or custom) and validate it. Please note that you can hide security relevant settings in the SharePoint secure store later on.
• To select the desired data, please enter a query statement as supported by your external data source and validate it. Check the result in preview mode and enter the primary key(s) - some unique columns - to safely update changed SharePoint list items only.
• Create the SharePoint list structure by adding required columns automatically, check the field / column mapping and update the list first time using the command buttons with one click. If a primary key is available, only modified data is updated in the list later on with high performance (background batch update via timer job).
• You can optionally activate write-back to external data source (CRUD: Create, Update, Delete features), if supported by the driver, access rights and query.
• You can use update on-demand via list action menu / ribbon button, URL, or API - or you can simply activate the background update to run a scheduled timer job for this.

 

 

Fig.: Sample configuration of the SharePoint Business Data List Connector to expose the SQL Server categories table of the Northwind demo database as a native SharePoint list. No other settings required to connect and keep current.


Fig. With BDLC native SharePoint lists can be connected directly to almost any external data source. Write-Back is supported for most databases via .NET Provider or ODBC/OLEDB/OData.