Adding Banding in a CQWP

Chitra Dharaiya

September 13, 2012

All Post

CQWP Banding using XLST

The Content Query Web Part aggregates SharePoint content. Banding can be added by customizing the associated XSLT in a file called ItemStyle.XSL.

One can optionally customize the XSL in a copy of this file and then customize the CQWP to use the customized file. I wanted to customize the list of Blog posts to be condensed, with a truncated preview.

Here’s how to do it.

Tuning the CQWP

Use the following settings in the CQWP to create a list of just Blog Post Links:

1. List Type: Posts
2. Content Types: List Content Types
3. Show items: Post
4. Group by: Created By
5. Sort by: Created
6. Limit: 25
7. Group style: Banded
8. Item Style: Title Only: Important, this determines the XSLT template customized and used later
9. Fields to display: Title: Title (only)

Optional:

1. Export Web Part
2. Open in Notepad
3. Edit and change the XSLT file ItemStyle.XSL referenced, to point to a different file
4. Save
5. Import as a web part

Tuning the XSLT

Locate the XSLT template processing the item, and refine it. If a new XSL file is desired, copy ItemStyle.XSL and edit that one. Here’s the customized commented code for the TitleOnly template: