DataForm web parts enabled us to put forms onto pages that can interact with SharePoint lists. Why would we want to do this? well one example is that we can hide the list and it's URL's , another is that the form can be designed to contain custom logic, be pre-populated with data (e.g. from the query string) or simply to only show a limited number of fields.
I use SharePoint Designer to create these as it a a great tool to manipulate the XSLT required. However, by default, Designer will use the list GUID to connect to the list. This poses a problem - when we transfer this webpart to another server (staging / live etc) the GUID will be different.
However, with a small amount of editing of the source, we can make the webpart work on other servers.
The changes required are...
a) In the DataSources string, replace
ParameterKey="ListID" DefaultValue="{YOUR_GUID}" Name="ListID"
with
ParameterKey="ListName" DefaultValue="YOUR_LIST_NAME" Name="ListName".
Note you must do this for each action e.g. UpdateParameters, DeleteParameters
b) In the ParameterBing string replace
ParameterBing Name="ListID" Location="None" DefaultValue="{YOUR_GUID}"
with
ParameterBing Name="ListName" Location="None" DefaultValue="{YOUR_LIST_NAME}"
c) In the main xslt, change
<xsl:param name="ListID">{YOUR GUID}</xsl:param>
to
<xsl:param name="ListName">YOUR_LIST_NAME</xsl:param>