HTML-rendering elements

Applies to: SharePoint 2016 | SharePoint Foundation 2013 | SharePoint Online | SharePoint Server 2013

Collaborative Application Markup Language (CAML) has two major kinds of elements: those for field rendering and schema definition, and those for page (HTML) rendering. The page-rendering CAML elements are designed for use in rendering pages, such as when you need to extract the property of a specific field and render it on a page.

Elements can be used in two ways. Elements such as the Today element are used to generate a text string to be inserted within the page. Other elements are used to modify text generated by their child elements. Elements can also be concatenated to produce a concatenation of their output.

Main HTML-rendering elements

The following table describes some of the prominent CAML HTML-rendering elements.

Name	Description
Batch	Used for batch processing of commands within HTTP protocol.
Case	Used inside a Switch or FieldSwitch statement to perform a comparison.
Default	Contains the default value of a field to which new item forms are initialized.
Expr	Contains a CAML expression that is evaluated to determine the course of action for a Switch or FieldSwitch statement.
FieldSwitch	Provides conditional rendering based on the value of a CAML expression.
ForEach	Provides a basic mechanism for enumerating a collection of views or fields defined in the current list.
GetVar	Returns a variable in the context of rendering the page.
HTMLBase	Returns a string that sets the base element for the current page.
HttpHost	Renders the URL of the virtual server containing the current website.
HttpPath	Returns the path to the appropriate OWSSVR.DLL.
HttpVDir	Returns the root directory of the current site.
IfEqual	Allows for conditional rendering based on the comparison of two CAML expressions.
ListProperty	Returns the value of a specified column from the database.
Now	Renders the current time.
Project	The top-level element in Onet.xml.
ProjectProperty	Returns a global property of the current team website.
Property	Returns the property from the current ForEach context.
SetList	Designates the current list.
SetVar	Sets variables in the context of rendering the page.
Switch	Allows for conditional rendering based on the value of a CAML expression.
Today	Renders today's date.
URL	Renders a URL.
View	Defines a view in Microsoft SharePoint Foundation.
XML	Used as an outer wrapper to denote a section of CAML.

See also

• Data-defining elements