Hi Laurie,
you can use two sections (with different width dropdowns bound to same data field) to conditionally control the width. This only gives two settings. If you need more dynamic settings, I would suggest either a) using a popup or b) taskpane. The view itself cannot be programmatically accessed since that would involve changing the XSL at runtime which isn't supported. However, switching between sections is supported and multiple controls can be bound to the same data field. Also, changing the width of a dropdown in the taskpane or a popup dialog is easy. Good luck!
Patrick Halstead
Project Manager at Qdabra