Tutorial, Part 4: SharePoint 101: Jump-Starting the Developer by Rob Windsor - SPTec…

Building SharePoint
Web Parts

Rob Windsor
rwindsor@portalsolutions.net
@robwindsor

What Are Web Parts?
• Small “chunks” of user interface and functionality
• Aggregated together to build page content
• Managed by end-users
 Add/remove web parts on a page
 Determine where web parts are placed on the page
 Set web part properties
• Concept and implementation not specific to
SharePoint or ASP.NET

Web Part History
• SharePoint 2003
 First version with web part infrastructure
 Web part types and infrastructure are specific to SharePoint
• ASP.NET 2.0
 Web part types and infrastructure added to ASP.NET
• SharePoint 2007
 Adds support for ASP.NET web parts
 Continues support for SharePoint web parts for backwards
compatibility
• SharePoint 2010
 Same support as SharePoint 2007 in farm solutions
 Adds support for web parts in sandboxed solutions

Working with SharePoint Web Parts
• Web parts can be added to web part zones or wiki content
• Each web part has common “chrome”
 Title, border, verbs menu
• Closing a web part hides it; deleting a web part removes it
from page

Web Part Properties
• Web parts properties used to tailor display and functionality
 Zip/Postal code in weather web part
 Stock code in stock ticker web part
• Properties support customization and personalization
 Customization effects shared view of part
 Personalization effects current users view of part

Web Part Gallery
• Site collection scoped
• Both .DWP and .WEBPART files as items
• SharePoint can discover new candidates from
Web.config
• Maintain metadata
• Available out-of-the-box parts determined by
edition and site template

SharePoint Web Part Page Structure
• Inherits from WSS WebPartPage base class
• Contains one SPWebPartManager control
• Contains one or more WSS WebPartZone controls
SPWebPartManager

WebPartZone (Left) WebPartZone (Right) Editor Zone

Editor Part 1
Web Part 1 Web Part 3

Editor Part 2
Web Part 4
Web Part 2

Catalog Zone
Web Part 5
Catalog Part 1

Catalog Part 2

Building a Simple Web Part
• ASP.NET web parts are server controls
 WebPart type derives from Panel
 User interface described with code
• Override RenderContents
 Use HTML markup and JavaScript to build interface
• Override CreateChildControls
 Use Server Controls to build interface
• Two methods can be combined
protected override void RenderContents(HtmlTextWriter writer)
{
writer.RenderBeginTag(HtmlTextWriterTag.H2);
writer.Write("Hello, World");
writer.RenderEndTag();
}

Chrome and Web Part Gallery Properties
• Can set web part properties to change chrome
values
• Can be done in three places
 Using code in the web part constructor
 Using CAML in the .webpart file
 Editing the web part properties in the browser
• Web part gallery group name set in element
manifest

DEMO
Building a Simple Web Part

Composite Web Parts
• Contain server controls as children
• Declare controls as fields
• In CreateChildControls
 Create controls
 Set properties
 Add controls to web part Controls collection
 Use LiteralControl to add literal markup
• Populate controls in OnPreRender

Composite Web Parts
protected DropDownList ListsDropDown;
protected GridView ItemsGridView;

protected override void CreateChildControls() {
ListsDropDown = new DropDownList();
ListsDropDown.AutoPostBack = true;
ListsDropDown.SelectedIndexChanged +=
new EventHandler(ListsDropDown_SelectedIndexChanged);
Controls.Add(ListsDropDown);
Controls.Add(new LiteralControl("<br/><br/>"));

ItemsGridView = new GridView();
Controls.Add(ItemsGridView);
}

DEMO
Building a Composite Web
Part

Deploying Web Parts
• Add .webpart file to web part gallery
• Register assembly that implements the web part as
safe control in web.config
• Copy assembly to:
 Global Assembly Cache
 bin folder of IIS Web Application
 Executes with reduced trust

Deploying Web Parts - 2
• Visual Studio tools automate deployment process
during development
• Visual Studio deployment has conflict detection
 Will replace .webpart file in gallery
• Deployment via Powershell or stsadm does not
have conflict detection
 Deployed .webpart files will not be replaced

Web Parts in Sandboxed Solutions
• Split page rendering
 Page code runs in ASP.NET worker process
 Sandboxed web part code runs in sandbox worker process
 HTML markup and JavaScript from two worker processes merged
• Sandbox restrictions
 Reduced set of server object model API
 Restricted access outside SharePoint
 No elevation of permissions
 Cannot deploy files to SharePoint system folders
 Must be ASP.NET web parts
 Can only use ASP.NET controls
 No web part connections

Visual Web Parts
• Visual web parts combine a web part with a user control
• User controls have full design experience in Visual Studio
• User interface and code behind defined in user control
• Web part “injects” user control dynamically using
Page.LoadControl
private const string _ascxPath = @"~/_CONTROLTEMPLATES/.../MyUserControl.ascx";

protected override void CreateChildControls()
{
Control control = Page.LoadControl(_ascxPath);
Controls.Add(control);
}

Visual Web Parts and Sandboxed Solutions
• Native visual web part template not compatible
with sandboxed solutions
 Attempts to deploy user control to system folders
• Visual Studio Power Tools contains a sandbox
compatible template
 Markup in the user control is converted to code at design
time

Web Part Properties
• Web Parts support persistent properties
• Configure properties via attributes
 Personalizable(param)
 Directs SharePoint to persist property value
 Parameter indicates if property may be personalized
 WebBrowsable(true)
 Directs SharePoint to generate interface to edit property
 WebDisplayName, WebDescription
 The prompt and tooltip that accompany the data entry element
 Category
 The group in which the properties will be shown

[Personalizable(PersonalizationScope.Shared)]
[WebBrowsable(true)]
[WebDisplayName("Year")]
[Category("Pluralsight")]
public int Year { get; set; }

Deactivating Web Part Features
• Deactivating a Feature that provisions .webpart
files to the web part gallery effectively does nothing
 Files provisioned by a module are not automatically
removed on deactivation
 That is, custom web parts remain in the gallery after the
Feature has been deactivated
• You should add code to the feature receiver to
remove the .webpart files from the gallery on
deactivation

Deactivating Web Part Features
public override void FeatureDeactivating(SPFeatureReceiverProperties properties)
{
var site = properties.Feature.Parent as SPSite;
if (site == null) return;

var web = site.RootWeb;
var list = web.Lists["Web Part Gallery"];

var partNames = new string[] {
"Simple.webpart", "Composite.webpart", "Visual.webpart",
"Sandboxed.webpart", "Properties.webpart"
};

foreach (var partName in partNames)
{
var item = list.Items.OfType<SPListItem>().
SingleOrDefault(i => i.Name == partName);
if (item != null) item.Delete();
}
}

Creating Connectable Web Parts
• Pass data from one web part to another
• Loosely-coupled connection
 Communication managed by WebPartManager
 Provider web part supplies data
 Consumer web parts retrieve data
• Interface used to define data contract
 ASP.NET has standard connection contracts
 Can use custom connection contracts
• SharePoint provides user interface elements to establish connections
• Not compatible with sandboxed solutions

Tutorial, Part 4: SharePoint 101: Jump-Starting the Developer by Rob Windsor - SPTec…

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