ASP'NET v 1'1 Web Parts Programming for SPS 2003

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ASP.NET v 1.1 Web Parts Programming for SPS 2003

• Hammad Rajjoub INETA Speakers Bureau.

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public override string ToString()

• Technical Lead, Applied Business Applications,
  Dubai, UAE
• INETA UG Leader
• INETA Member Of Speakers Bureau
• IDotNetEvangelist

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Agenda

• Background Basics
• Infrastructure Life Cycle
• Debugging
• Advanced Topics
• Distribution and Deployment
• Best Practices
• Road Ahead

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Background

• "The New World of Work"
• Remember Dashboards ?
• Portals
• Design time vs. Run Time
• Collaborative Applications?

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Web Part Basics - Review

• Core part of Windows Sharepoint Portal Server
  Product and Technologies
• ASP.NET server controls
• (Dynamic) Web Parts are added to Web Part Zones
  at run time
• Blur traditional boundary between design time and
  run time

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Web Part Basics - Review (contd.)

• Allows developers to develop collaborative
  applications using WSS (Windows Sharepoint
  Services)
• Extensible (System.Web.UI.Control)
• Allows developers to develop and End-Users to
  customize
• One of the reasons you would choose Sharepoint
  Portal Server

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Web Part Basics - Review (contd.)

• Advantages for .Net Developers
• ASP.NET Programming Model
• Full use of ASP.NET Server Controls
• Built on top of .NET Framework
• Visual Studio.NET
• Build components that can be used by others

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Web Part Infrastructure
ASP.NET Page
ASP.NET Page
Web Parts Framework
Zone 1
Zone 2
Zone 3
Source MSDN
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Life Cycle
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Life Cycle
WebPart.OnInit()
System.Web.UI.LoadViewState()
Event Handlers for Controls Addedc
WebPart.OnPreRender()
System.Web.UI.SaveViewState()
WebPart.RenderWebPart( System.Web.UI.HtmlTextWrite
r)
System.Web.UI.Control.Dispose()
System.Web.UI.Control.UnLoad()
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Developing Web Parts with VS.NET

• Using Web Part Templates in Visual Studio.NET
• Understanding files in the Visual Studio
  Solution
• DWP File
• Web Part Definition File. This is an XML File
  that contains title, description, assembly and
  type name of the web part
• CS File
• Web Part Class file that contains a class that
  inherits from Microsoft.SharePoint.WebPartPages.We
  bPart
• Manifest.XML
• An XML file that dictates how the web part should
  be installed by an installer

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Developing Web Parts with VS.NET (contd.)

• Modify CS File
• Override CreateChildControls
• Override RenderWebPart
• Implement appropriate event handlers
• Modify dwp and manifest.xml files

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Developing Web Parts with VS.NET 2003

• DEMO

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Debugging Web Parts

• Hard to debug web parts that are deployed in GAC
  (Global Assembly Cache)
• Place pdb file along with .dll in bin directory,
  so that IIS W3P.exe can access it
• Attaching w3p.exe process to visual studio.Net
  debugger

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Debugging Web Parts (contd.)

• Configuring web.config file to enable debugging.
• Trust Level
• lttrust level"WSS_Medium" originUrl"" /gt
• Custom Errors switched Off
• ltcustomErrors mode"Off" /gt
• Debugging enabled.
• ltSafeMode MaxControls"50" CallStacktrue" /gt

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Debugging Web Parts

• DEMO

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Web Parts Development Advanced Topics

• Security
• Rendering Techniques
• Connectable Web Parts

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Advanced Topics Security

• To cater security needs of Web Parts deployment
  and operation we need to understand thoroughly
  following things
• Strong Naming
• Strong Name ensures that your web part is
  globally unique and hence can not be confused
  with any other web part. Which creates a level of
  trust!
• Strong Name also ensures version lineage of the
  web part. It ensures that every sub sequent
  version of the web part came from the source
  (developer or ISV). More trust!
• Strongly named web part can only reference
  strongly named assemblies
• As for the development environment you can skip
  strong name verification by setting
  AssemblyDelaySign to true

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Advanced Topics Security (contd.)

• Code Access Security
• Restricted access to critical resources
• CAS (Code Access Security) configuration required
  
• CAS is configured by means of series of
  configuration files
• Machine.config ltsecurityPolicygt and lttrustLevelgt
  tags
• Web.Config available in \Inetpub\wwwRoot\.
  Defines two additional lttrustLevelgt tags known as
  WSS_Minimal and WSS_Medium
• By default each web site has a trust level of
  WSS_Minimal
• With WSS_Minimal, web parts can not access
  databases, manipulate IO and access Sharepoint
  Object Model

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Advanced Topics Security (contd.)

• Customizing Policy Files
• As a web part developer you have three options
  for raising security of a web part.
• Option 1
• Modify web.config to raise the trust level of
  all Sharepoint Services.
• lttrust level WSS_Medium original/gt
• Option 2
• Deploy all your web parts into the Global
  Assembly Cache (GAC).
• Option 3
• Creating your own custom policy file.
• You will need to re-start the IIS.
• The most tedious of all the three approaches
  but its the recommended approach for production
  env.

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Advanced Topics Security (contd.)

• Marking Web Part As SafeControl
• After the CAS for web part has been configured
  web part needs to be marked as Safe
• ltSafeControlsgt tag of Web.Config file
• contains information about controls that have
  been marked as safe
• ltSafeContorl AssemblyFully Qualified Name for
  Assembly NamespaceNameSpace TypeName/gt

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Advanced Topics Rendering Techniques

• Rendering techniques for Web Parts
• HTMLTextWriter Doing it the usual way
• ASP.Net User Controls We love Drag Drop
• SmartParts Simple like any thing!

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Advanced Topics Rendering Techniques (contd.)

• RenderWebPart with HTMLText Writer
• No Drag Drop!
• Create and add asp.net contol to the control
  collection (CreateChildControls())
• Generate HTML for your web part, very much the
  way ASP.NET Server Controls render HTML content
  to the client
• Write your HTML using HTMLTextWriter in
  RenderWebPartMethod
• Generate usual TDs and TRs using either
  WriteBeginTag/WriteEndTag or Write methods on
  HTML Text Writer Object
• Tedious and can slow down over all development,
  but once used to it shouldnt be a problem

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Advanced Topics Rendering Techniques (contd.)

• Using ASP.NET Controls
• Drag and Drop!
• Use ASP.NET server controls, custom controls and
  user controls at your own discretion
• Increased productivity
• Make sure that you have placed your ASP.NET
  controls in an excluded (from STSFLTR.dll)
  directory
• Call LoadControl method on Page object in
  CreateChildControls method of your Web Part
• Call RenderControl() method on your custom
  control to render output in RenderWebPart
• Think about developing a generic HostWebPart for
  your custom/asp.net server controls

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Advanced Topics Rendering Techniques (contd.)

• Using SmartParts
• A SharePoint Webpart that can host any ASP.NET
  user control. Create your webparts by using the
  VS.NET designer instead of coding everything by
  hand!

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Distributing Deploying Web Parts

• Manual Copy
• CAB File Deployment
• MSI Installations

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Distributing Deploying Web Parts (contd.)

• Manual Install
• Copy assembly file in either
• GAC
• Copy resources to \Program Files\Common
  Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server
  Extensions\wpresources
• Bin Directory of Virtual Server
• Copy resources to \inetpub\wwwroot\wpresources
• Copy Web Part Definitions File (DWP) to
  \inetpub\wwwroot\wpcatalog folder
• Adjust configuration (for ltSafeControlgt and CAS)

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Distributing Deploying Web Parts (contd.)

• CAB File Deployment
• Web Part Package file contains
• Assembly File (.dll)
• Web Part Definition File (.dwp)
• Manifest.xml
• Resource File(s)
• Use ststadm.exe
• Stsadm.exe o addwppackage filename
  ltyourCabFileNameHeregt -GlobalInstall Force
• Ensure CAS

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Distributing Deploying Web Parts (contd.)

• MSI File Installer
• WPPackager makes an msi file for you web part to
  be deployed
• Provides all the functionality of CAB file
  installation plus CAS support and availability in
  control panel

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Best Practices

• Handle All Exceptions to prevent all exceptions
• Check Permissions before rendering your web part
  and render output accordingly
• Validate properties before saving them into
  database
• Validate all user inputs
• Register the client side script shared by
  multiple web parts to improve performance
• Specify whether web parts can be exported

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Best Practices (contd.)

• Implement IDesignTimeHtmlProvider interface in
  your web part to ensure correct rendering
• Make properties user friendly in tool pane
• HTMLEncode all the user input rendered to the
  client
• Use Simple Types for the custom properties you
  define
• To improve Web Parts performance use
• Asynchronous Data Fetch
• Caching

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Summary

• Brief Introduction
• Development and Debugging
• Advanced Features
• Best Practices
• Distribution and Deployment

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Road Ahead

• ASP.NET 2.0 Rocks!
• WSS 3.0 Release
• Backward compatibility!
• Keep Rocking!

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Links and Resources

• Microsoft Sharepoint Building Office 2003
  Solutions ( APress)
• Advance Sharepoint Services Solutions
• Links
• http//msdn.microsoft.com/sharepoint
• http//www.gotdotnet.com/team/sharepoint/
• http//www.sharepointcustomization.com/default.asp
  x
• And my blog, of course http//dotnetwizards.blogs
  pot.com

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Q/A and Feedback forms.

• Ask your questions
• Comments and Feed back
• Mail hammad.rajjoub_at_ineta.org
• URLhttp//dotnetwizards.blogspot.com