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New Introduction to ASP.NET 2.0 Web Parts Framework
MSDN has released a new paper that highlights the features of the ASP.NET 2.0 Web Parts Framework. Formerly restricted to SharePoint sites, Web Parts are the building blocks for an easily customizable web interface and are becoming fully supported features of ASP.NET 2.0. The new Web Part Framework includes features for personalization, communication between Web Parts, and creating custom menus.
Web Parts are similar to web user controls but provide the functionality to allow users to customize the website by adding, deleting, and moving controls around the page based on WebPartZones. Any ASP.NET server control can act as a Web Part but by creating a custom control derived from the WebPart class you gain access to advanced features.
One of those features is personalization. Personalization allows a user to make modifications to a part’s properties that are then stored in the database. When the user returns to the site, the changes are applied. This feature is enabled with a simple [Personalizable()] attribute.
Communication between parts is also an important feature of the Web Parts Framework. Previously, this was a rather complicated process but now it’s considerably easier. There are four steps that you must complete to create a static connection between two Web Parts:
- You must define an interface specifying the methods and properties that are shared between the connected Web Parts.
- You must add the ConnectionProvider attribute to the Web Part used to provide the shared information.
- You must add the ConnectionConsumer attribute to the Web Part used to consume the shared information.
- You must declare the connections within the StaticConnections sub tag of the WebPartManager class.
Modifying Web Part properties is easier for users by adding custom menu options to your Web Part. This is done by overriding the Verbs property and adding new WebPartVerbs.
To read more about the new Web Parts Framework in ASP.NET 2.0, click here.
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Message #142752
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Why are this things called WebParts?
You can't use the WebParts of ASP.NET 2.0 in the current version of SharePoint and I doubt you will be able to use them in any future versions of SharePoint (please correct me if I'm wrong). So why are they called WebParts?? They look the same as SharePoint WebParts, the share some functionality, but that's it...
It would be great if Microsoft could clarify what they are trying to do with those 2 technologies. Will they merge, so you CAN exchange WebParts or will ASP.NET WebParts always be different than the SharePoint WebParts?
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Message #142778
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Why are this things called WebParts?
The next version of SharePoint WILL be built on ASP.NET WebParts.
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Message #142791
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Why are this things called WebParts?
That's great! Is this "official", or do you have any links that confirm this?
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Message #142804
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New Introduction to ASP.NET 2.0 Web Parts Framework
This is great but I think at some point Microsoft will need to address the interop issues between web parts and the Java Community Process JSR-168 Portlet specification and/or the Oasis WSRP remote portlet specification just like they have to do with WS-*. The maturity and preliferation of the portlet container spec may just be to overwhelming.
Projects like Dot NetNuke, as far as I can tell, will maintain their branch of ASP1.1 and not merge back into the ASP 2.0 web parts model. I suspect the Rainbow portal project will reconcile differences. Both opensource projects offer a web parts alternative today.
I do see a trend to implement Java-centric specifications on top of ASP just like NetUnity is doing with its WSRP implementation. Microsoft's lull in releasing new product has to be driving this.
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Message #142956
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Why are this things called WebParts?
That's great! Is this "official", or do you have any links that confirm this? I do not have the authority to make it official, but the information has already been given by other MS employees in other forums some time ago.
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Message #143041
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Why are this things called WebParts?
My understanding is that the SPS WebParts are actually born from an early backport of the ASP.NET 2.0 WebParts so as to make the transition to the framework supported WebParts easier in the future.
I certainly don't work for Microsoft, though. So, take that for what it's worth. :)
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Message #143195
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WSRP is not ignored by Microsoft
Beeing a part of the OASIS board, Microsoft has been participating in the development of the spec.
http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/tc_home.php?wg_abbrev=wsrp
They have released a WSRP toolkit on GotDotNet which provides a standard consumer WebPart (for sharepoint) and a toolkit to create providers.
http://www.gotdotnet.com/workspaces/workspace.aspx?id=2e3d8a57-ec9f-4d16-9a81-a395679d6392
The roadmap for Sharepoint is still not made public by microsoft, and all evolutions to the product is pure speculation. I would, however, put a lot of money on ASP.NET 2.0 WebParts working in Sharepoint, and I would assume (hopingly) that if the next version of SPS is far ahead there will be some kind of patch or intermediate solution.
Microsoft needs to consider the growing base of Sharepoint installations that will continue to live after a new version is released, and would have great need for the use of asp.net 2.0 webparts.
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Message #143198
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Why are this things called WebParts?
Good news to hear that Web parts will be relying on the ASP.NET 2.0 framework. But I hear my customers already asking questions like: Are my Web parts SharePoint v2 still going to work in v3? If we look for example at the way connections are implemented, it is again different in this type of Web parts. Can we assume that our investments today will be usable tomorrow?
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Message #186732
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New Introduction to ASP.NET 2.0 Web Parts Framework
DotNetNuke also has a number of team members who are knowledgeable in the JSR-168 specification. When reviewing the WebPart Framework in the context of JSR-168, it is obvious that the WebPart Framework is not intended to be a comprehensive specification at this point in time. Specifically it lacks the features required to make a WebPart portable from one ASP.NET 2.0 application to another.
What I mean, is there is no method for assembling a WebPart, with all of its related resources and configuration, into a package which can be sent to someone else and installed into their ASP.NET 2.0 application. SharePoint has a mechanism accomplish this, but it is proprietary and is not included as part of the general WebPart Framework. DotNetNuke also has a mechanism to accomplish this - configuration is specified in a *.dnn file and all WebPart resources are packaged into a single ZIP file which can be sent to other DotNetNuke portal administrators who can install the package directly into their run-time environment. Although DotNetNuke's implementation is specific to its own environment, it is open, mature, and evolving based on community feedback. Since there is no comparable feature in the ASP.NET 2.0 WebPart Framework, DotNetNuke will certainly need to maintain its own portability mechanism.
In addition, in order for a Webpart to be truly portable between ASP.NET 2.0 applications, all proprietary dependencies to a particular application would need to be abstracted. Basically, there are a number of fundamental services which need to be consistent across all implementations. These need to be public APIs which every ASP.NET 2.0 portal application can implement in order to achieve true WebPart portability. For example, in Application A, a WebPart may need to access a user's FirstName and LastName for display purposes. In today's environment, the developer would need to make a call to a User class library in Application A in order to get this information. So when the WebPart is moved to Application B ( which has its own User class library ), the WebPart will not function as expected ( unless the class library from Application A is installed with it ).
In order to establish an ASP.NET equivalent to JSR-168, I believe a consortium of ASP.NET portal stakeholders would need to be established... with Microsoft taking an official seat at the table.
DotNetNuke is planning to migrate to ASP.NET 2.0 on an aggressive schedule and will have a number of options for building Modules ( our equivalent of WebParts ). his release will likely be called DotNetNuke 4.0. Developers will be able to build Modules in either ASP.NET 1.1 or 2.0 - and deploy them directly into their DotNetNuke 4.0 run-time environment.
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