Create web parts for sharepoint

Question

I saw 2 different way to create web parts for sharepoint. Which one is preferred by most?

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa973249%28office.12%29.aspx

Answer 1

Both SharepointOverflow and Stackoverflow aren't much help. Used to be really good. I followed this link and I guess I am happy with the result.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms415817(office.12).aspx

Answer 2

For the few web parts I've written, I guess I've gone more with method #2 than method #1. Seems more straightforward and has the potential to be reused outside of the SharePoint environment (depending on the depth of your business logic).

Answer 3

Anything involving VSeWSS is just going to end in pain, so method 1 is definitely out. Method 2 isn't ideal either, as setting up html elements as controls becomes unmanageable at a level just beyond what you see in that demo. I use a fairly simple generic base class that takes a user control as a type parameter and lets me keep all the layout nicely seperated from the sharepoint infrastructure. If you are creating pages/web parts programatically most of the web part xml turns out to be optional also.

public abstract class UserControlWebPart<T> : Microsoft.SharePoint.WebPartPages.WebPart where T:UserControl
{
    protected UserControlWebPart()
    {
        this.ExportMode = WebPartExportMode.All;
    }

    protected virtual void TransferProperties(T ctrl)
    {
        var tc = typeof(T);
        var tt = this.GetType();

        foreach (var p in tt.GetProperties()) {
            if (p.IsDefined(typeof(ControlPropertyAttribute), true)) {
                foreach (var p2 in tc.GetProperties()) {
                    if (p2.Name == p.Name) {
                        p2.SetValue(ctrl, p.GetValue(this, null), null);
                    }
                }
            }
        }
   }


    protected override void CreateChildControls()
    {
        string controlURL = ControlFolder+typeof(T).Name+".ascx";
        var ctrl = Page.LoadControl(controlURL) as T;
        TransferProperties(ctrl);
        this.Controls.Add(ctrl);
    }

    protected virtual string ControlFolder
    {
        get {
            return "~/_layouts/UserControlWebParts/";
        }
    }

}