Creating Connectable Web Parts using SharePoint 2010 Visual Web Part.

Creating Connectable Web Parts 

Here we are going to use the Visual Web Part template to create Connectable Web parts. In ASPNET the Web Parts are communicated via interfaces this allows Web Parts to exchange information with each other at run time.  These Interfaces will define the message structure which is passed between two connectable Web Parts. Here are the steps we need to do to create Connectable web parts.

1. Define the Interface that will specify the data we wanted to pass or exchange from one web part to another web part.
2. Create Provider Web Part.
3. Consumer Web Part.

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First Fire of VS.NET 2010 and create an Empty SharePoint project.   Now Visual studio provides you to select Deployment options.  Here we are going with Farm based solution. Because the Visual Web part cannot be deployed in the Sandboxed solution. If you select a Sandboxed solution and deploy to SharePoint you get the following error     Now we need to add the Interface to our project. Here I am calling it  ICommunicationChannel. public interface ICommunicationChannel { int GetInvoiceId { get; } } Now we need to Add both Provider & Consumer Visual  Web Parts . In the provider web, part UI just add the Dropdown list box.   Now add the Consumer web part UI just add GridView control.   Now open of the Provider Web part and add our Interface to implement as shown here.   Now open of the Consumer web part and add a method to receive the Provider Web Part message. I am using LINQ to SQL to connect my Data Source. Invoice and Invoice Line are tables from my Database.  

Now we need to populate the drop-down List box with Invoice ids from our Database table called Invoice Line. In the consumer web part we need to Query the Invoice Details information for the Invoice ID passed by the Provider web part. [Which is selected in the Provider web part drop-down list].   Now build the project correct it if any compiler errors and then deploy to SharePoint. Now go to the SharePoint site where you wanted to add these web parts and tests. Click Edit -> Insert and select Web Part button from the Ribbon menu now select Custom from Categories ->select Provider web part-> click add button this will add the provider web part to the Page. Follow the same steps to add the Consumer Web Part as well.   Once Both Provider and Consumer web parts are added to the Page now we need to establish the connection between these two web parts.  To do click Edit Web Part on Provider web Part you will see the connections and select Consumer web Part as shown below.     Here is the result of Connectable Web Parts.  

Create a Sample Project Task List in SharePoint 2010

  This exercise requires a list named Projects on the local SharePoint 2010 Web site specified later in this article. The list should contain the fields shown in Table 1. To create this list, follow these steps:

To create the Project Task List

1. Open the SharePoint 2010 Web site that you want to add the Web Parts to (such as http://localhost/sites/SampleWebPartSite) in Internet Explorer.
2. Click Site Actions, click More Options, and then click Custom List.
3. In the Name box, type Projects and then click Create.
4. On the List Tools tab, click List, and on the Manage Views group, click Modify Views.
5. Clear all Column Name options and then select the ID and Title Click OK.
6. Click Add new item and add the information in the first row (ignore the header row) of Table 1. The ID field updates automatically.

1. Repeat step 6 for the remaining rows of Table 1.