Chapter 4. Building the user interface
This chapter covers
- Understanding the flow of events in Web Parts
- Working with the view state
- Validating user input
- Creating custom controls
- Using SharePoint controls
When you build the user interface (UI) for your Web Part, you should consider more than just how it looks. You need to factor in how the user will interact with your Web Part. Some Web Parts require no interaction and just show lists or display information. But, often Web Parts resemble applications that allow users to interact with the underlying business logic. In this chapter, you’ll learn how to create the UI and appearance of your Web Parts using the underlying techniques in the ASP.NET and SharePoint platforms.
The UI is built using controls. A control can be a text label, a button, or something more complex, such as a data grid. Controls can also be combined to create composite controls. These controls can be ASP.NET, SharePoint, or custom controls. Some controls produce the HTML that’s used by the browser, and some only act on the server side. This chapter will start by exploring the ASP.NET basics and showing how you can utilize the ASP.NET controls and features in your Web Part. Remember that Web Parts are defined in ASP.NET and aren’t specific to SharePoint.