Using Web Parts in ASP.Net 2.0
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Portals are changing the way people use the Internet. Users are getting accustomed to picking and choosing the pieces of content they want presented to them, virtually customizing the content and layout of a web or home page to the way they personally prefer to see it presented. With the implementation of Web Parts in the .Net 2.0 framework, you can add this functionality to your application with ease!
Introduction
The web is an incredibly useful tool for enabling people to get the information you want. However, the way we get that info is evolving. Up until recently, one would bookmark the sites with frequently changing content, and check back each day for updates. It would be kind of like reading through the daily paper; you’d visit your daily list of sites for updates on the weather, news, stocks, sports, comics, you name it!
It didn’t take a long time before someone realized “hey, it’s all just data, if I can devise some way to pull it all together in one place, let people pick and choose what and how much they want, it’ll be a hit.” And it turns out they were right! They slapped on the enticing moniker "portal," and now every person wants one, and every large website wants to provide one. I admit that even I have my own portal home page, and I use google.com/ig. This is no fad; this is the current direction of the Internet.
But where do Web Parts come into the picture? Well, no discussion of web parts would be complete without mentioning SharePoint. Microsoft’s SharePoint solution is more or less a knowledge/document sharing system. It is meant to be the central intranet application for businesses, and it made sense to build in "portal" functionality. After all, this would become the home page of each employee, and each department, so allow them to do the customization work themselves. That is where Web Parts were introduced.
The concept caught on, and was so popular that Microsoft decided to build it right into the .Net framework. This literally allows any .Net application to house Web parts, and become a portal of sorts. Let’s see how you can put them to use in your next application!
Next: Web Parts Explained >>
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