20.3. Incorporating Applications into SharePoint Sites
After evaluating the components provided by ASP.NET 2.0, WSS 3.0, and MOSS 2007, and understanding how they can assist in the development of a custom application, the next step is to devise an implementation plan. This is the stage in the process where most developers get confused and perplexed: How do you do it? Typically, three different techniques can be adopted, none of which are mutually exclusive. Many custom applications require a combination of two, if not all three, of the techniques depending on the application business requirements.
20.3.1. Implementing One or More Web Parts
The most obvious of the three options is to create one or more Web Parts for the application. In this case the developer would create a Web Part that housed the business logic and user interface of the application. Most commonly, the developer needs to account for the state of the application, including all postbacks.
When the application requires multiple Web Parts, deployment and configuration can start to get a little tricky. If the Web Parts reside on the same page, developers can utilize Web Part connections to pass data back and forth between them; but if the Web Parts live on different pages, then the deployment instructions need to include provisions ensuring that the application manager configures each Web Part to point to the other's page. How will the data be shared between the two Web Parts? Utilizing ASP.NET 2.0 session state in ...
