Override Content Query Webpart to do on the run filteration.

Problem

In one of my recent project I had a challenge of filtering the data with localization.
The project contained 2 languages, English and Spanish. I was trying to find out the out of the box way to get this done, but no help was available.


Solution

1. Create a new empty project in Visual Studio 2010.
2. Add a webpart to the project. "Webpart" not "Visual Web Part".
3. Replace the Webpart class inherited and make it "Microsoft.SharePoint.Publishing.WebControls.ContentByQueryWebPart".
4. Please have a look at the code below. It will have on the fly list settings and field settings applied to the webpart.
5. Build your code and deploy it. It should work.

Source Code

#region System
using System;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Web;
using System.Web.UI;
using System.Web.UI.WebControls;
using System.Web.UI.WebControls.WebParts;
using Microsoft.SharePoint;
using Microsoft.SharePoint.WebControls;
#endregion

// Create the Toolbar
namespace ToolBar.ToolBar
{
    [ToolboxItemAttribute(false)]
    public class ToolBar : Microsoft.SharePoint.Publishing.WebControls.ContentByQueryWebPart
    {
        #region Properties

        /// <summary>
        /// Root Site Name
        /// </summary>
        private string SiteUrl { get { return SPContext.Current.Site.RootWeb.Url; } }

        /// <summary>
        /// List Name
        /// </summary>
        private string ListName { get { return "ToolBar"; } }

        /// <summary>
        /// List of Url
        /// </summary>
        private string ListUrl
        {
            get
            {
                return string.Format("{0}/Lists/{1}/AllItems.aspx", SiteUrl, ListName);
            }
        }

        #endregion

        #region Methods

        /// <summary>
        /// On Page Load
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="e"></param>
        protected override void OnInit(EventArgs e)
        {
            //On Load
            base.OnLoad(e);

            //General Settings
            this.AllowConnect = true;
            this.ShowUntargetedItems = false;
            this.AllowEdit = true;
            
            //this.FrameType = "NONE"; // TODO
            this.ChromeType = PartChromeType.None;
            this.ExportMode = WebPartExportMode.All;
            this.GroupByDirection = SortDirection.Desc;
            this.SortByDirection = SortDirection.Desc;
            
            this.ConnectionID = System.Guid.Empty;
            this.ListId = System.Guid.Empty;

            this.ViewFlag = "0";
            this.GroupingText = "GP Web Parts";
            this.Title = " Tool Bar";
            this.ContentTypeName = "Item";
            this.ItemStyle = "ToolBar";
            this.ServerTemplate = "100";
            this.GroupStyle = "DefaultHeader";
            this.WebUrl = "~sitecollection";
            this.Description = "Displays a dynamic view of content from your site.";
            this.Xsl = "<xsl:stylesheet xmlns:x=\"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema\" version=\"1.0\" xmlns:xsl=\"http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform\" xmlns:cmswrt=\"http://schemas.microsoft.com/WebPart/v3/Publishing/runtime\" exclude-result-prefixes=\"xsl cmswrt x\" > <xsl:import href=\"/Style Library/XSL Style Sheets/Header.xsl\" /> <xsl:import href=\"/Style Library/XSL Style Sheets/ItemStyle.xsl\" /> <xsl:import href=\"/Style Library/XSL Style Sheets/ContentQueryMain.xsl\" /> </xsl:stylesheet>";
            this.SampleData = "<dsQueryResponse><Rows><Row Title=\"Item 1\" LinkUrl=\"http://Item1\" Group=\"Group Header\" __begincolumn=\"True\" __begingroup=\"True\" /><Row Title=\"Item 2\" LinkUrl=\"http://Item2\" __begincolumn=\"False\" __begingroup=\"False\" /><Row Title=\"Item 3\" LinkUrl=\"http://Item3\" __begincolumn=\"False\" __begingroup=\"False\" /></Rows></dsQueryResponse>";
            this.ParameterBindings = string.Empty;

            //Root Web
            using (SPWeb _web = SPContext.Current.Site.RootWeb)
            {
                //Assign the list to the CQWP
                SPList _listYCLToolBar = _web.GetListFromUrl(ListUrl);

                //Data mapping
                this.DataMappings = string.Format("Description:|LinkUrl:{2},TargetUrl,URL;|Title:{4},Title,Text;|NumComments:|PublishedDate:|PostCategory:|ImageUrlAltText:{0},Title,Text;|Author:|Language:{3},Language,Lookup;|ImageUrl:{1},Icon,URL;|Body:|"
                    , _listYCLToolBar.Fields["Title"].Id.ToString()
                    , "{" + _listYCLToolBar.Fields["Icon"].Id.ToString() + "}"
                    , "{" + _listYCLToolBar.Fields["TargetUrl"].Id.ToString() + "}"
                    , "{" + _listYCLToolBar.Fields["Language"].Id.ToString() + "}"
                    , "{" + _listYCLToolBar.Fields["Title"].Id.ToString() + "}"
                    );

                this.ListGuid = _listYCLToolBar.ID.ToString();

                this.DataMappingViewFields = string.Format("{0},URL;{1},URL;{2},Text;{3},Lookup;"
                    , "{" + _listYCLToolBar.Fields["TargetUrl"].Id.ToString() + "}"
                    , "{" + _listYCLToolBar.Fields["Icon"].Id.ToString() + "}"
                    , "{" + _listYCLToolBar.Fields["Title"].Id.ToString() + "}"
                    , "{" + _listYCLToolBar.Fields["Language"].Id.ToString() + "}"
                    );
                
                //Filter One
                this.FilterField1 = "Language";//Custom Field to get the variation work.
                this.FilterOperator1 = FilterFieldQueryOperator.Eq;
                this.FilterValue1 = System.Globalization.CultureInfo.CurrentCulture.IetfLanguageTag;
                this.FilterType1 = "Lookup";
                this.Filter1ChainingOperator = FilterChainingOperator.Or;

                this.Filter2ChainingOperator = FilterChainingOperator.Or;

                //Sorting
                this.SortByFieldType = "DateTime";
                this.SortBy = "Created";
            }            
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Create Child Controls
        /// </summary>
        protected override void CreateChildControls()
        {
            base.CreateChildControls();
        }

        #endregion
    }
}

Please let me know if there is any issue with this code or you can also correct me if I am wrong.

SharePoint 2010 : Use Resouce(resx) file in a Multilingual site.

Goal

Our site is created using variations in both English and Spanish. Create a Visual Web Part which can use the resource file(.resx) to show different texts for different language.

Steps to achieve goal

• Create a SharePoint project with name "Sample".
• Add a web part with name "SampleWebPart".
• Add a "Mapped Folder" to "Resources". 2 files needs to be added.
  1. SampleWebPart.en-US.resx - English version resource file. Add some text to the resource.
     
  2. SampleWebPart.es-ES.resx - Spanish version resource file. Add some text to the resource.
     
• At this point the project "Solution Explorer" will look like
  
• For applying the resource, Open the Feature1 properties. And make the 2 changes shown in the below given image.
  
• Use the HTML and C# Code below.
• Once the above given steps are done, deploy the web part and They will display as below given image.
  
  

HTML - SampleWebPartUserControl.ascx

<h1><asp:Literal ID="ltrlTitle" runat="server" /></h1>
<hr />
<h3>
    <asp:Literal ID="ltrlDescription" runat="server" />
</h3>

C# - SampleWebPartUserControl.ascx.cs

#region System
using System;
using System.Web.UI;
using System.Web.UI.WebControls;
using System.Web.UI.WebControls.WebParts;
#endregion

namespace Sample.SampleWebPart
{
    /// <summary>
    /// Simple example to use Resouce file with English/Spanish language.
    /// </summary>
    public partial class SampleWebPartUserControl : UserControl
    {
        #region Events

        /// <summary>
        /// Page Load
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="sender"></param>
        /// <param name="e"></param>
        protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            ltrlTitle.Text = LoadResource( ResourceName.Title );
            ltrlDescription.Text = LoadResource(ResourceName.Description);
        }

        #endregion

        #region Resource Reader

        /// <summary>
        /// Name for the Version to be considered.
        /// NOTE :- Use exactly same "Name" as used in Resource(resx) file.
        /// </summary>
        public enum ResourceName
        { 
            Title,
            Description
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Gets the text on the basis of "Name" in Resource(resx).
        /// </summary>
        private string LoadResource(ResourceName _resName)
        {
            return Microsoft.SharePoint.Utilities.SPUtility.GetLocalizedString("$Resources:" + _resName.ToString(),
                "SampleWebPart"
            , (uint)System.Globalization.CultureInfo.CurrentUICulture.LCID); 
        }

        #endregion
    }
}

Happy Coding

"User Information List" instead of "UserProfileManager"

For all those friends who were trying to find out an option for "UserProfileManger" to get the information of user, I found "User Information List" on the root. I am still not sure if it gets sync directly to the active directory or any other user list. But will write a blog on this in future once i find it.

Sharepoint 2010 deploy .webpart file Custom Group instead of Miscellaneous.

Goal
To deploy a web part using Module in Visual Studio project. The webpart should be deployed in group custom name "MBD Web Parts" and not in "Miscellaneous".

• Open Visual Studio 2010.


• File > New > Sharepoint > Empty Sharepoint Project > Name it "Sample"


• Right click project > Add a Module > Name "Something".


• Remove Sample.txt. Add a file(DemoWebPart.webpart) to the module.


• Make the below given changes to the "Element.xml".


• Right click project and deploy.


• Visit your website.


• Site Actions > Edit Site


• Click "Add a Web Part". On the top ribbon.

You should now be able to see webpart in "MBD Web Parts" and not in "Miscellaneous".

Change in Element.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<Elements xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/">

    <Module List="113" Name="Something" Url="_catalogs/wp">

        <File Path="Something\DemoWebPart.webpart" Url="DemoWebPart.webpart" Type="GhostableInLibrary">

            <Property Name="Group" Value="MBD Web Parts" />

        </File>

    </Module>

</Elements>

Hope this is helpfull for you!

Sharepoint 2010 Deploy visual web part to "MBD Web Parts" instead of "Custom".

Goal
To deploy our custom visual webpart to a custom group name "MBD Web Parts" instead of getting deployed to "Custom". Please follow below given steps to see how to reproduce.

• Open Visual Studio 2010.


• File > New > Sharepoint > Visual Web Part > Name it "Sample"


• Delete the "VisualWebPart1"(Default) and add a new Visual Web Part file "DemoWebPart".


• Complete writing code.


• Right click project and deploy.


• Visit your website.


• Site Actions > Edit Site


• Click "Add a Web Part". On the top ribbon.

This will show up our web part in the Group name "Custom", but we need to the web part in a group name "MBD Web Parts".

Simple Solution

• Expand "DemoWebPart" and open "Element.xml".


• Modify an attribute value in the xml from "Custom" to "MBD Web Parts".


• Right click project and deploy.


• Visit your website.


• Site Actions > Edit Site


• Click "Add a Web Part". On the top ribbon.

You should now be able to see our custom category of "MBD Web Parts" and not in "Custom".

Change in Element.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<Elements xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/" >

  <Module Name="DemoWebPart" List="113" Url="_catalogs/wp" RootWebOnly="TRUE">

    <File Path="DemoWebPart\DemoWebPart.webpart" Url="DemoWebPart.webpart" Type="GhostableInLibrary" >

      <Property Name="Group" Value="MBD Web Parts" />

    </File>

  </Module>

</Elements>

Hope this is helpfull for you!