Creating Custom Web part in MOSS and add custom properties to the Tool part

You can create a Custom web part for implementing the custom functionalites in SharePoint by deriving the class from Microsoft.SharePoint.WebPartPages.webPart Class.

using Microsoft.SharePoint;
using Microsoft.SharePoint.WebPartPages;

public class CustomWebPart : WebPart
{
protected override void CreateChildControls()
{
// to do : Create the child controls of the web part and add to the controls collection
Button btncntrol = new Button();
this.Controls.Add(btncntrol);
}
public override void RenderControl(HtmlTextWriter writer)
{
// render control here
}
}

CreateChildControls and RenderControl methods are used to add controls to the web part also apply styles to the web part.

To add custom properties to the Tool Part in Modified Shared Web Part

[Browsable(true), Category("Behavior"), DefaultValue(false),
WebPartStorage(Storage.Shared),
FriendlyName("Enable values "),
Description("To modify values")]
public bool ShowCustomProperty
{
get
{
return showCustomproperty;
}
set
{
showCustomproperty = value;
}
}

To have more customization in the tool part like “on click of image a dialog should open”. Override GetToolPart method in web part class.

When the end-user chooses to modify a Web Part, the framework will call the GetToolParts method of the Web Part class. By overriding this method, I can control the order and appearance of the Tool Parts.

public override Microsoft.SharePoint.WebPartPages.ToolPart[] GetToolParts()
{
// returns array of tool part. Custom propery is also added here...
}

To learn more about creation of web part and connectable web parts in MOSS Click Here

Export and Import APIs in MOSS for migrating content

To Export Pages / Images/ Webs/Pages from one site or web site or sub site to another SharePoint site using content Migration APIs. This took physical copy of each object (pages, web sites, sub sites, site collection) and it can be moved to any other server.

The Content Migration APIs in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 provide a flexible set of tools for migrating content between Windows SharePoint Services Web sites. Windows SharePoint Services uses the concept of the content migration package, which can include either single or multiple XML files, and then provides a flexible set of APIs to enable exporting and importing the migration packages. The content import/export feature of the deployment object model allows you to export not only Web site content but also existing dependencies, like security features, user roles, versioning data, workflows, and other metadata.

SPExportSettings settings = new SPExportSettings();
settings.SiteUrl = "http://localhost:2000";
// This is used to specify whether to export all or only incremental changes
settings.ExportMethod = SPExportMethodType.ExportAll;
// Location where the physical files on export are getting stored.
settings.FileLocation = @"c:\export";
settings.FileCompression = false;
settings.CommandLineVerbose = true;

// Settings is assigned to the SPExport object
SPExport export = new SPExport(settings);
// This method exports the content and store as physical files
export.Run();

Similarly, import should also be done in the similar fashion with SPImport class.
These APIs are used to migrate the content(Pages / Images/ Webs/Pages ) with in the same sharepoint server as well as other servers.

SiteUrl - this property defines which site collection the export should use. All objects being exported always have to be in the same site collection. The Content Deployment and Migration API cannot access items in different site collections in a single operation.

ExportMethod - this property allows to define whether to perform an incremental export (value = ExportChanges) or everything (value = ExportAll). Be aware that ExportChanges would require to provide an Export Change Token in a separate property.

FileLocation - this property defines where to store the exported content. The value should point to be an empty directory. If the directory does not exist it will be created during export. If file compression is being used, then only the compressed files will be stored on this location. The uncompressed files will be stored in the directory identified by the value of the system wide TMP environment variable. So you need to ensure that the directory the TMP environment variable points to also needs to have sufficient space available.

FileCompression - this property defines whether the content should be compressed into a CAB file. If you need to archive the exported content or need to transfer it to a different machine you should choose to compress. If you only export the content to import it afterwards using code on the same machine and don't need to archive (e.g. a copy or move operation) then you should decide to disable the compression as this is significantly quicker.

CommandVerbose - this parameter allows to control if the API should provide some verbose output. If you have ever seen the generated output when running STSADM -o export: this is exactly the flag the generates this output. If the value is false no output is generated.

ExcludeDependencies - This property controls whether to export dependent objects like referenced images, master pages or page layouts. If it is unclear if the dependent objects are already in the destination database you should export the dependent objects as well to prevent problems.

IncludeDescendants - This property controls whether to export child objects of the selected objects (like sub webs, lists, list items) or only the selected object. Possible values are None (only the object is exported), Content (List and libraries of a web will be exported but not sub webs) and All (all child content is exported)