In WSS 3.0, the creation of web parts is easier than ever.  Since WSS 3.0 is fully based on and built around ASP.Net 2.0 you can leverage the .net framework to do your heavy lifting.

Today I thought I would create a simple post on how to create your very first web part.  If you want a more in-depth how-to, please see the Links section below for more information.

Getting Started:

1. Create a new VS 2005 project
2. Reference the System.Web namespace in your project
3. Create a new class and have it inherit off of WebPart
   public class SimpleWebPart : WebPart
   
   
4. Override the Render class, add a add the following line
   writer.Write("Hello, my first web part");
   
   
5. Compile your web part.
6. Copy your webpart to the bin directory on your WSS web server found here on my server
   C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\wss\VirtualDirectories\80\bin
   
   
7. Open the web.config file to change the trust level of the site to WSS_Medium
8. Add your assembly to the SafeControl list (I would copy an existing one and modify it)
   NOTE *** If you have not signed your assembly you can remove the PublicKeyToken attribute ***
   
   
9. Open up a web browser and navigate to http://<<YourServerNameHere>>/_layouts/newdwp.aspx
   If you made the correct settings to the Web.Config file you should see your webpart in the list.
   
   
10. Select your new web part and click Populate Gallery.  This will create the needed config file for your webpart.
11. Now go to your sharepoint site and add the new web part.
• Open a WSS list in edit mode
• Click add web part
• Select your new web part and add it to the list.

    12  Enjoy your new web part.

I know this is just the tip of the ice berg, but you have got to start someplace.

Links

• More In-depth how-to - here
• Web Part Control Set Overview - here
• Creating web parts in WSS - here

Till next time,