This document contains information about the Web Part Builder Add-in for Microsoft Visual InterDev, available in the preview release of the Digital Dashboard Resource Kit 2.0. This document contains the following sections.
Installing the Web Part Builder
Connecting to a Digital Dashboard Site with Visual InterDev
Creating Your First Digital Dashboard Folder
Previewing your Dashboard and Web Parts
While many simple parts can be created inside the Dashboard Application’s customization pages, developers will want to use Visual InterDev’s rich editing tools for building more complex Web Parts. The Web Part Builder is an Add-in for Visual InterDev that enables a developer to build sophisticated Web Parts in Visual InterDev.
The Web Part builder add-in is specifically
designed to work with the Windows 2000â File System Digital Dashboard Sample.
The Add-in makes available a number of new features and commands within Visual InterDev including:
· Create a Web Part – Creates a Web Part and adds all of the WebDAV properties.
· Create Dashboard Folder - Creates a Folder in the Dashboard Project and adds all the WebDAV properties to that folder.
· Preview Dashboard – Allows you to preview a dashboard from within Visual InterDev.
· Export as XML – Allows you to export a part to the Web Part XML interchange format.
· Import XML – Allows you to import a Web Part from the XML interchange format and publish it to a site.
· Copy Dashboards To – Allows you to copy dashboards to the SQL Server Digital Dashboard Sample (or any WebDAV compliant Dashboard folder).
The builder is currently the only tool that enables you to move parts
between the SQL Server Digital Dashboard and the File system Digital Dashboard.
Before using the Web Part builder you will want need to install a Windowsâ 2000 File System Digital Dashboard Sample.
· To install the Windows file system sample dashboard, choose Install the File System Sample Digital Dashboard from the Building Digital Dashboards page of the Digital Dashboard Resource Kit 2.0. You can also run DDRK_FS.msi from the CD ROM. An installation wizard guides you through the installation process.
During installation, the wizard will prompt you for the following information:
· The name of the folder or virtual root that will hold your users’ digital dashboards. The default virtual root is Dashboards.
· The name of the virtual Web root that contains the Dashboard factory. The default virtual Web root is Factory.
The Web Part Builder requires Microsoft Visual InterDev 98 running on Windowsâ 2000 (Untested on Windows NT4).
To install the Web Part Builder
· Before you install the Web Part Builder you should make sure you have closed Microsoft Visual InterDev.
· Run Setup.exe from the Digital Dashboard Resource Kit 2.0 CD ROM. An installation wizard guides you through the process.
Before using the Visual InterDev Add-In you will want to first build a Digital Dashboard Site on a Server. To do this, run the setup for the File System Digital Dashboard on a Windowsâ 2000 Server in your organization.
To connect the a the Windowsâ 2000 File System Digital Dashboard with Visual InterDev:
1. Open Visual InterDev, and from the File menu, select New Project
2. In the New Project Dialog, select Digital Dashboard, type in a name for your project and click Open
3. Type in the name of the server on which you installed the Windowsâ 2000 File System Digital Dashboard
4. Click Finish
You should be able to see both your Dashboards folders and the Dashboard Factory folder. It is recommended that you not alter the dashboard factory in any way.
Before you can create Web Parts, you will need to create a Dashboard Folder to contain the Web Parts. Without the Dashboard Folder, your Web Parts can not be displayed in a Digital Dashboard. Dashboard Folders are unique because the contain WebDAV properties that let developers create a customized look and feel for the dashboard. The Dashboard Folder Wizard Creates both the folder within the project and enables you to set properties in these folders.
The Web Part Builder Installs a Dashboard Folder Wizard that helps create dashboard Folders and their properties. To create a new Dashboard Folder:
1. In the Project View, Right click the Dashboards folder
2. Select Add a Dashboard Folder from the menu
3. Type in a Title for the Dashboard Folder and Click Create
4. Click OK
You can create as many levels of Dashboards as you want.
You are now ready to create your first Web Part. This walk through illustrates the creation of the most common part found on Digital Dashboards – the Inbox Part. (In order to create this part you will need to have the Outlook View Control installed on your machine).
To create the Inbox Part:
1. Right click your new dashboard folder, and select Add Web Part.
2. In the Add Web Part dialog box, type a name and description for the Web Part and then select HTML in the content type drop-down menu.
3. Click OK
You are now ready to preview all your hard work. To quickly view the part in the dashboard:
1. Right click your new dashboard and select View Dashboard
XML is the interchange format for Web Parts. In this preview Edition of the DDRK, the Web Part Builder is the only tool that helps save and import parts into this format. This is an excellent way simple to share parts between trusted organizations. The files are saved as .DWP files so that the Web Part catalog listing can recognize them.
In order to export a Part as XML
1. Select the web part or web parts you wish to export in the Project Explorer
2. From the Digital Dashboard menu on the toolbar, select Export…
3. Choose the local folder from the dialog where you want to export the part.
Once in XML format the part can be exchanged outside operating systems that manage WebDAV properties. When you receive a part in XML Format you can easily import it into the a Dashboard Folder:
1. In the Project explorer select your target dashboard folder
2. From the Digital Dashboard menu on the toolbar, select Import…
3. Chose one or more .DWP files
4. Right click your the dashboard in the Project Explorer and select View Dashboard