How do I implement Web Part functionality in WPF?
I'm working on a WPF application that works with several different types of data, and I would like to implement the user interface in the same way as the implementation of SharePoint web parts, or perhaps something like a google gadget.
Is there a template or set of controls I can purchase that will help me achieve this? Any pointers / suggestions / websites are appreciated.
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For functionality, two very popular options are the Managed Extensibility Framework (MEF) and the Composite Applications Guide (Prism) .
I personally like Prism a little better. The programming model made more sense to me, and it introduced the EventAggregator, which made communication between "web parts" (if needed) simple and decoupled (using a mechanism like Pub-Sub).
Both have a UI layout feature that sounds like you, and both are pretty easy to use.
As a developer creating a "web part" or collection of web parts in Prism, you would:
- Create your user interface
- Create a module and register your user interface with an application "scope".
From there, the "shell" will load all the modules and show their regions, which will be automatically populated with the user interfaces that are registered there.
There are some pretty good examples out there that make things very easy to understand.
Hope this helps, Anderson
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