Do I Need To Invoke base.CreateChildControls in my WebParts?

January 28, 2013 by Joel Jeffery

This question was asked by one of my (most excellent) students this week:

In an ASP.NET Web Part for SharePoint, when I override CreateChildControls(), do I need to invoke the base?

You will see many examples on the Internet of code that does invoke the base, and many counter examples. Some of these contradictory examples are on the Microsoft MSDN site!

I decided to take ILSpy to the System.Web.dll assembly and find out once and for all.

First of all, System.Web.UI.WebControls.WebParts.WebPart does not override CreateChildControls() itself.

So, we must take a look at it’s ancestor: Part.

Once again, there is no implementation for CreateChildControls() here, so we go further up the chain to System.Web.UI.WebControls.Panel:

Still no definition of CreateChildControls(). Further up, we get System.Web.UI.WebControls.WebControl.

But it is not until we get to System.Web.UI.Control that we have an implementation:

Hang on a moment! That’s empty!

// System.Web.UI.Control
/// <summary>Called by the ASP.NET page framework to 
/// notify server controls that use composition-based 
/// implementation to create any child controls they contain
/// in preparation for posting back or rendering.</summary>
protected internal virtual void CreateChildControls()
{
}

So, the simple answer appears to be:

No, you don’t need to invoke base.ControlChildControls() in an ASP.NET WebPart”

#spthingaday

#spthingaday 003 - Information Architecture. Folde

#spthingaday 003 - Information Architecture. Folders are evil. Use metadata. #SharePoint, #Office365..
On a fileshare, all you have is path and filename. That's the only axis by which you can classify your stuff. So you nest folders, within folders, within folders. Then you pack the filename with extra bits of information - like the initials of the last editor, or the version number.
You don't need to do this in SharePoint. Use metadata.
Add columns to your libraries. Text columns, number columns, choice columns, managed metadata columns. Each file can have several of these values simultaneously. But a file can only live in one folder at a time.
Use metadata.

#microsoft #microsoftoffice #microsoftsharepoint #microsofttraining #officetraining #freetraining #trainingvideos #contentmanagement #enterprisecontentmanagement

#spthingaday 003 - Information Architecture. Folders are evil. Use metadata. #SharePoint, #Office365..
On a fileshare, all you have is path and filename. That's the only axis by which you can classify your stuff. So you nest folders, within folders, within folders. Then you pack the filename with extra bits of information - like the initials of the last editor, or the version number.
You don't need to do this in SharePoint. Use metadata.
Add columns to your libraries. Text columns, number columns, choice columns, managed metadata columns. Each file can have several of these values simultaneously. But a file can only live in one folder at a time.
Use metadata.

#microsoft #microsoftoffice #microsoftsharepoint #microsofttraining #officetraining #freetraining #trainingvideos #contentmanagement #enterprisecontentmanagement ...

14 0

#spthingaday 001 - Governance. Avoid death by file

#spthingaday 001 - Governance. Avoid death by fileshare #SharePoint, Teams, Planner and #Office365 projects need executive sponsorship.

#microsoft #microsoftoffice #microsoftsharepoint #microsofttraining #officetraining #freetraining #trainingvideos #contentmanagement #enterprisecontentmanagement

#spthingaday 001 - Governance. Avoid death by fileshare #SharePoint, Teams, Planner and #Office365 projects need executive sponsorship.

#microsoft #microsoftoffice #microsoftsharepoint #microsofttraining #officetraining #freetraining #trainingvideos #contentmanagement #enterprisecontentmanagement ...

15 0

#spthingaday 060 - SharePoint Search. Changing the

#spthingaday 060 - SharePoint Search. Changing the Search Topology. #SharePoint, #SharePointSearch.. The Search Service in SharePoint on-premise is made up of six components.

Crawl, Content Processing, Index, Analytics, Query and Administration.

Each of these components can be placed on one or more servers in your Farm.

To make any one Search component support high availability, you need to make sure there are at least two servers in your Farm running it.

SharePoint Server 2010 had only 3 types of component, and Microsoft let you manage their placement via Central Admin, in the browser.

From SharePoint 2013 onwards, this was deemed too difficult to express graphically.

For SharePoint 2013 and 2016, topology changes need to be made via PowerShell.

Tomorrow, we'll look at just what PowerShell cmd-lets you need to use.

#microsoft #microsoftoffice #microsoftsharepoint #microsofttraining #officetraining #freetraining #trainingvideos #contentmanagement #enterprisecontentmanagement

#spthingaday 060 - SharePoint Search. Changing the Search Topology. #SharePoint, #SharePointSearch.. The Search Service in SharePoint on-premise is made up of six components.

Crawl, Content Processing, Index, Analytics, Query and Administration.

Each of these components can be placed on one or more servers in your Farm.

To make any one Search component support high availability, you need to make sure there are at least two servers in your Farm running it.

SharePoint Server 2010 had only 3 types of component, and Microsoft let you manage their placement via Central Admin, in the browser.

From SharePoint 2013 onwards, this was deemed too difficult to express graphically.

For SharePoint 2013 and 2016, topology changes need to be made via PowerShell.

Tomorrow, we'll look at just what PowerShell cmd-lets you need to use.

#microsoft #microsoftoffice #microsoftsharepoint #microsofttraining #officetraining #freetraining #trainingvideos #contentmanagement #enterprisecontentmanagement ...

12 0