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Guidelines for Building Good Web Parts

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This content is no longer actively maintained. It is provided as is, for anyone who may still be using these technologies, with no warranties or claims of accuracy with regard to the most recent product version or service release.

Good Web Parts deliver targeted information tailored to specific users in a manner that is appropriate for a Digital Dashboard. The look and feel of your Web Parts should be appealing to users and appropriate for a Digital Dashboard. The functionality of a Web Part should not interfere with other Web Parts on a dashboard. Isolating your Web Parts and using token replacement for all scripts and variables makes sure your Web Parts will run on a dashboard without causing naming and script collisions.

In This Section

  • Informative and Customizable Web Parts
    The purpose of a Digital Dashboard is to help reduce information overload by delivering tailored information to users in a manner they can assimilate easily.
  • Web Parts that Maintain a Consistent Look and Feel
    A good Web Part must have a look and feel that is consistent with other Web Parts on the dashboard. The dashboard defines a set of style classes that Web Parts inherit to make sure they render with a similar look and feel.
  • The Isolation of Web Parts from Other Web Parts
    Because the Web Parts you build are included in the Document Object Model of the Digital Dashboard along with other Web Parts, there is a high possibility of script collisions.
  • Portable Web Parts
    To be truly reusable, a Web Part must be able to be used in any Digital Dashboard. This means that Web Parts should not be dependent on other Web Parts, network connectivity, or computer configurations.
  • Web Part Properties
    The Web Part properties fall into four categories: basic, appearance, content, and execution. The basic properties define basic metadata for a Web Part. The appearance properties define how a Web Part appears on a dashboard. The content properties describe the content that the Web Part renders. The execution properties specify how the Web Part runs on the dashboard.
  • Ways to Add Web Parts to Your Dashboard
    After you create a dashboard, you can tailor its functionality by adding Web Parts. Web Parts determine the content of a Digital Dashboard and can display any type of information or Web format that you would like to implement.
  • Types of Web Parts
    You can build Web Parts from three places: Microsoft® Office XP Developer, the dashboard itself, or the Web Part Builder add-in for Microsoft® Visual InterDev®.
  • How a Digital Dashboard Factory Interprets Web Parts
    A Digital Dashboard factory initializes Web Parts, gets content, and displays the content on the dashboard.