Data Mining / Web Part Controls (SharePoint Web Parts) / Microsoft (Tools & Add-ins, Controls & Components)

What is a Web Part? A Web Part is software component for SharePoint, a pre-built piece software that can be reused by another programmer or end user on a Web page inside Microsoft SharePoint based Web sites or Intranets. SharePoint Web Parts are a type of ASP.NET control that can be used inside Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) applications. A Web Part is a SharePoint component and is used as a SharePoint UI Control or User Interface Control to allow the SharePoint user to interact with the application and the data displayed on the Web page.

For example, a SharePoint developer can create or buy a set of standard Web Part controls that a user can add to their SharePoint Web page to display data, enter data or tailor the filtering and display of that data to their needs. By reusing pre-built ASP.NET Web Parts, the user gets more functionality and a more efficient SharePoint application to use. The Web Part developer retains control over the Web Parts controls that are used and hence this helps with quality, performance and support of the SharePoint app.

As the WSS Web Parts are ASP.NET controls, a type of reusable software component for SharePoint, you are able to buy commercial grade, quality Web Parts that have been created and that are supported by other companies or teams. For example, rather than create your own charting Web Part in C#, you can do a Web Part download and get an ASP.NET Web Part charting control from our Web site and try it out. The third party Web Part chart has been built by an expert in the area of charting and graphing, as such it will be full of a wide variety of chart types that would take you a long time to design, code, build & test - as well as support. By reusing third party ASP Web Parts, you can get extra functionality into or onto your SharePoint Web Page fast.

In this filtered view of our main product catalog you will find a SharePoint Web Part gallery that is growing all the time, as more and more companies create .NET Web Parts for the SharePoint market. Some examples for you, you will find a calendar and scheduling Web Parts control as a Web Parts download that enables you to add calendar functionality that goes well beyond the basic calendar Web Part found inside SharePoint as standard. There are also SharePoint datagrids that allow you to display your data in many different ways, including complex hierarchical, master/detail or parent/child datatables for SharePoint users to use. The list of SharePoint controls available as SharePoint Web Part products is expanding all the time, satisfy the demand from SharePoint programmers and their SharePoint users.

The Microsoft software platform provides Microsoft developers with an array of Microsoft tools to create solutions for their customers and end users. The Microsoft applications that programmers develop can be created using the MS Visual Studio range of Microsoft development tools, including: MS Visual Basic; MS Visual C# (C-sharp); MS Visual C++ (C Plus Plus), as well as older MS dev languages and MS IDEs, such as MS Visual FoxPro. MS Visual Studio, the Microsoft .NET Framework and the more mature Microsoft COM platform can be extended to provide additional functionality to help MS developers create solutions faster. For example, there is a Microsoft add-in model that allows a Microsoft tool to be extended by other third-party companies, as long as they comply with the Microsoft addin model. As a result you can get a Microsoft extension for Visual Studio to refactor your Visual Basic code to make it easier to read or maintain and to speed up your coding by helping with code layout.  Many Visual Studio add-ins are available, including add ins to do C# code generation for you, giving you a faster way to create an application from scratch.

Microsoft Visual Studio software can also be extended beyond the Microsoft controls and Microsoft components that are supplied within the Visual Studio Integrated Development Environment (VS IDE) to give additional functionality. You can get Microsoft .NET components from companies that specialize in writing Internet communications components or eCommerce components that can be programmed like any other Microsoft component and save you a vast amount of time and money in programming your next Microsoft project. Or you can get an advanced Microsoft control for charting that enables you to draw many more styles of charts and graphs than are available inside the standard Microsoft controls in Visual Studio. These Microsoft components are available in many different forms as: Microsoft DLLs or as a Microsoft library, or as a Microsoft ActiveX or COM component supporting the COM object model or for the .NET Framework as Microsoft WinForms controls or ASP.NET controls, or as Microsoft WPF controls for Windows Presentation Foundation applications or as Silverlight controls for Microsoft Silverlight developers to use.

In this Microsoft marketplace you will find lots of different MS UI controls, as well as non-visual components, Microsoft utilities and Microsoft plug-ins to help you program in Microsoft Visual Basic, Visual C++ & Visual C#. You will also find Microsoft visual tools written by ISVs that can be used by MS Access developers or by MS Office programmers as Office components to be embedded inside their MS VBA or VSTO apps. There are also SharePoint tools and SharePoint Web Parts for MOSS bases apps being created by SharePoint developers. Plus for SQL Server you will find Microsoft utility products that allow you to access or bind to your data sources, compare data, manage your data, backup your data efficiently and much more. There are over 1,800 commercial products compatible with Microsoft software shown here in this Microsoft product gallery and many come with free downloads or free software trials for you to use listed in our Microsoft downloads product pages.