Easy way to add a custom web part property to a web part?

Question

I'm creating a web part using Visual Studio 2008 for SharePoint 2007. If I'm creating the web part from scratch, I typically don't have any properties defined yet in my code.

I've found that it is hard to remember the syntax for a web part property because of all the attributes I need to specify. For example, the Creating a Web Part with Custom Properties tutorial shows how to create a variety of properties:

[Category("Custom Properties")]
[DefaultValue(c_MyStringDefault)]
[WebPartStorage(Storage.Personal)]
[FriendlyNameAttribute("Custom String")]
[Description("Type a string value.")]
[Browsable(true)]
[XmlElement(ElementName="MyString")]
public string MyString
{
    get
    {
        return _myString;
    }
    set
    {
        _myString = value;
    }
}

Instead of searching for code each time I want to add a property or typing from scratch, is there an easy way to add a web part property to my custom web part?

Answer 1

I use code snippets for this kind of thing.

1. How to create a code snippet
2. How to Manage Code Snippets

Here is an example string property you can invoke by wpptabtab. Then you tab through the parts to fill out:

<CodeSnippets
    xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/2005/CodeSnippet">
  <CodeSnippet Format="1.0.0">
    <Header>
      <Title>SharePoint Web Part Property</Title>
      <Description>Create a SharePoint Web Part Property, Field and Default Field</Description>
      <Author>Revised by Kit Menke, Original Author: Morgan Everett</Author>
      <Shortcut>wpp</Shortcut>
    </Header>
    <Snippet>
      <Declarations>
        <Literal>
          <ID>type</ID>
          <ToolTip>Replace with the tyoe of the Web Part Property</ToolTip>
          <Default>string</Default>
        </Literal>
        <Literal>
          <ID>PropertyName</ID>
          <ToolTip>Replace with the Name of the Web Part Property</ToolTip>
          <Default>MyWebPartProperty</Default>
        </Literal>
        <Literal>
          <ID>Category</ID>
          <ToolTip>Replace with the name of the Category where this property will appear in the ToolPane</ToolTip>
          <Default>TOOLBOX_SECTION_NAME</Default>
        </Literal>
        <Literal>
          <ID>MyFriendlyName</ID>
          <ToolTip>Replace with the Friendly Name of the Web Part Property</ToolTip>
          <Default>MyFriendlyName</Default>
        </Literal>
        <Literal>
          <ID>MyDescription</ID>
          <ToolTip>Replace with the Description of the Web Part Property</ToolTip>
          <Default>MyDescription</Default>
        </Literal>
      </Declarations>

      <Code Language="CSharp">
        <![CDATA[private const $type$ DEFAULT_$PropertyName$ = "MyDefault";
        private $type$ _$PropertyName$ = DEFAULT_$PropertyName$;

        [Browsable(true)]
        [Category($Category$)]
        [DefaultValue(DEFAULT_$PropertyName$)]
        [WebPartStorage(Storage.Shared)]
        [FriendlyName("$MyFriendlyName$")]
        [Description("$MyDescription$")]
        public $type$ $PropertyName$
        {
            get { return this._$PropertyName$; }
            set { this._$PropertyName$ = value; }
        }]]>
      </Code>
    </Snippet>
  </CodeSnippet>
</CodeSnippets>

Define TOOLBOX_SECTION_NAME as a const string at the top of your web part class to group them all together.