Add Web Part to page "automatically"-Sharepoint foundation 2013

Question

I'm a relative Sharepoint newbie trying something that seems like it should be simple but having lots of trouble executing it. My organization does not have much more sharepoint experience than I do so I don't know if this is due to my lack of familiarity with the system or due to bigger configuration problems.

The use case I'm dealing with is building a project management site collection that will be used for short-term rapid-iteration projects. The collection will consist of a top level Site housing things like discussion forums and places to submit project ideas. Individual projects will get subsites created that will house typical project data.

I would like the top level site to have a dashboard showing data like timeline web parts and project descriptions about ongoing projects. I would also like a way to add project subsites that selects the correct project template automatically.

For the dashboard I have been exploring using the Javascript CSOM to add a timeline web part to a web part page, with the end goal being to iterate through all the subsites and add a timeline for each project subsite to the dashboard page. I haven't been able to properly run the GetLimitedWebPartManager method yet and I'm wondering if I'm even heading down the right path for this idea. Is embedding javascript in a webpart page the right way to do this? I'm assuming this has to be done programmatically, is there a better place for this code to be running? Can snippets of code like this be set to run as part of a workflow?

EDIT:

I've found a function outlined here that seems to work for adding a web part. It's a start at least.

Answer 1

Here's the final function I ended up using to add the web part:

function addWebPart(webUrl, pageUrl,webPartXml,zoneId,zoneIndex, Success,Error){
var context = new SP.ClientContext(webUrl);
var web = context.get_web();

var file = web.getFileByServerRelativeUrl(webUrl + pageUrl);
var webPartMngr = file.getLimitedWebPartManager(SP.WebParts.PersonalizationScope.shared);
var webPartDef = webPartMngr.importWebPart(webPartXml);
var webPart = webPartDef.get_webPart();
webPartMngr.addWebPart(webPart, zoneId, zoneIndex);

context.load(webPart);
context.executeQueryAsync(
function() {
    Success(webPart);
  },
  Error
);

}

I also ended up creating two other functions to actually build the XML used in the web parts:

function buildTimeLine(list,web){
    listID=list.get_id();
    fullUrl=web.get_url();
    relUrl=web.get_serverRelativeUrl();
    partTitle=web.get_title()+ ' '+ list.get_title();
        partXml='<webParts>'+
      '<webPart xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WebPart/v3">'+
        '<metaData>'+
          '<type name="Microsoft.SharePoint.WebPartPages.SPTimelineWebPart, Microsoft.SharePoint, Version=15.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c" />'+
          '<importErrorMessage>Cannot import this Web Part.</importErrorMessage>'+
        '</metaData>'+
       ' <data>'+
          '<properties>'+
            '<property name="HelpUrl" type="string" />'+
            '<property name="ChromeType" type="chrometype">Default</property>'+
            '<property name="TitleUrl" type="string" />'+
            '<property name="Width" type="string" />'+
            '<property name="Hidden" type="bool">False</property>'+
            '<property name="SourceSelection" type="string">'+ 
            listID + 
            '</property>'+
            '<property name="AllowClose" type="bool">True</property>'+
            '<property name="ExportMode" type="exportmode">All</property>'+
            '<property name="AllowMinimize" type="bool">True</property>'+
            '<property name="TypeSelection" type="string">TaskListTimeline</property>'+
            '<property name="Direction" type="direction">NotSet</property>'+
            '<property name="AllowConnect" type="bool">True</property>'+
            '<property name="MissingAssembly" type="string">Cannot import this Web Part.</property>'+
            '<property name="CurrentTaskListWebAddress" type="string">'+
            fullUrl +
            '</property>'+
            '<property name="PageAddress" type="string">'+
            relUrl+
            '</property>'+
            '<property name="Description" type="string"></property>'+
            '<property name="TitleIconImageUrl" type="string" />'+
            '<property name="CatalogIconImageUrl" type="string" />'+
            '<property name="ListId" type="string">'+
            listID+
            '</property>'+
            '<property name="AllowZoneChange" type="bool">True</property>'+
            '<property name="Height" type="string" />'+
            '<property name="ViewName" type="string">Timeline</property>'+
            '<property name="HelpMode" type="helpmode">Modeless</property>'+
            '<property name="Title" type="string">'+
            partTitle + 
            '</property>'+
            '<property name="ChromeState" type="chromestate">Normal</property>'+
            '<property name="AllowHide" type="bool">True</property>'+
            '<property name="TimelineType" type="string">TaskListTimeline</property>'+
            '<property name="AllowEdit" type="bool">True</property>'+
          '</properties>'+
        '</data>'+
      '</webPart>'+
    '</webParts>';
return partXml;
};

function buildHeader(web,zone,index){
    projTitle=web.get_title();
    projDesc=web.get_description();
    projUrl=web.get_serverRelativeUrl();
    partXml='<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>'+
        '<WebPart xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WebPart/v2">'+
        '<Title>Content Editor'+
        projTitle +
        '</Title>'+
        ' <FrameType>None</FrameType>'+
        '<Description>Allows authors to enter rich text content.</Description>'+
        '<IsIncluded>true</IsIncluded>' +
        '<ZoneID>' +
        zone +
        '</ZoneID>' +
        '<PartOrder>'+
        index+
        '</PartOrder>'+
        '<FrameState>Normal</FrameState>'+
        '<Height />'+
        '<Width />'+
        '<AllowRemove>true</AllowRemove>'+
        '<AllowZoneChange>true</AllowZoneChange>'+
        '<AllowMinimize>true</AllowMinimize>'+
        '<AllowConnect>true</AllowConnect>'+
        '<AllowEdit>true</AllowEdit>'+
        '<AllowHide>true</AllowHide>'+
        '<IsVisible>true</IsVisible>'+
        '<DetailLink />'+
        '<HelpLink />'+
        '<HelpMode>Modeless</HelpMode>'+
        '<Dir>Default</Dir>'+
        '<PartImageSmall />'+
        '<MissingAssembly>Cannot import this Web Part.</MissingAssembly>'+
        '<PartImageLarge>/_layouts/15/images/mscontl.gif</PartImageLarge>'+
        '<IsIncludedFilter />'+
        '<Assembly>Microsoft.SharePoint, Version=15.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c</Assembly>'+
        '<TypeName>Microsoft.SharePoint.WebPartPages.ContentEditorWebPart</TypeName>'+
        '<ContentLink xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WebPart/v2/ContentEditor" />'+
        '<Content xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WebPart/v2/ContentEditor"><![CDATA[<h1><a href="' +
        projUrl +
        '">' +
        projTitle +
        '</a></h1><p>' +
        projDesc+
        '</p><hr/>]]></Content>'+       
        '<PartStorage xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WebPart/v2/ContentEditor" />'+
        '</WebPart>';
        return partXml;
        };

These two functions are used within callback functions called from more generic functions that pull in the targeted lists/webs:

function getWebList(subsiteUrl,listName,success,fail){
ctx=new SP.ClientContext(subsiteUrl);
web=ctx.get_web();
list=web.get_lists().getByTitle(listName);
ctx.load(web);
ctx.load(list);
ctx.executeQueryAsync(Function.createDelegate(this,success),Function.createDelegate(this,fail));
}

function getWeb(subsiteUrl,success,fail){
ctx=new SP.ClientContext(subsiteUrl);
web=ctx.get_web();

ctx.load(web);

ctx.executeQueryAsync(Function.createDelegate(this,success),Function.createDelegate(this,fail));


};

Examples of usage follows:

getWeb("sites/topLevelSite/subsite",
  function(sender,args){
    headerXml=buildHeader(web,"FullPage",0);
  }, 
  function(sender, args){
    alert(args.get_message();)
  })

getWebList("sites/topLevelSite/subsite", "Tasks List",
  function(sender,args){
    timelineXml=buildTimeline(web,list);
  }, 
  function(sender, args){
    alert(args.get_message();)
  })

Now that the XML has been built, the original addWebPart function can be executed.