Webpart custom property not saving at first

Question

I created a webpart with custom properties but once the webpart is added and the settings changed, it doesn't take effect until a publish or check in share draft. Clicking in OK or Apply in the webpart settings doesn't save the properties.

private string _ListSite="/";
private string _ListName = "Quick Links";

[WebBrowsable(true)]
[WebDisplayName("List site")]
[SPWebCategoryName("Quick Links Settings")]
[WebPartStorage(Storage.Shared)]
[WebDescription("Name of the site where the links list is")]
[Personalizable(PersonalizationScope.Shared)]
public string ListSite
{
   get { return _ListSite; }
   set { _ListSite = value; }
}

[WebBrowsable(true)]
[WebDisplayName("List name")]
[SPWebCategoryName("Quick Links Settings")]
[WebPartStorage(Storage.Shared)]
[WebDescription("Name of the list to use")]
[Personalizable(PersonalizationScope.Shared)]
public string ListName
{
    get { return _ListName; }
    set { _ListName = value; }
}

Answer 1

Calling the method that needs the custom properties updated in CreateChildControls() has done the job for me.

Example:

protected override void CreateChildControls()
{
    base.CreateChildControls();

    try
    {
        _data = GetLinksData();
    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
        //exception code
    }

}

private SPListItemCollection GetLinksData()
{
   //Method that uses the custom properties
   //this.ListSite has the new value when OK or Apply has been clicked in the webpart settings
   //using this.ListSite! 
}

Answer 2

Ensure that you derive your webpart from "System.Web.UI.WebControls.WebParts.WebPart" and need not use attributes like "SPWebCategoryName" or "WebPartStorage" .The below attributes are sufficient for a webpart property to work as expected:

[Personalizable(PersonalizationScope.Shared)]
[WebBrowsable(true)]
[Category("Quick Links Settings")]
[WebDisplayName("List site")]  
[Description("Name of the site where the links list is")] 

If, for some reason, you drive from Microsoft.SharePoint.WebPartPages.WebPart and you want save the properties in code, you can use WebPart.SaveProperties as below

   // Set Title property of webpart  to the value in _mytextbox control.
    public void _mybutton_click (object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        this.Title = _mytextbox.Value;
        try
        {
            this.SaveProperties=true;
        }
        catch
        {
            Caption = "Error... Could not save property.";
        }
    }