The web part verbs are the menus items (like Minimize, Close etc) appears when we click the Edit option in web parts. The SharePoint web part framework exposes one of the propery called WebPartVerbCollection. This is very flexible which allows us to add our own items (custom web part verbs) to the web part collection.

The whole idea is to override the getter of WebPartVerbCollection property, add custom verb items and return it back to web part framework. The following code snippet covers the same.

using System;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Web;
using System.Web.UI;
using System.Web.UI.WebControls;
using System.Web.UI.WebControls.WebParts;
using Microsoft.SharePoint;
using Microsoft.SharePoint.WebControls;

namespace WP_Verb_Sample.VisualWebPart1
{
    [ToolboxItemAttribute(false)]
    public class VisualWebPart1 : WebPart
    {
        // Visual Studio might automatically update this path when you change the Visual Web Part project item.
        private const string _ascxPath = @"~/_CONTROLTEMPLATES/WP_Verb_Sample/VisualWebPart1/WPVerbSample.ascx";

        protected override void CreateChildControls()
        {
            Control control = Page.LoadControl(_ascxPath);
            Controls.Add(control);
        }

        public override WebPartVerbCollection Verbs
        {
            get
            {
                //return base.Verbs;

                WebPartVerb Verb1 = new WebPartVerb("Verb Inovking Server Handler", 

                                              new WebPartEventHandler(CustomVerbEventHandler));
                Verb1.Text = "Verb Inovking Server";
                Verb1.Description = "This verb is used to demonstrate the server-side WP verb operation";


                WebPartVerb Verb2 = new WebPartVerb("Verb Inovking Client Script", 

                                              "Javascript:alert("Hi from Client");");
                Verb2.Text = "Verb Inovking client script";
                Verb2.Description = "This verb is used to demonstrate the client-side WP verb operation";


                WebPartVerb[] addedVerbs = new WebPartVerb[] { Verb1, Verb2 };

                return new WebPartVerbCollection(base.Verbs, addedVerbs);


            }
        }




        protected void CustomVerbEventHandler(object sender, WebPartEventArgs args)
        {
            // any arbitrary operation can be performed here
           
            
        }
    }
}

.csharpcode, .csharpcode pre
{
font-size: small;
color: black;
font-family: consolas, “Courier New”, courier, monospace;
background-color: #ffffff;
/*white-space: pre;*/
}
.csharpcode pre { margin: 0em; }
.csharpcode .rem { color: #008000; }
.csharpcode .kwrd { color: #0000ff; }
.csharpcode .str { color: #006080; }
.csharpcode .op { color: #0000c0; }
.csharpcode .preproc { color: #cc6633; }
.csharpcode .asp { background-color: #ffff00; }
.csharpcode .html { color: #800000; }
.csharpcode .attr { color: #ff0000; }
.csharpcode .alt
{
background-color: #f4f4f4;
width: 100%;
margin: 0em;
}
.csharpcode .lnum { color: #606060; }

The web part verbs can invoke both a client-side action and a server-side handler as well. The above sample covers both the scenarios. Once you compile and deploy this code, you’d see your custom webpart verb.

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In this article I’d cover the steps to be followed to consume a IIS 7.5 hosted WCF service from SharePoint 2010 visual web part.

Step1.

Make sure that web part project has references to the following assemblies

System.ServiceModel.dll

System.ServiceModel.Web.dll

System.ServiceModel.dll

System.Runtime.Serialization.dll

.csharpcode, .csharpcode pre
{
font-size: small;
color: black;
font-family: consolas, “Courier New”, courier, monospace;
background-color: #ffffff;
/*white-space: pre;*/
}
.csharpcode pre { margin: 0em; }
.csharpcode .rem { color: #008000; }
.csharpcode .kwrd { color: #0000ff; }
.csharpcode .str { color: #006080; }
.csharpcode .op { color: #0000c0; }
.csharpcode .preproc { color: #cc6633; }
.csharpcode .asp { background-color: #ffff00; }
.csharpcode .html { color: #800000; }
.csharpcode .attr { color: #ff0000; }
.csharpcode .alt
{
background-color: #f4f4f4;
width: 100%;
margin: 0em;
}
.csharpcode .lnum { color: #606060; }

Step2

 Import the following namespace in the code-behind of the web part

using System.ServiceModel;
using System.Runtime.Serialization;

Step3

The next step is to generate the client proxy for the WCF service. You can use ‘Add Service Reference’ option in Visual Studio 2008/10 or leverage 

the command line utility svcutil.exe. Personally I’d prefer the svcutil.exe tool for many reasons.

svcutil /config:output.config   /out:CreditCardService.cs /tcv:Version35 /n:*,SandboxVisualWP.VisualWebPart1 http://localhost:1414/CreditCardService/ValidationService.svc

/config – specifies the name of the client configuration file to be generated

/output – specifies the name of the client proxy file (.cs file)

/tcv – specifies the .net framework version for the client proxy

/n:* – specifies the namespace for the client proxy. This is a significant factor that needs to be considered. Please make sure that the namespace of the proxy file matches with the namespace of visual web part project.

Step4

The generated client configuration file looks like the following

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<configuration>
    <system.serviceModel>
        <bindings>
            <wsHttpBinding>
                <binding name="WSHttpBinding_IVadlidationService" closeTimeout="00:01:00"
                    openTimeout="00:01:00" receiveTimeout="00:10:00" sendTimeout="00:01:00"
                    bypassProxyOnLocal="false" transactionFlow="false" hostNameComparisonMode="StrongWildcard"
                    maxBufferPoolSize="524288" maxReceivedMessageSize="65536"
                    messageEncoding="Text" textEncoding="utf-8" useDefaultWebProxy="true"
                    allowCookies="false">
                    <readerQuotas maxDepth="32" maxStringContentLength="8192" maxArrayLength="16384"
                        maxBytesPerRead="4096" maxNameTableCharCount="16384" />
                    <reliableSession ordered="true" inactivityTimeout="00:10:00"
                        enabled="false" />
                    <security mode="Message">
                        <transport clientCredentialType="Windows" proxyCredentialType="None"
                            realm="" />
                        <message clientCredentialType="Windows" negotiateServiceCredential="true"
                            algorithmSuite="Default" />
                    </security>
                </binding>
            </wsHttpBinding>
        </bindings>
        <client>
            <endpoint address="http://lt012464.abc.com:1414/CreditCardService/ValidationService.svc"
                binding="wsHttpBinding" bindingConfiguration="WSHttpBinding_IVadlidationService"
                contract="SandboxVisualWP.VisualWebPart1.IVadlidationService"
                name="WSHttpBinding_IVadlidationService">
                <identity>
                    <dns value="localhost" />
                </identity>
            </endpoint>
        </client>
    </system.serviceModel>
</configuration>

.csharpcode, .csharpcode pre
{
font-size: small;
color: black;
font-family: consolas, “Courier New”, courier, monospace;
background-color: #ffffff;
/*white-space: pre;*/
}
.csharpcode pre { margin: 0em; }
.csharpcode .rem { color: #008000; }
.csharpcode .kwrd { color: #0000ff; }
.csharpcode .str { color: #006080; }
.csharpcode .op { color: #0000c0; }
.csharpcode .preproc { color: #cc6633; }
.csharpcode .asp { background-color: #ffff00; }
.csharpcode .html { color: #800000; }
.csharpcode .attr { color: #ff0000; }
.csharpcode .alt
{
background-color: #f4f4f4;
width: 100%;
margin: 0em;
}
.csharpcode .lnum { color: #606060; }

If the web part is of type farm-solution copy the contents of this configuration file and place it inside the System.ServiceModel section of the web.config file

Step5

My generated proxy file looks like the following. If you are using visual studio 2010 to create a proxy, it will always create a client proxy .cs file targetted to .NET Framework 4.0

//——————————————————————————

       
        [System.ServiceModel.OperationContractAttribute(Action=http://tempuri.org/IVadlidationService/GetCountry,

          ReplyAction="http://tempuri.org/IVadlidationService/GetCountryResponse")]
        string GetCountry(int value);
    }
    
    [System.CodeDom.Compiler.GeneratedCodeAttribute("System.ServiceModel", "4.0.0.0")]
    public interface IVadlidationServiceChannel : SandboxVisualWP.VisualWebPart1.IVadlidationService, System.ServiceModel.IClientChannel
    {
    }
    
    [System.Diagnostics.DebuggerStepThroughAttribute()]
    [System.CodeDom.Compiler.GeneratedCodeAttribute("System.ServiceModel", "4.0.0.0")]
    public partial class VadlidationServiceClient : System.ServiceModel.ClientBase<SandboxVisualWP.VisualWebPart1.IVadlidationService>, 

     SandboxVisualWP.VisualWebPart1.IVadlidationService
    {
        
        public VadlidationServiceClient()
        {
        }
        
        public VadlidationServiceClient(string endpointConfigurationName) : 
                base(endpointConfigurationName)
        {
        }
        
        public VadlidationServiceClient(string endpointConfigurationName, string remoteAddress) : 
                base(endpointConfigurationName, remoteAddress)
        {
        }
        
        public VadlidationServiceClient(string endpointConfigurationName, System.ServiceModel.EndpointAddress remoteAddress) : 
                base(endpointConfigurationName, remoteAddress)
        {
        }
        
        public VadlidationServiceClient(System.ServiceModel.Channels.Binding binding, System.ServiceModel.EndpointAddress remoteAddress) : 
                base(binding, remoteAddress)
        {
        }
        
        public string GetCountry(int value)
        {
            return base.Channel.GetCountry(value);
        }
    }
}

6. Now add the proxy class ‘CreditCardService.cs’  to the visual web part project. 

If you try to access the client proxy on the code-behind of the Visual Web Part, the intellisense will show that class now.

.csharpcode, .csharpcode pre
{
font-size: small;
color: black;
font-family: consolas, “Courier New”, courier, monospace;
background-color: #ffffff;
/*white-space: pre;*/
}
.csharpcode pre { margin: 0em; }
.csharpcode .rem { color: #008000; }
.csharpcode .kwrd { color: #0000ff; }
.csharpcode .str { color: #006080; }
.csharpcode .op { color: #0000c0; }
.csharpcode .preproc { color: #cc6633; }
.csharpcode .asp { background-color: #ffff00; }
.csharpcode .html { color: #800000; }
.csharpcode .attr { color: #ff0000; }
.csharpcode .alt
{
background-color: #f4f4f4;
width: 100%;
margin: 0em;
}
.csharpcode .lnum { color: #606060; }

For the intellisense to recognize this proxy class, the namespace of the generated proxy class has to match with the namespace of the visual web part project. If there is a mismatch in the namespace, the intellisense will not recognize this proxy class. It is always recommended to explicitly specify the namespace during the generation of client proxy using svcutil (mentioned in step 3).

Now you are all set to invoke the various service operations on the WCF service.

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