Developing web parts

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Web parts are page components that provide a combination of content and functionality. They are the basic building blocks of portal engine page templates — you can use web parts to create pages directly in your browser through the Pages -> Edit -> Design interface.

Web parts exist on three different levels:

Code files

On the most basic level, web parts are user controls (.ascx files) that inherit from an appropriate base class.

System objects

Web parts must be registered as objects in the system. The purpose of the objects is to:

  • Specify the path to the user control source file
  • Define the web part’s properties and store other configuration options

Page components

Web parts placed onto page templates are called web part instances. You can create any number of instances of a single web part.

Instances must be inserted into web part zones, which are defined within the layouts of page templates.

Kentico contains a large selection of web parts by default. You can develop your own web parts or modify existing ones.