Share via

Overview: Project Server 2003 Web Parts

  • Article

Web Parts are components for building Web sites that are designed to enable effective collaboration of team members within and between organizations. Web Parts are redesigned in the 2003 version of Microsoft® SharePoint™ Products and Technologies to take advantage of the performance, stability, security, and ease of development of the Microsoft .NET Framework.

Microsoft® Office Project Server 2003 provides six custom Web Parts that allow users to access Project Server data from Windows SharePoint Services; with minor modifications, they can also be used with Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003. In addition, you can easily change the view of standard pages in Project Web Access with URL options, and quickly create customized Web Parts from the modified views. You can then assemble the Web Parts into your own custom pages and add other components from your organization's Web Part galleries.

Download   The Project Server 2003 Web Parts and URL Options download (pj11WebParts.exe) includes the HTML Help file that provides instructions on using the URL options and Project Server Web Parts, a custom Web Part .NET assembly with source code, and the standard Project Server Web Parts. This file is available from the Microsoft Download Center.

Introduction

You can use Project Web Access to view and edit the resources, tasks, and other information for each project that Project Server has published to the Web. You can create customized views of any page in Project Web Access by adding optional parameters to the URL. SimpleUI is one of the more powerful URL parameters, enabling you to hide or show specific parts of a Project Web Access page. When you save the custom URL as a link in Project Web Access, you can return to the customized view at any time.

The integration of Project Server with Windows SharePoint Services enables team collaboration on shared project documents and tracking of issues and risks. There are several ways to access Project Server data from Web sites that use Windows SharePoint Services.

  • If the Windows SharePoint Services site is provisioned by Project Server, you can directly use the six Web Parts that are shipped with Project Server.
  • If the site is not provisioned by Project Server, you can make a simple change in the Web Part description files to use the Project Server Web Parts with SharePoint Portal Server and other Windows SharePoint Services sites.
  • You can use a custom URL from Project Web Access with the standard Web Parts that are included with Windows SharePoint Services to create custom Project Server Web Parts.
  • The custom Project Server Web Part assembly in the download provides yet another way to work with Project Server data on Web sites with Windows SharePoint Services.

There are several benefits to using the custom Web Parts assembly. The most important benefit is that the Web Part assembly can be downloaded and installed on any computer running Windows SharePoint Services or SharePoint Portal Server; the assembly does not require that the site is provisioned by Project Server.

The main sections of this article are:

  • Concepts, which explains Web Part basics for Project Web Access and provides scenarios for using Web Parts.
  • Creating Custom Web Parts, which describes how to modify the query string parameters in Project Web Access to create customized views of Project Server information. This section then shows how to modify a standard Windows SharePoint Services Web Part with that custom view, and how to create and export the Web Part template.
  • Installing and Using Web Parts, which shows how to use the default Project Server Web Parts, create simple customized Project Server Web Parts, and how to install and use the custom Project Server Web Part assembly with Windows SharePoint Services and SharePoint Portal Server.
  • References, which includes a list of files in the Web Parts download and a customization table for the SimpleUI URL parameter.

Technology Overview

This article assumes you are familiar with the use and administration of Project Web Access, Windows SharePoint Services, and SharePoint Portal Server.

The following links provide additional information:

  • For detailed guides to installing, configuring, and administering Project Server with Windows SharePoint Services, see the Project Server Technical Library.

  • For information about the relationship between Windows SharePoint Services and SharePoint Portal Server 2003, and other related general information, see SharePoint Portal Server on Microsoft® Office Online.

  • For more information on planning, installing, and administering SharePoint Portal Server, see Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003 on Microsoft TechNet.

MSDN® has more information on the following related products and technologies:

  • Project on the Microsoft Office Developer Center includes links to technical articles and developer documentation for Microsoft Office Project 2003.
  • SharePoint Portal Server on the Microsoft Office Developer Center includes links to downloads and a variety of software development kits (SDKs).
  • Microsoft SharePoint Products and Technologies includes information on creating Web Parts and templates, and a link to the SharePoint Products and Technologies 2003 SDK.