I had two web parts in the same project but I wanted them to share settings. As my experience as an ASP.Net developer was pointing me to use the web.config file, instead I thought SharePoint must have something similar to this without me having to mess with the web.config file. After searching and posting on MSDN, I did finally find a solution that uses the properties of SharePoint Sites and Webs.
Below is a sample code that stores the Employee Profile Group in the web so two web parts and an InfoPath form can access the values.
The GetWebProperty function creates the property if it doesn't exist, and if it does it'll return the string value. It's important to call this function before setting a web property, especially the first time it's run so the property is created. I suppose you could technically put the same creation functionality in the SetWebProperty as well, but I was using Get (getting values into my webpart) before my Set (using edit pane to view it).
string employeeProfile = GetWebProperty("EmployeeProfileUserGroup");
SetWebProperty("EmployeeProfileUserGroup", pe.DisplayText);
static string GetWebProperty(string Name)
{
using (SPSite site = new SPSite(SPContext.Current.Site.ID))
{
SPWeb web = site.OpenWeb(SPContext.Current.Web.ID);
if (web.Properties[Name] == null)
{
web.AllowUnsafeUpdates = true;
web.Properties.Add(Name, "");
web.Properties.Update();
web.AllowUnsafeUpdates = false;
return "";
}
else
{
return web.Properties[Name].ToString();
}
}
}
void SetWebProperty(string Name, string Value)
{
using (SPSite site = new SPSite(SPContext.Current.Site.ID))
{
SPWeb web = site.OpenWeb(SPContext.Current.Web.ID);
GetWebProperty(Name); //ensure the property exists
web.AllowUnsafeUpdates = true;
web.Properties[Name] = Value;
web.Properties.Update();
web.AllowUnsafeUpdates = false;
}
}
If you would like to share the same properties across multiple webs, use the Site.RootWeb object and store all properties there!