20.6. Utilizing SharePoint Components in Custom Applications
Aside from all the components provided in ASP.NET 2.0, when SharePoint is selected as the application development platform there are a few SharePoint components that warrant a bit more discussion. This section describes the customization options for SharePoint navigation, utilizing the grids that Microsoft uses throughout SharePoint (SPGridView), and leveraging permission levels.
20.6.1. SharePoint Navigation
SharePoint's navigation data sources and providers are already set up to build the navigation based on the structure of a site and site collection. Thus, if a custom application is based completely on SharePoint sites and lists, no custom code needs to be written. The only customization that might be required is to modify the navigation control to configure how many levels of dynamic flyouts are desired.
However, a custom application may provision custom pages with Features that need to be linked in the navigation, or there may be some other need to customize the navigation. In these cases, developers may want to customize navigation items. The first impulse is usually to create a custom navigation provider or data source that will achieve this, but it isn't necessary. Menus can be augmented using the Feature schema — specifically, <CustomAction />, <CustomActionGroup />, and <HideCustomAction />.
Another option is to add items to the navigation when the pages are provisioned or the application is installed using ...
