Difference Between a CustomControl and a UserControl

Difference Between a CustomControl and a UserControl

So now you have got the difference between a Custom Control and a User Control, I guess. Let's summarize the differences again. Read the comparison below to make things clear:

Custom Control	User Control
A loosely coupled control w.r.t code and UI	A tightly coupled control w.r.t code and UI
Derives from Control	Derives from UserControl
Defines UI in a ResourceDictionary	Defines UI as normal XAML
UI is skinable	Child controls are skinable
Has dynamic layout	Has static layout
UI can be changed in different projects	UI is fixed and can't have different looks in different project
Has full toolbox support	Can't be added to the toolbox
Defines a single control	Defines a set of controls
More flexible	Not very flexible like a Custom Control
Requires in-depth knowledge of Silverlight UI Model	Does not require indepth knowledge of the UI Model

Differences Between SharePoint 2013 VS 2016

This article lists out the difference between SharePoint 2013 and SharePoint 2016.

As you all know, SharePoint 2016 has too much to offer to an administrator or a developer. As an administrator, I love the changes that Microsoft has done in SharePoint 2016. I will also talk about the features, which are deprecated by Microsoft in SharePoint 2016.

Thus, let's gets started.

SharePoint 2013 Vs SharePoint 2016.

I will try to explain all the features in the SharePoint 2016 row, which were not present in SharePoint 2013.

App Launcher

It helps SP 2016 to match the Office 365 experience by providing the users almost an identical interface to navigate both SharePoint 2016 and Office 365.

Min Roles

With SharePoint 2016, we can select the specific role of a Server and according to the role Service will be enabled on the Servers. Thus, we don’t have to worry about individually running SP Services on Specific SP Farms.

Min-Role Farm Topology

Six pre-defined roles are available to create a new Farm or join an existing Farm. SP automatically configures the Services according to the selected role.

Zero Downtime Patching

In order to take the advantage of zero downtime patching, your Farm must have a High Availability, HA and topology.

Integrated Project Server

Project Server 2016 is installed with SharePoint 2016 but it will be licensed separately.

Deprecated Features

Six features are deprecated from SharePoint 2016, if we compare it with SharePoint 2013 or the previous editions.

1. SharePoint Foundation – SharePoint Foundation has been removed.
2. Stand-Alone Installation - Stand-alone is not possible now in SP2016 for Single Server you have to make sure that SQL installed and configured.

3. Forefront Identity Manager Client (FIM) - In SharePoint 2016 Microsoft replace FIM with MIM.
4. Excel Services in SharePoint - SharePoint Server 2016 you must also deploy Office Online Server with Excel Online to ensure Excel Services functionality remains available. 
5. Tags and Notes - You will no longer be able to create new tags or notes or even to access existing ones.
6. Stsadm.exe - PowerShell is the way to go but backward compatibility remains with STSADM.

Timer Job in SharePoint 2013

What a SharePoint Timer Job is

A Timer Job is a periodically executed task inside SharePoint Server. It can do various tasks within the SharePoint environment on a scheduled time event basis.

Create Timer Job step-by-step

1. Open the Visual Studio 2012.
2. Click New Project.
3. Select the Empty SharePoint Solution Template.
   
   
   
4. Select Deploy as Farm Solution.
   
   
   
5. Add a new class to the project and provide the name (TimerJobDemo.cs). 
   
   
   
6. To do this, right-click on the project name in Solution Explorer, select Add -> New Item. Under the C# category select the Code tab, select Class and provide the class name. TimerJobApplication -> Add -> New Item -> Class.
   
7. Derive this TimerJobDemo from the SPJobDefinition class.
   
8. You need to add the following statements to do this.
   
   1. using Microsoft.SharePoint;  
   2. using Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration;  
   3. public class TimerJobDemo:SPJobDefinition  
   4. {  
   5. }  
9. Add the following three constructors to your class.
   
   1. public TimerJobDemo():base()  
   2. {   
   3. }  
   4.   
   5. public TimerJobDemo (string jobName, SPService service) : base(jobName, service, null, SPJobLockType.None)  
   6. {  
   7.     this.Title = "Demo Timer Job";  
   8. }  
   9.   
   10.   
   11. public TimerJobDemo(string jobName, SPWebApplication webapp) : base(jobName, webapp, null, SPJobLockType.ContentDatabase)  
   12. {  
   13.     this.Title = "Demo Timer Job";  
   14. }  
10. Override the Execute() method to do your stuff. Whenever the timer job executes, it will run the code written inside the Execute() method.
    
    1. SPWebApplication webApp = this.Parent as SPWebApplication;  
    2. SPList taskList = webApp.Sites[0].RootWeb.Lists["TimerLists"];  
    3. SPListItem newTask = taskList.Items.Add();  
    4. newTask["Title"] = "Job runs at " + DateTime.Now.ToString();  
    5. newTask.Update();  

Register the Timer Job Definition

Use the following the procedure to register the Timer Job Definition:

1. Add a new feature to register our custom timer job.
2. Right-click on Features inside the project in the Solution Explorer and click "Add Feature".
   
   
   
3. Rename this feature to TimerJobFeature.
4. Select the scope of the Timer job as “WebApplication”.
   
   
   
5. Open the Feature properties and set “Active On Default” to “False”.
   
   
   
6. Right-click on the “TimerJobFeature” and select “Add Event Receiver”.
   
   
   
7. Uncomment the FeatureActivated and FeatureDeactivating methods and write the code as in the following.
   
   1. const string JobName = "Demo Job";  
   2. public override void FeatureActivated(SPFeatureReceiverProperties properties)  
   3. {  
   4.     try  
   5.     {  
   6.         SPSecurity.RunWithElevatedPrivileges(delegate()  
   7.         {  
   8.             SPWebApplication parentWebApp = (SPWebApplication)properties.Feature.Parent;                      
   9.             DeleteExistingJob(JobName, parentWebApp);  
   10.             CreateJob(parentWebApp);  
   11.         });  
   12.     }  
   13.     catch (Exception ex)  
   14.     {  
   15.         throw ex;  
   16.     }  
   17. }  
   18. private bool CreateJob(SPWebApplication site)  
   19. {  
   20.     bool jobCreated = false;  
   21.     try  
   22.     {  
   23.         TimerJobDemo job = new TimerJobDemo(JobName, site);  
   24.         SPMinuteSchedule schedule = new SPMinuteSchedule();  
   25.         schedule.BeginSecond = 0;  
   26.         schedule.EndSecond = 59;  
   27.         schedule.Interval = 15;  
   28.         job.Schedule = schedule;  
   29.   
   30.         job.Update();  
   31.     }  
   32.     catch (Exception)  
   33.     {  
   34.         return jobCreated;  
   35.     }  
   36.     return jobCreated;  
   37. }  
   38. public bool DeleteExistingJob(string jobName, SPWebApplication site)  
   39. {  
   40.     bool jobDeleted = false;  
   41.     try  
   42.     {  
   43.         foreach (SPJobDefinition job in site.JobDefinitions)  
   44.         {  
   45.             if (job.Name == jobName)  
   46.             {  
   47.                 job.Delete();  
   48.                 jobDeleted = true;  
   49.             }  
   50.         }  
   51.     }  
   52.     catch (Exception)  
   53.     {  
   54.         return jobDeleted;  
   55.     }  
   56.     return jobDeleted;  
   57. }  
   58.   
   59. public override void FeatureDeactivating(SPFeatureReceiverProperties properties)  
   60. {  
   61.   
   62.     lock (this)  
   63.     {  
   64.         try  
   65.         {  
   66.             SPSecurity.RunWithElevatedPrivileges(delegate()  
   67.             {  
   68.                 SPWebApplication parentWebApp = (SPWebApplication)properties.Feature.Parent;  
   69.                 DeleteExistingJob(JobName, parentWebApp);  
   70.             });  
   71.         }  
   72.         catch (Exception ex)  
   73.         {  
   74.             throw ex;  
   75.         }  
   76.     }  
   77. }  

Deployment and Debug

1. Right-click on the project name in your Solution Explorer and select Deploy.
2. After successfully deploying it, activate the feature .
3. Open Central Administration and select Manage Web Application.
   
   
   
4. Select your web application.
5. Select the "Manage Feature" tab on the ribbon control.
   
   
   
6. The pop up window will display all your application scoped features. Find the feature that we have created here and activate it.
   
   
   
7. After activating the feature, the timer job will be registered. To see a list of all the registered timer jobs, go to Central Administration and select "Monitoring->Review job definitions".
   
   
   
8. Select the web application and find the job.
   
   

Timer Job Debugging

1. For debugging the Execute() method, press CTRL+ALT+P and select the process "OWSTIMER.EXE" and click Attach.

Note: Whenever you make any code changes and re-deploy the solution, restart the Timer Service too. This will reduce your debugging time with strange issues.