I need to write some functionality to present on a sharepoint site which needs to work with a back end sql database. I would also like to leverage the core functionality of this 'component' in a standard ASP.net website. I am a newbie with SharePoint and especially with old version like 2007, is it best to do this as a webpart or a user control. What would be the benefits / drawbacks of each.
Appreciate any guidance / links to other materials.
thansk
if you create user controls you will be able to use them in another project - the drawback is that SP2007 is ASP.net 2.0/3.5 as is SP2010; but in Asp.Net you can take full advantage of .Net 4.0 and above.
A User control - specifically designed as a standalone control will be re-usable in more projects so make sure you add it in its own project rather than wrapping it up into the SharePoint Web Part project.
If I have to make a choice then at that moment I will prefer the User Control. There arae mainly two advantages of that.1. You can reuse it in any other project if it will require same functionality like this one.2. As Mauro said SP 2007 is Asp.net 2.0/3.5. You can work with that one too. AS you are a new bee in sharepoint you can work with the asp.net more easily then wrapping it in the sharepoint web part object.
hope my answer help you in decision
