This interface is designed to be used with Web Parts connections. In a Web Parts connection, two server controls that reside in a System.Web.UI.WebControls.WebParts.WebPartZoneBase zone establish a connection and share data, with one control acting as the consumer and the other control acting as a provider. The mechanism for sharing data in a Web Parts connection is an interface instance, which the provider serves to the consumer by means of a callback method. To establish a connection, the consumer and provider must both work with the same interface type for sharing data. If the consumer does not recognize the interface type sent by the provider, it is still possible to connect the controls by means of a transformer (a System.Web.UI.WebControls.WebParts.WebPartTransformer object) that translates the interface instance sent by the provider into a type that the consumer recognizes. For details on connections, see System.Web.UI.WebControls.WebParts.WebPartConnection and Web Parts Connections Overview.

The System.Web.UI.WebControls.WebParts.IWebPartTable interface is a provider interface included with the Web Parts control set as a standard interface for creating connections based on a data table. You can also create custom interfaces to use with Web Parts connections, but in many data-driven Web applications, it is useful to create connections based on a common field (for details, see the System.Web.UI.WebControls.WebParts.IWebPartField interface), row (for details, see the System.Web.UI.WebControls.WebParts.IWebPartRow interface), or table from the data source. In a typical connection, a System.Web.UI.WebControls.WebParts.WebPart control acting as a provider would implement the System.Web.UI.WebControls.WebParts.IWebPartTable interface and provide an instance of the interface to consumers in a special callback method. For example, the provider might implement an System.Web.UI.WebControls.WebParts.IWebPartTable interface for a table that contains financial performance data. Another System.Web.UI.WebControls.WebParts.WebPart control acting as a consumer would define a special method to receive the interface instance, and could then extract the data and render a chart to display the resulting information.

The System.Web.UI.WebControls.WebParts.IWebPartTable interface has two exposed members. The IWebPartTable.Schema property returns schema information about the data table encapsulated in a System.ComponentModel.PropertyDescriptorCollection object. The IWebPartTable.GetTableData(TableCallback) method declares a method that an implementer (such as a provider control) uses to retrieve the interface instance's table data when the callback method is invoked.

Namespace: System.Web.UI.WebControls.WebParts
Assembly: System.Web (in System.Web.dll)
Assembly Versions: 2.0.0.0
Since: .NET 2.0