Create Group in SharePoint 2010 Programmatically Using VS 2012

Introduction

Today, in this article let's play around with one of the interesting and most useful concepts in SharePoint 2010.

Question: What is Group?
 

In simple terms "It is a collection of various users gathered to perform a specific task".

 

Step 1: Open SharePoint 2010 Central Administration and navigate to a specific site.

 

Step 2: Open up Visual Studio 2012 and try to "SharePoint Visual Web Part" project, as in:

 

 

Step 3: Select "Deploy as a farm solution" as in the following and click the "Finish" button.

 

 

Step 4: The complete code of visualwebpart1usercontrol.ascx looks like this:

 

<%@ Assembly Name="$SharePoint.Project.AssemblyFullName$" %>

<%@ Assembly Name="Microsoft.Web.CommandUI, Version=14.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c" %>

<%@ Register TagPrefix="SharePoint" Namespace="Microsoft.SharePoint.WebControls"

    Assembly="Microsoft.SharePoint, Version=14.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c" %>

<%@ Register TagPrefix="Utilities" Namespace="Microsoft.SharePoint.Utilities" Assembly="Microsoft.SharePoint, Version=14.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c" %>

<%@ Register TagPrefix="asp" Namespace="System.Web.UI" Assembly="System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" %>

<%@ Import Namespace="Microsoft.SharePoint" %>

<%@ Register TagPrefix="WebPartPages" Namespace="Microsoft.SharePoint.WebPartPages"

    Assembly="Microsoft.SharePoint, Version=14.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c" %>

<%@  Control Language="C#" AutoEventWireup="true" CodeBehind="VisualWebPart1.ascx.cs"

    Inherits="CreateGroupApp.VisualWebPart1.VisualWebPart1" %>

<center>

    <div>

        <table style="font-family: Verdana; text-align: center;">

            <tr>

                <td colspan="2">

                    <asp:label id="Label1" runat="server" text="Create Group - SharePoint 2010 via Visual Studio 2012"

                        font-bold="true" forecolor="Maroon" font-size="Large"></asp:label>

                </td>

            </tr>

            <tr>

                <td>

                    <asp:label id="Label2" runat="server" text="Please Enter Group Name:"></asp:label>

                </td>

                <td>

                    <asp:textbox id="TextBox1" runat="server"></asp:textbox>

                </td>

            </tr>

            <tr>

                <td>

                    <asp:label id="Label3" runat="server" text="Please Enter Group Description:"></asp:label>

                </td>

                <td>

                    <asp:textbox id="TextBox2" runat="server"></asp:textbox>

                </td>

            </tr>

            <tr>

                <td colspan="2">

                    <asp:button id="Button1" runat="server" text="Create Group " forecolor="Orange" font-bold="true"

                        backcolor="Black" onclick="Button1_Click" width="176px" />

                </td>

            </tr>

            <tr>

                <td colspan="2">

                    <asp:label id="Label4" runat="server" font-bold="true"></asp:label>

                </td>

            </tr>

        </table>

    </div>

</center>

 

Step 5: The complete code of visualwebpart1usercontrol.ascx.cs looks like this:
 

using Microsoft.SharePoint;

using System;

using System.ComponentModel;

using System.Web.UI.WebControls.WebParts;namespace CreateGroupApp.VisualWebPart1

{

    [ToolboxItemAttribute(false)]

    public partial class VisualWebPart1 : WebPart

    {

        // Uncomment the following SecurityPermission attribute only when doing Performance Profiling using

        // the Instrumentation method, and then remove the SecurityPermission attribute when the code is ready

        // for production. Because the SecurityPermission attribute bypasses the security check for callers of

        // your constructor, it's not recommended for production purposes.

        // [System.Security.Permissions.SecurityPermission(System.Security.Permissions.SecurityAction.Assert, UnmanagedCode = true)]

        public VisualWebPart1()

        {

        }

        protected override void OnInit(EventArgs e)

        {

            base.OnInit(e);

            InitializeControl();

        }

        protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)

        {

            TextBox1.Focus();

        }

        protected void Button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)

        {

            if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(TextBox1.Text) || string.IsNullOrEmpty(TextBox2.Text))

            {

                Label4.Text = "Please Enter Some Values";

                Label4.ForeColor = System.Drawing.Color.Red;

            }

            else

            {

                SPWeb web = SPContext.Current.Web;

                web.SiteGroups.Add(TextBox1.Text, web.CurrentUser, web.CurrentUser, TextBox2.Text);

                web.Update();

                Label4.Text = TextBox1.Text + " - Group Created Successfully";

                Label4.ForeColor = System.Drawing.Color.Red;

                TextBox1.Text = string.Empty;

                TextBox2.Text = string.Empty;

            }

        }

    }

}

 

Step 6: Deploy the solution file and add the new webpart to a SharePoint site.

 

Step 7: The output of the application looks like this:

 

 

Step 8: Data entering output of the application looks like this:

 

 

Step 9: Group created output of the application looks like this:

 

I hope this article is useful for you.