SPMetal LINQ - To SharePoint Insert 2010 Programmatically Using VS 2010

Introduction
 
Today, in this article let's play around with one of the interesting and most useful concepts in SharePoint 2010.
 
Question: What is a SPMetal LINQ to SharePoint Insert?
 
In simple terms "It enables creation of a DataContext object using SPMetal, by which we can insert the data to a custom list with the help of a LINQ query".
 
I think we are now good to go and implement this wonderful concept.
 
Step 1 : Open the command prompt as an administrator and enter the following command by requesting a specific site:
 
Spmetal.exe /web:http://win-5d57sl2rvt1:9107/ /code:C:\Student.cs
 
After you have run this, the Student.cs file will be created in the C: Drive of your system directories.
 
Step 2 : Open SharePoint 2010 Central Administration and navigate to a specific site.
 
Step 3 : Open up Visual Studio 2010 and try to create an empty SharePoint project.


 
Step 4 : Select "Deploy as a farm solution" and click the next button. Now an empty project will be created.


 
Step 5 : Add a new visual webpart for that project. Also add the Student.cs file into the project.


 
Step 6 : 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="SPMetalInsertWPUserControl.ascx.cs"
     Inherits="SPMetalInsertApp.SPMetalInsertWP.SPMetalInsertWPUserControl" %>
 <center>
     <div>
         <table>
             <tr>
                 <td colspan="2">
                     <asp:label id="Label1" runat="server" text="LINQ-TO-SharePoint Insertion - SharePoint 2010 Programatically"
                         font-bold="true" font-size="Large" font-names="Verdana" forecolor="Maroon"></asp:label>
                 </td>
             </tr>
             <tr>
                 <td>
                     <asp:label id="Label2" runat="server" text="Please Enter First Name" font-size="Large"
                         font-names="Verdana" font-italic="true"></asp:label>
                 </td>
                 <td>
                     <asp:textbox id="TextBox1" runat="server" width="117px"></asp:textbox>
                 </td>
             </tr>
             <tr>
                 <td>
                     <asp:label id="Label3" runat="server" text="Please Enter Last Name" font-size="Large"
                         font-names="Verdana" font-italic="true"></asp:label>
                 </td>
                 <td>
                     <asp:textbox id="TextBox2" runat="server" width="117px"></asp:textbox>
                 </td>
             </tr>
             <tr>
                 <td>
                     <asp:label id="Label4" runat="server" text="Please Enter Gender" font-size="Large"
                         font-names="Verdana" font-italic="true"></asp:label>
                 </td>
                 <td>
                     <asp:dropdownlist id="DropDownList1" runat="server" style="margin-left: 0px" width="117px"><asp:ListItem Text="Male"
 Value="1"></asp:ListItem><asp:ListItem Text="Female" Value="2"></asp:ListItem></asp:dropdownlist>
                 </td>
             </tr>
             <tr>
                 <td>
                     <asp:label id="Label6" runat="server" text="Please Enter Age" font-size="Large" font-names="Verdana"
                         font-italic="true"></asp:label>
                 </td>
                 <td>
                     <asp:textbox id="TextBox3" runat="server" width="117px"></asp:textbox>
                 </td>
             </tr>
             <tr>
                 <td colspan="2">
                     <br />
                     <asp:button id="Button1" runat="server" text="Insert Data" font-names="Verdana" width="282px"
                         backcolor="Orange" font-bold="True" onclick="Button1_Click" />
                 </td>
             </tr>
             <tr>
                 <td colspan="2">
                     <br />
                     <asp:label id="Label5" runat="server" font-bold="true" font-names="Verdana"></asp:label>
                 </td>
             </tr>
         </table>
     </div>
 </center>
 
Step 7 : The complete code of visualwebpart1usercontrol.ascx.cs looks like this:
 
 using System;
 using System.Web.UI;
 using System.Web.UI.WebControls;
 using System.Web.UI.WebControls.WebParts;
 using Microsoft.SharePoint.Linq;
 using WebApplication2;
  
 namespace SPMetalInsertApp.SPMetalInsertWP
 {
     public partial class SPMetalInsertWPUserControl : UserControl
     {
         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) || string.IsNullOrEmpty(TextBox3.Text))
             {
                 Label5.Text = "Please Enter Some Values";
                 Label5.ForeColor = System.Drawing.Color.Red;
             }
             else
             {
                 StudentDataContext dataContext = new StudentDataContext("http://win-5d57sl2rvt1:9107/");
                 EntityList<PersonListItem> listItems = dataContext.GetList<PersonListItem>("PersonList");
                 PersonListItem item = new PersonListItem()
                 {
                     Title = TextBox1.Text,
                     LastName = TextBox2.Text,
                     Gender = DropDownList1.SelectedItem.Text,
                     Age = int.Parse(TextBox3.Text),
                 };
                 listItems.InsertOnSubmit(item);
                 dataContext.SubmitChanges();
                 Label5.Text = "Data Successfully Inserted";
                 Label5.ForeColor = System.Drawing.Color.Green;
                 TextBox1.Text = string.Empty;
                 TextBox2.Text = string.Empty;
                 TextBox3.Text = string.Empty;
             }
         }
     }
 }
 
Step 8 : Deploy the solution file and add the created webpart to the SharePoint site.
 
Step 9 : The output of the person list looks like this:


 
Step 10 : The output of the application looks like this:


 
Step 11 : The output of the data inserting application looks like this:


 
Step 12 : The output of the data inserted in person list looks like this:


 
I hope this article is useful for you.. I look forward for your comments and feedback.. Thanks Vijay Prativadi