Web Part Connections...

It has taken me a while to figure out how the Web Part Connections feature could be used on a military web site...

...and the answer is that it can be used for just about anything! Honestly, the Web Part Connection feature can totally change the way your users interact with your SharePoint site.

Instead of creating separate sites for each of your sections, you can combine all of the Announcements, Events, Tasks, and Documents into one Web Part Page, and allow the user to choose which section he/she wants to look at.

First, a brief on what Web Part Connections are.

If two web parts share a column with similar information (for instance, if you add a 'section' column to both Web Parts), you can use one of the web parts to filter the rest.

If you wanted to see all of the Admin documents, you could pick 'Admin' from a Web Part that lists all of your sections and points of contact info, and only Admin docs would filter on the connected web part.

I usually teach creating multiple web part views to filter data/documents, but in many circumstances, Web Part Connections can work easier and make your page look less cluttered.

First you have to make sure the web parts you want to connect have a column that matches data...creating a section or type column works well, but it can be 'exercise', 'mission', and even a point of contact.

In any case, once you have created the appropriate columns in the LIST or LIBRARY first (not in the web part...you can't create columns there), AND you have created the appropriate view that INCLUDES the new column (and using that view for the actual web part goes without saying, right?), you are ready to connect.

You have to be in Site/Page Edit mode to actually see the Connections link on the drop down menu.

Next you go to the web part that will be the BASE. That is typically a list that contains the filter keyword in an easy to read format. Once you create the connection, a radio button will appear next to each selection.

You will then select the web part that you want to connect to. You can do this multiple times, which is how you can change an entire pages look with a single click.

Once you select the web part destination, you will then select the column that you are filtering with. The column names DO NOT have to match. As long as you can match a choice in web part 1 with a choice in web part 2, you should be okay.

Once you select the column, you can close the edit web page mode and you will see the radio buttons appear next to the line items in web part 1.

Repeat this process for each web part you want to connect to.

The Microsoft page that has a more detailed look at Web Part Connections is here.

I've created an example of this technique on my SharePoint site here.

Remember the Username/Password is: Marine/password

Have Fun!