Designing and developing rich, robust Microsoft® SharePoint® applications can be challenging. The following releases are designed to help solution developers and architects make the right decisions and follow proven practices when building applications for SharePoint. Each release contains guidance documentation, source code for reference implementations, reusable library code, and Quick Starts.

Definitely worth exploring further if you looking to see how others are building on top of the product stack and what the SharePoint MVPs view as essential for developing robust applications.

Reference

• SharePoint Guidance on MSDN

Go check it out.

Go check it out.

SPSite site = SPContext.GetContext(HttpContext.Current).Site;
                ServerContext serverContext = ServerContext.GetContext(site);

                UserProfileManager profileManager = new UserProfileManager(serverContext);
                UserProfile currentUserProfile = profileManager.GetUserProfile(System.Web.HttpContext.Current.User.Identity.Name);

                if (this.chkTerms.Checked)
                    currentUserProfile["TermsOfUseAccepted"].Value = "true";
                else
                    currentUserProfile["TermsOfUseAccepted"].Value = "false";

                currentUserProfile["SecurityQuestion1"].Value = this.lstQuestion1.SelectedItem.Text + "|" + Server.HtmlEncode(this.txtQuestion1Ans.Text);
                currentUserProfile["SecurityQuestion2"].Value = this.lstQuestion2.SelectedItem.Text + "|" + Server.HtmlEncode(this.txtQuestion2Ans.Text);
                currentUserProfile["SecurityQuestion3"].Value = this.lstQuestion3.SelectedItem.Text + "|" + Server.HtmlEncode(this.txtQuestion3Ans.Text);

                currentUserProfile.Commit();

                site.RootWeb.Dispose();
                site.Dispose();

SPSite site = SPContext.GetContext(HttpContext.Current).Site;
            ServerContext serverContext = ServerContext.GetContext(site);

            UserProfileManager profileManager = new UserProfileManager(serverContext);
            UserProfile currentUserProfile = null;

            if (profileManager.UserExists(System.Web.HttpContext.Current.User.Identity.Name))
                currentUserProfile = profileManager.GetUserProfile(System.Web.HttpContext.Current.User.Identity.Name);
            else
                currentUserProfile = profileManager.CreateUserProfile(System.Web.HttpContext.Current.User.Identity.Name);

            string termsOfUseAnswered = (string)currentUserProfile["TermsOfUseAccepted"].Value;
            string securityQuestion1 = (string)currentUserProfile["SecurityQuestion1"].Value;
            string securityQuestion2 = (string)currentUserProfile["SecurityQuestion2"].Value;
            string securityQuestion3 = (string)currentUserProfile["SecurityQuestion3"].Value;

Note that this buids on Creating Custom Profile Properties Through Code.

The following is the method used to create four new properties in the SSP:

private void VerifyCreateBaseProfileProperties()
        {
            SPSite site = SPContext.GetContext(HttpContext.Current).Site;
            Guid siteId = site.ID;
            HttpContext savedContext = HttpContext.Current;

            SPSecurity.RunWithElevatedPrivileges(delegate()
            {
                using (SPSite elevatedSite = new SPSite(siteId))
                {
                    try
                    {
                        HttpContext.Current = null;

                        elevatedSite.AllowUnsafeUpdates = true;
                        elevatedSite.RootWeb.AllowUnsafeUpdates = true;

                        ServerContext serverContext = ServerContext.GetContext(elevatedSite);

                        UserProfileManager profileManager = new UserProfileManager(serverContext);
                        UserProfileConfigManager profileConfigManager = new UserProfileConfigManager(serverContext);
                        PropertyCollection propertyCollection = profileConfigManager.GetProperties();

                        bool question1Exists = false;
                        bool question2Exists = false;
                        bool question3Exists = false;
                        bool termsOfUseExists = false;

                        foreach (Property property in profileManager.Properties)
                        {
                            switch (property.Name)
                            {
                                case "SecurityQuestion1":
                                    question1Exists = true;
                                    break;
                                case "SecurityQuestion2":
                                    question2Exists = true;
                                    break;
                                case "SecurityQuestion3":
                                    question3Exists = true;
                                    break;
                                case "TermsOfUseAccepted":
                                    termsOfUseExists = true;
                                    break;
                            }
                        }

                        if (!question1Exists)
                        {
                            Property question1 = propertyCollection.Create(false);
                            question1.Name = "SecurityQuestion1";
                            question1.DisplayName = "Security Question 1";
                            question1.Type = "string";
                            question1.PrivacyPolicy = PrivacyPolicy.OptIn;
                            question1.DefaultPrivacy = Privacy.Private;
                            question1.Description = "Security Question 1";
                            question1.IsSearchable = false;
                            question1.IsVisibleOnEditor = false;
                            question1.IsAlias = false;
                            question1.Length = 100;
                            question1.IsUserEditable = true;
                            propertyCollection.Add(question1);
                        }
                        if (!question2Exists)
                        {
                            Property question2 = propertyCollection.Create(false);
                            question2.Name = "SecurityQuestion2";
                            question2.DisplayName = "Security Question 2";
                            question2.Type = "string";
                            question2.PrivacyPolicy = PrivacyPolicy.OptIn;
                            question2.DefaultPrivacy = Privacy.Private;
                            question2.Description = "Security Question 2";
                            question2.IsSearchable = false;
                            question2.IsVisibleOnEditor = false;
                            question2.IsAlias = false;
                            question2.Length = 100;
                            question2.IsUserEditable = true;
                            propertyCollection.Add(question2);
                        }
                        if (!question3Exists)
                        {
                            Property question3 = propertyCollection.Create(false);
                            question3.Name = "SecurityQuestion3";
                            question3.DisplayName = "Security Question 3";
                            question3.Type = "string";
                            question3.PrivacyPolicy = PrivacyPolicy.OptIn;
                            question3.DefaultPrivacy = Privacy.Private;
                            question3.Description = "Security Question 3";
                            question3.IsSearchable = false;
                            question3.IsVisibleOnEditor = false;
                            question3.IsAlias = false;
                            question3.Length = 100;
                            question3.IsUserEditable = true;
                            propertyCollection.Add(question3);
                        }
                        if (!termsOfUseExists)
                        {
                            Property termsofUsequestion = propertyCollection.Create(false);
                            termsofUsequestion.Name = "TermsOfUseAccepted";
                            termsofUsequestion.DisplayName = "Terms Of Use Accepted";
                            termsofUsequestion.Type = "string";
                            termsofUsequestion.PrivacyPolicy = PrivacyPolicy.OptIn;
                            termsofUsequestion.DefaultPrivacy = Privacy.Private;
                            termsofUsequestion.Description = "Terms Of Use Accepted";
                            termsofUsequestion.IsSearchable = false;
                            termsofUsequestion.IsVisibleOnEditor = false;
                            termsofUsequestion.IsAlias = false;
                            termsofUsequestion.Length = 10;
                            termsofUsequestion.IsUserEditable = true;
                            propertyCollection.Add(termsofUsequestion);
                        }
                    }
                    catch (Exception exc)
                    {
                    }
                    finally
                    {
                        elevatedSite.Dispose();
                    }
                }
            });

            site.Dispose();
            HttpContext.Current = savedContext;
        }

Note that the current context (HttpContext.Current) needs to be saved off, set to null, then reinstated upon the completion of the method.

WSRP defines a set of interfaces and related semantics which standardize interactions with components providing user-facing markup, including the processing of user interactions with that markup. This allows applications to consume such components as providing a portion of the overall user application without having to write unique code for interacting with each component.

Videos:

<a href="http://video.msn.com/?mkt=en-US&#038;playlist=videoByUuids:uuids:dc4b1625-b80a-4960-a9e1-987e8c0610cc&#038;showPlaylist=true&#038;from=msnvideo" target="_new" title="WSRP Toolkit for SharePoint 2007 - demo 1">Video: WSRP Toolkit for SharePoint 2007 &#8211; demo 1</a>

<a href="http://video.msn.com/?mkt=en-US&#038;playlist=videoByUuids:uuids:af3497ec-5bc3-4671-8e76-6bb58beb9b65&#038;showPlaylist=true&#038;from=msnvideo" target="_new" title="WSRP Toolkit for SharePoint 2007 - demo 2">Video: WSRP Toolkit for SharePoint 2007 &#8211; demo 2</a>

string webUrl = SPContext.Current.Web.Url;

using (SPSite site = new SPSite(webUrl))
{
     using (SPWeb web = site.OpenWeb())
     {
          SPLimitedWebPartManager manager = web.GetLimitedWebPartManager(this.Parent.Page.Request.Url.ToString(), System.Web.UI.WebControls.WebParts.PersonalizationScope.Shared);

          SPLimitedWebPartCollection webPartColl = manager.WebParts;

          for (int i = 0; i < webPartColl.Count; i++)
          {
               if (webPartColl[i].GetType() == typeof(Microsoft.SharePoint.WebPartPages.ListViewWebPart))
               {
                    // do stuff
               }
          }
     }
}

• MSDN Ramp Up
  • From the site: Ramp Up is a free, online, community-based learning program, with a number of different tracks that will help you build your portfolio of professional development skills. Ramp Up has a solid foundation of premium technical content from subject-matter gurus, and provides easy-to-access content in a variety of forms that guide you in learning the important skills
• SharePoint Developer
  • A primer series on developing with SharePoint from Microsoft.