Many people have asked me how we can add ASP.Net server-side code in SharePoint pages created using the Designer; the following are the simple steps to do that.
The web.config file in the SharePoint virtual directory contains the following section:
<SharePoint>
<SafeMode MaxControls="200" CallStack="false" DirectFileDependencies="10" TotalFileDependencies="50" AllowPageLevelTrace="false">
<PageParserPaths>
</PageParserPaths>
</SafeMode>
By default the node <PageParserPaths> is empty. We can add <PageParserPath> nodes to specify the virtual paths where you want to allow server-side scripts:
<PageParserPaths>
<PageParserPath VirtualPath="/pages/*" CompilationMode="Always" AllowServerSideScript="true" IncludeSubFolders="true"/>
</PageParserPaths>
We can set any of the following values for Compilation Mode:
-
Always : The page should always be compiled (default value).
-
Auto : ASP.NET will not compile the page, if possible.
-
Never : The page or control should never be dynamically compiled.
We should be very cautious with the virtual paths specified in our PageParserPaths since anyone that can modify or add a page to the virtual path can insert code that will be executed server-side with no restrictions.
A better location is to use PageParserPath to specify the location where our master pages reside, for example /_catalogs/master page. You can then add server-side scripts to master pages, which makes it available in all pages using this master page.
<PageParserPaths>
<PageParserPath VirtualPath="/_layouts/masterpage/*" CompilationMode="Always" AllowServerSideScript="true" IncludeSubFolders="true"/>
</PageParserPaths>