Why can I not call a public method in my Web Part (User Control) from an Event Receiver?

Question

I've added this Event Receiver (based on what I found here):

using System;
using System.Security.Permissions;
using Microsoft.SharePoint;
using Microsoft.SharePoint.Security;
using Microsoft.SharePoint.Utilities;
using Microsoft.SharePoint.Workflow;

namespace PostTravelWizard.PostTravelItemEventReceiver
{
    /// <summary>
    /// List Item Events
    /// </summary>
    public class PostTravelItemEventReceiver : SPItemEventReceiver
    {
       /// <summary>
       /// An item was added.
       /// </summary>
       public override void ItemAdded(SPItemEventProperties properties)
       {
           base.ItemAdded(properties);
           //GeneratePDF(); <= "The name 'GeneratePDF' does not exist in the current context
       }

       /// <summary>
       /// The list received a context event.
       /// </summary>
       public override void ContextEvent(SPItemEventProperties properties)
       {
           base.ContextEvent(properties);
           // TODO: What "context event" occurs here? To what event should I respond?
       }

    }
}

I'm hoping to, when a List is updated (from the client side/Javascript), then retrieve those values in the code-behind to generate a PDF file. I have this code in my *.ascx.cs file:

public partial class PostTravelWizardWebPartUserControl : UserControl
{
    . . .

    public void GeneratePDF(PostTravelData ptd)
    {
        ;//bla
    }

...but it's not letting my call GeneratePDF() from the Event Receiver - it fails with

The name 'GeneratePDF' does not exist in the current context

Why? How can I rectify this asunto?

`GeneratePDF` is an instance method of `PostTravelWizardWebPartUserControl` class. In order to call it from `PostTravelItemEventReceiver` you have to create an instance of `PostTravelWizardWebPartUserControl` or let the method be `static` — Matteo Umili, Sep 19 '15 at 16:06
Let which method be static - the one in the Event Receiver that calls the method in the UserControl, or the method in the UserControl? — B. Clay Shannon-B. Crow Raven, Sep 19 '15 at 16:08
@codroipo: I get it now; I must have been in a fog this morning when I first read your comment. I added the Javascript tag because the Javascript call to populate the list is supposed to fire off the "ListUpdated" event handler. — B. Clay Shannon-B. Crow Raven, Sep 19 '15 at 18:54

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 19 '15 at 16:12

GeneratePDF is an instance method of PostTravelWizardWebPartUserControl class. In order to call it from PostTravelItemEventReceiver you have to create an instance of PostTravelWizardWebPartUserControl or let the method(GeneratePDF) be static.

Case 1

public override void ItemAdded(SPItemEventProperties properties)
{
    base.ItemAdded(properties);
    new PostTravelWizardWebPartUserControl().GeneratePDF();
}

Case 2

public partial class PostTravelWizardWebPartUserControl : UserControl
{
    public static void GeneratePDF(PostTravelData ptd)
    {
        ;//bla
    }
}


public class PostTravelItemEventReceiver : SPItemEventReceiver
{
    base.ItemAdded(properties);
    PostTravelWizardWebPartUserControl.GeneratePDF();
}

Why can I not call a public method in my Web Part (User Control) from an Event Receiver?

1 Answers1