SharePoint Lorem Ipsum Web Part to display random content

One of the things I like to do when I create SharePoint page layouts is to test them with different content to ensure the layout is robust enough to handle both short content blocks and very long content blocks. Typically layout issues can arise within or around floating DIVs, with page scrolling or overflowed content so its important these (and many other) facets are tested thoroughly.

One of the tools I use to test these page layouts is my Lorem Ipsum web part. The web part uses JavaScript to build a content block of random length. The web part uses no managed code (it is packaged as a dwp web part file) so can be used in sandboxed environments and is simply uploaded via the Add Web Part UI:

Once the web part has been uploaded via the ‘Upload a Web Part’ option, it will appear in the Imported Web Parts category. From here you can add it to the page like any other web part:

Now with the web part on page, every time the page is refreshed, the amount of content displayed by the web part will change:

The maximum number of words that the web part can choose to display can be set by updating the numOfWords value in the script block that is contained inside the dwp web part file.

Here’s the complete contents of the dwp web part file, alternatively, you can download the file from the link below:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<WebPart xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WebPart/v2">
  <Title>Lorem Ipsum Content</Title>
  <FrameType>Default</FrameType>
  <Description>Use to display random content to aid testing page layouts</Description>
  <IsIncluded>true</IsIncluded>
  <ZoneID>wpz</ZoneID>
  <PartOrder>0</PartOrder>
  <FrameState>Normal</FrameState>
  <Height />
  <Width />
  <AllowRemove>true</AllowRemove>
  <AllowZoneChange>true</AllowZoneChange>
  <AllowMinimize>true</AllowMinimize>
  <AllowConnect>true</AllowConnect>
  <AllowEdit>true</AllowEdit>
  <AllowHide>true</AllowHide>
  <IsVisible>true</IsVisible>
  <DetailLink />
  <HelpLink />
  <HelpMode>Modeless</HelpMode>
  <Dir>Default</Dir>
  <PartImageSmall />
  <MissingAssembly>Cannot import this Web Part.</MissingAssembly>
  <PartImageLarge>/_layouts/images/mscontl.gif</PartImageLarge>
  <IsIncludedFilter />
  <Assembly>Microsoft.SharePoint, Version=14.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c</Assembly>
  <TypeName>Microsoft.SharePoint.WebPartPages.ContentEditorWebPart</TypeName>
  <ContentLink xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WebPart/v2/ContentEditor" />
  <Content xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WebPart/v2/ContentEditor"><![CDATA[<script>

  // setup our array of available text
  var source = new Array();
  source[0] = "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi.";
  source[1] = "Epsum factorial non deposit quid pro quo hic escorol. Olypian quarrels et gorilla congolium sic ad nauseum. Souvlaki ignitus carborundum e pluribus unum. Defacto lingo est igpay atinlay. Marquee selectus non provisio incongruous feline nolo contendre. Gratuitous octopus niacin, sodium glutimate. Quote meon an estimate et non interruptus stadium. Sic tempus fugit esperanto hiccup estrogen. Glorious baklava ex librus hup hey ad infinitum. Non sequitur condominium facile et geranium incognito. Epsum factorial non deposit quid pro quo hic escorol. Marquee selectus non provisio incongruous feline nolo contendre Olypian quarrels et gorilla congolium sic ad nauseum. Souvlaki ignitus carborundum e pluribus unum.";
  source[2] = "Li Europan lingues es membres del sam familie. Lor separat existentie es un myth. Por scientie, musica, sport etc., li tot Europa usa li sam vocabularium. Li lingues differe solmen in li grammatica, li pronunciation e li plu commun vocabules. Omnicos directe al desirabilit? de un nov lingua franca: on refusa continuar payar custosi traductores. It solmen va esser necessi far uniform grammatica, pronunciation e plu sommun paroles.";
  source[3] = "Ma quande lingues coalesce, li grammatica del resultant lingue es plu simplic e regulari quam ti del coalescent lingues. Li nov lingua franca va esser plu simplic e regulari quam li existent Europan lingues. It va esser tam simplic quam Occidental: in fact, it va esser Occidental. A un Angleso it va semblar un simplificat Angles, quam un skeptic Cambridge amico dit me que Occidental es."

  // pick the starting point for our random text
  var text_no = Math.floor((4)*Math.random());

  // setup our array of available text
  var lorem = new Array();
  switch(text_no)
      {
              case 0: {
            lorem[0] = source[0] + source[1] + source[2] + source[3]
            break;
            }
          case 1: {
            lorem[0] = source[1] + source[2] + source[3] + source[0]
               break;
            }
          case 2: {
            lorem[0] = source[2] + source[3] + source[0] + source[1]
               break;
            }
          case 3: {
            lorem[0] = source[3] + source[0] + source[1] + source[2]
               break;
            }
    }

  // pick the number of words
  var numOfWords = Math.floor((500)*Math.random()) + 20;

  var list = new Array();
  var wordList = new Array();
  wordList = lorem[0].split( ‘ ‘ );
  var iParagraphCount = 0;
  var iWordCount = 0;

  while( list.length < numOfWords )
    {
         if( iWordCount > wordList.length )
            {
                iWordCount = 0;
                iParagraphCount++;
                if( iParagraphCount + 1 > lorem.length ) iParagraphCount = 0;
                wordList = lorem[ iParagraphCount ].split( ‘ ‘ );
                wordList[0] = "<br/><br/>" + wordList[ 0 ];
            }
        list.push( wordList[ iWordCount ] );
        iWordCount++;
    }
 
  var out_str = list.join(‘ ‘)
  out_str = out_str + "…"

  document.write(out_str);

</script>]]></Content>
  <PartStorage xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WebPart/v2/ContentEditor" />
</WebPart>

The dwp web part file used in this post can be downloaded from here: https://skydrive.live.com/redir.aspx?cid=941d17eca8c6632d&resid=941D17ECA8C6632D!378&parid=941D17ECA8C6632D!376

The JavaScript used in the web part contains portions of a JavaScriptBank script that can be found here: http://www.javascriptbank.com/javascript/utility/generator/random-text-generator/print/en/

Enjoy…