I want to access SPWeb object in feature under its FeatureActivated method. There are two ways to do this:
Public Override void FeatureActivated(SPFeatureReceiverProperties properties) {
//Method 1 SPWeb web = properties.Feature.Parent as SPWeb; //Method 2
SPSite site = new SPSite("http://merdev-moss:5050"); SPWeb web = site.OpenWeb(); }
Whats the differencce between two methods ? Which one is best under which scenario ?
You don't need to put SPWeb oWebsiteRoot = SPContext.Current.Site.RootWeb in the using statement, because it's obtained from SPContext.Current.Site and will be automatically disposed.
AFAIK,
properties.Feature.Parent will give you SPWeb in the context the FeatureActivated Event is being called... That means you should not dispose this object, since it is the current context which is activating the feature!
However, if you use:
SPSite site = new SPSite("http://merdev-moss:5050"); SPWeb web = site.OpenWeb();
this means you are creating a New Context and you need to dispose this connection which will be automatically done if you use it inside using
using (SPSite site = new SPSite("http://merdev-moss:5050")) { using (SPWeb web = site.OpenWeb()) { //do stuff } } 
The first option means that the feature needs to be scooped as web to use that method and if you change the scope you need to change the method as it will throw an exception. Use that method only if you need the feature as web and nothing else! same goes for any scope that you choose.
The second I prefer as it is not dependant on the scope of the feature,
for me I would use this:
SPWeb oWebsiteRoot = SPContext.Current.Site.RootWeb more detail on what you can use to achive what you want can be found here:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/microsoft.sharepoint.spweb.aspx
The first one is using the current web, the second is creating a new instance that you need to dispose of ;)
hope it helps :)
SPContext. That's why it's always better to use the properties.Feature.Parent property.