SharePoint for Developers

1. An Introductory Tour SharePoint for Developers

2. Agenda • What is SharePoint? • Version Summary • Typical Structure of an Installation • Building blocks of SharePoint • Integration with IIS • Relationship to ASP.NET • SharePoint Development • Customization Opportunities • When do I use SharePoint? • Development Tools • Licensing • Resources

3. What is SharePoint? • A Tool for Provisioning & Managing Web Applications. • Structured web application framework built on ASP.NET 2.0. • Scales to very large installations easily. • Large OOTB functionality. • Sites created from Templates, modular structure. • Built in web based web app/site administration. • Highly customizable at all levels. • Large amount of User, Admin and Developer documentation.

4. SharePoint Versions • Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 (WSS) • Base application upon which all others are built. Rich and useful OOTB functionality. • SharePoint Server 2007 Standard (MOSS) • More OOTB functionality with more Site Templates, site management tools, personal sites (My Site), search features and content aggregation. • SharePoint Server 2007 Enterprise (MOSS) • Extends MOSS Standard OOTB functions with increased spreadsheet integration, Reporting, External Data & related search capability, content aggregation capabilities and InfoPath forms. • Detailed Feature Comparison: See it here

5. A Structural Overview • Server & Site Architecture: • Live demo with diagram. • Microsoft info on MSDN: See it here

6. Under the Hood - Databases • Configuration Database: Farm level • Keeps track of things like names of servers participating in the farm, various global settings. • Content Database(s): Web Application level • All website pages AND content are stored in here. • One Content DB per Web Application though may be split into multiples for large scale installations. • Search Index Database: Farm Level • Holds all indexed content • One per farm

7. Under the Hood – File System • The ‘12’ web extension directory • Default location is C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12 • STSADM command Line tool ..12\BIN\stsadm.exe • Style sheets ..12\TEMPLATE\LAYOUTS\1033\STYLES • Site graphics ..12\TEMPLATE\IMAGES • Site themes ..12\TEMPLATE\THEMES • Schema definitions (CAML) for:- • Sites, Lists, Document Libraries, Feature Definitions, Field Types, Content Types and more.

8. Integration with IIS • SharePoint runtime has custom versions of key HTTP Request Pipeline components which implement SharePoint functionality:- • SPHttpApplication (Web Application class) • SPRequestModule (Application event handling – web application intialization) • SPHttpHandler (Endpoint for all incoming requests) • Utilizes many standard ASP.NET classes as well to deal with things such as Output caching and Authentication providers.

9. SharePoint & ASP.NET • WSS is built on ASP.NET, especially WSS 3.0 which makes much more use of ASP.NET classes than its predecessor. • ASP.NET 2.0 provides many components that let you build SharePoint-like sites from scratch. The core component that they share (no pun.. :) is Web Parts. • WSS 3.0 Web Parts inherit from the ASP.NET Web Part and extend slightly. • Recommended practice is to use the ASP.NET Web Part class. • WSS 3.0 makes extensive use of .NET 3.0 Workflow as well – which isn’t exactly ASP.NET.. But....

10. Dev – The API... • Don’t interact with content databases directly, API’s are provided to manipulate sites, content and SharePoint:- • SharePoint .NET API – Microsoft.SharePoint • ..12\ISAPI\Microsoft.SharePoint.dll • SharePoint Search Serivce .NET API – Microsoft.SharePoint.Search • ..12\ISAPI\Microsoft.SharePoint.Search.dll • SharePoint security .NET API – Microsoft.SharePoint.Security • ..12\ISAPI\Microsoft.SharePoint.Security.dll • Also a number of Web Services are available (21) • WSS 3.0 Class Library on MSDN:- • Get it here

11. ...Development Areas... • Assembled Components (coded) • Web Parts • Event Handlers • Information Management Policies (MOSS) • Workflow Activities & Templates • Timer Jobs • ASP.NET resources • Site Pages • Application Pages • Style sheets, Master Pages • Custom ASP.NET navigation controls • User Controls (.ascx)

12. ...Development Areas. • SharePoint Feature Definitions • Site Definition • Features* • Custom Lists & Document Libraries • Field Types, Site Columns & Content Types • Custom Field Definitions

13. Customization Opportunities • Basic SharePoint site branding thru the default.master and Themes (various methods for various levels of customisation) • Navigation Menu Structure – anything in ASP.Net can be put in SharePoint. • Custom Component development – Web Parts, Pages etc, Lists, Libraries etc. • Document Management solutions extending SharePoint's functionality.

14. Public Site Examples • AA New Zealand • Victorinox (Maker of the Swiss Army Knife) • Carlsberg Beer • Fly Buys • American Dairy Association • Migros (Online Shopping) • JTC Singapore (Commercial Property) • PolyOne (OEM Polymer Suppliers) • Swiss International Airlines (Multilingual, booking done with pure ASP.NET 2.0) • US Marines

15. When do I use SharePoint? • If your application will:- • Run in an environment which has SharePoint already installed. • Need significant user security trimming and flexibility with the security settings administrable through the UI. • Require site instances to be created, deployed and managed rapidly and easily by administrative staff or even end users. • Provide any form of collaborative functionality for web based teams. • Provide some form of Content Management functionality • Allow the user to manipulate site structure/content easily through the web UI. • Require advanced search functionality for it’s content (especially the ability to search inside documents stored as content). Carefully consider SharePoint as a development platform.

16. Customization Tools • Development Platform • Windows Server 2003 with SharePoint installed (Virtual or Physical) • Copy key dll’s to Workstation and live with debug limitations till deployment on staging server. • SharePoint designer 2007 • Essentially a New release of FrontPage • Good for ‘instant gratification’ type tweaks to an existing site. • Aimed at Web Designers/Power Users. • Can do some things easily that are hard work/impossible in Visual Studio. • Customizations generally aren’t re-usable/deployable to other site collections. • Visual Studio • 2005 has more extensions available. • Best for creating re-usable/deployable objects. • More choices and power when it comes to Workflow.

17. Licen$ing • Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 • Anonymous access to sites – free • Authenticated Users (does not matter how you do this) – Host operating system licensing applies. • Internal Users – an OS CAL per user (will already have anyway). • External (non-company employee) Users :– • All Versions of Windows Server except Web Edition/SBS – External Connector • Web Edition – no CAL’s required but limited in other ways. Still good choice. • Small Business Server – CAL’s per user basis. 75 users max. • Hosted Service Provider – SPLA required.

18. Licen$ing • MOSS 2007 (Standard/Enterprise) • License for the Application itself - $5586.00 (NZ$) • In addition to Host OS CAL’s you will need:- • For MOSS Standard NZ$118.00 per user • For MOSS Enterprise add another NZ$94.00 to the MOSS Standard CAL price. • If you want to expose over the internet then add NZ$51,702.00 • Don’t forget your databases • You can use SQL Server 2005 Express for small installations. • For larger installs SQL Server needs to be used. Licensed accordingly.

19. Resources - Microsoft • WSS 3.0 SDK:- • Get it here • WSS 3.0 Tools: VS 2005 version 1.1 Extensions:- • Get it here • Companion User Guide:- • Get it here • Visual Studio 2005 extensions for .NET Framework 3.0 (Windows Workflow Foundation):- • Get it here

20. Resources - General • Books:- • Developer Focus - “Inside Windows SharePoint Services 3.0” • User Focus – “Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Step by Step” • Example Public sites:- • See a list here • Blogs & Non-Microsoft Sites:- • WSS Demo • Robin Meure • Mike Walsh(Just scroll down... ...A lot)