A Structured / Repeatable Approach to Building SharePoint Solutions

Ivan Sanders

SharePoint ArchitectDimension Solutions inc.

ivan@dimension-si.com

Agenda SharePoint architecture Review typical SharePoint Development SharePoint customization vs development Development with SharePoint Features Deployment using WSS solution packages Tips and tricks to SharePoint development

SharePoint Architecture SharePoint v4 built on top of .NET 3.5 Majority of SharePoint files installed

within SharePoint “14” RootFolder Each SharePoint Web application

has its own Web root on file system File system of SharePoint sites is virtualized Many pages and files map to files on

the file systemBut not all…

Templates Versus Instances Concept

Files in a site exist in the siteobject model as SPFile objects

All files live within folders (SPFolder) Customized versus uncustomized files

Uncustomized file – source on the file systemCustomized file – source in sites content DB

Customization appliesonly to site pages and filesApplication pages (/_layouts/*) don’t apply

File Source Retrieval Process

SharePoint(HTTP

Application/Modules/Handlers)

File template/definition[ .. ]\12\TEMPLATE\FEATURES\SomeFeature\

PageTemplate.aspx

SharePoint Designer

Browser/Web Services

SPFilehttp://foo/

somePage.aspx

* if file is uncustomized, underlying template is fetched

Source of the file is retrieved… first

the content database is checked

Typical Site Development Infrastructure assets

Create site column andcontent types via browser

Layout assetsCreate master pages and page

layouts with SharePoint Designer 2010Modify look and feel, adding CSS and

images using SharePoint Designer 2010

"Big Picture" Challenges How do you make this development

process repeatable? How to automate it? What about source control?

SharePoint has version control on lists and libraries No version control for infrastructure assets No version control for site pages and files

What about a true softwaredevelopment lifecycle process?

What about change management process?

SharePoint Customization Creating and editing instances of assets

that live exclusively in the site’s content DB Even if originally based off a template,

source still lives in content DB Tools used in SharePoint customization

SharePoint API SharePoint browser interfaceSharePoint Designer 2010

SharePoint Customization Advantages

Plenty of resources documenting the processWYSIWYG development

with SharePoint Designer 2010Easily make changes in multiple environments

DisadvantagesSite columns and content types are

not easily moved between environmentsChallenging to package and deploy

○ New files and changes to existing files○ Multiple environments

Challenges In Creating Publishing Sites

Publishing sites exacerbate the challenges All projects require sharing assets

Between developers on project team Between environments (Dev/QA/UAT/Prod)

How to move asset change to other environments? Manually move infrastructure and layout assets Backup/restore (*** bad bad bad option! ***) Content deployment

Does not promote code reuse!

SharePoint Development Goals

Developers work at a lower level (file system)Keep infrastructure/layout assets out of DB

Developers Developers Developers SharePoint Feature schema

allows creation of all kinds of assets Upon activation, Feature creates

uncustomized instances in the site SharePoint solutions enable packaging

of Features in one portable file

SP DevelopmentDisadvantages

SharePoint Features are tedious to buildNo visual designerLots of CAML (XML) markupMinimal debugging support

Provisioning files requires double development (but does it) Feature deactivation leaves artifacts (Can this be avoided) Current tools do not promote this approach (Tooling)

SP DevelopmentAdvantages

Developers stay in Visual Studio Keeps layout files uncustomized on server Easy to package changes in order to

Share with other members on project dev teamDeploy to other environments

Fully leverage existing SCM solutions Easier to adhere to SDL and change control Full control of site columns and content types

Avoiding the _x0020_ in site columns!

Structured SharePoint Solution Development

DEMO…

Tips And Tricks To SP Dev Add CAML IntelliSense to Visual Studio

via Visual Studio XML Schema Cache Using existing tools as IDE, then “Featurize”

Use browser for site column and content typesUse SharePoint Designer 2010 to create

master pages and page layouts fasterUtilize SharePoint API to extract assets

○ STSADM.EXE Custom Commands○ VSeWSS 1.3

Automate process of building WSP’sWSPBuilder

Third Party Tools & Demos Stramit.CamlViewer2010 Beyond Compare 2 Elumenotion SharePoint Skinner AFR SharePoint_Tips_Utility_Pack SPContentDeploymentWizard Fiddler2 SharePoint Manager 2010 Visual Studio 2008 SP1 – VSTA, VSTO, SharePoint SDKs, Windows SDK ColorPic Bewise.SharePoint.QuickLaunch Bewise.View.Permissions PowerISO WildCard Search Faceted Search Cascading Lookup Columns