Discover, Master, Influence 1

How ASP.NET Developers can leverage SharePoint

Jeremy ThakeSenior Consultant, Readify

http://bit.ly/JTHAKERATE

Agenda

• Introduction

• How ASP.NET Developers can leverage it

• Why Use It?

• Misconceptions

• The issues around leveraging it

• Limitations of OOTB areas

• When to stick with ASP.NET

• Summary

INTRODUCTIONHow ASP.NET Developers can leverage SharePoint

KEY DRIVERS FOR ASP.NET DEVELOPERS

• Fast– Compiling

– IDE

– Performance

• Can handle Complex Scenarios

• Easy to debug

• Easy to learn– Simple API

– Lots of learning resources

INTRODUCTION

• Awareness

• People hate it

• “It’s not open source”

• Frameworks– Over engineered

– Dependencies

• Developers like to write it themselves

– Feel out of control

WHAT IS IT

HOW YOU CAN LEVERAGE ITHow ASP.NET Developers can leverage SharePoint

WHAT YOU NEED

• Windows Server

• Visual Studio 2005/8

• SQL Server Express/Std/Ent 2005/8

WHY USE IT?How ASP.NET Developers can leverage SharePoint

WHY USE IT?

• WSS is free!

• Most Enterprises own MOSS

• Common User Interface

• Common Framework

• Common Data Layer

• Common Disaster Recovery

WHY USE IT?

• Leverages already existing knowledge of ASP.NET– IIS Web Applications and Application Pools

– Web.Config

– Visual Studio IDE (C#/VB.NET)

– Master Pages

– Page Layouts

– Web Parts

– User Controls

– Site Themes

– XHTML/JavaScript/CSS

DEMO: CREATING WEB APPSHow ASP.NET Developers can leverage SharePoint

WHY USE IT?

• Framework– Security

– Component based

– Logging

– Persistence

– Architecture

– Extension

– File storage

– Audiences (MOSS)

DEMO: FEATURESHow ASP.NET Developers can leverage SharePoint

WHY USE IT?

• SharePoint Lists– CRUD

– Metadata

– Versioning

– Item Security

– Views

– Event Handlers

– Workflow

– Search

– Recycle Bin

– Custom Field Controls

– Incoming email

DEMO: VIRTUAL FILE SYSTEMHow ASP.NET Developers can leverage SharePoint

WHY USE IT?

• Web Parts– Web Part Zones

– Customisation

– Personalisation

DEMO: WEB PARTSHow ASP.NET Developers can leverage SharePoint

WHY USE IT?

• Deployment– Deploys to all server roles in Farm

– Deploys all dependent files

– Web.config changes

DEMO: SOLUTION PACKAGESHow ASP.NET Developers can leverage SharePoint

WHY USE IT?

• MOSS– Web Content Management

– Documents Management

– Records Management

– Business Data Catalogue

– Excel Services

– InfoPath Form Services

– Enterprise Search

– My Sites

MISCONCEPTIONS OF SHAREPOINTHow ASP.NET Developers can leverage SharePoint

MISCONCEPTIONS OF SHAREPOINT

• Debugging is hard

• Deployment is bad

• Skinning is hard

• GAC only

• It's expensive

• No client side validation

• No support for AJAX and 3.5

• Hard to migrate existing ASP.NET sites

DEMO: EXISTING ASP.NET SITESHow ASP.NET Developers can leverage SharePoint

ISSUES AROUND LEVERAGING SHAREPOINT

How ASP.NET Developers can leverage SharePoint

ISSUES AROUND LEVERAGING SHAREPOINT

• Server developer environment

• Complex framework

• WSS has its limits

• Troubleshooting Security errors tough

• CAML is hard to learn

• .NET Object Model is a COM wrapper

• Right and wrong way to build Test & Production

• (Accessibility)

LIMITATIONS OF OUT OF THE BOX AREAS

How ASP.NET Developers can leverage SharePoint

LIMITATIONS OF OUT OF THE BOX AREAS

• WCM– Not intuitive enough for Authors

– It all can be done...but needs more effort

– Remember MCMS?

– www.WesternAustralia.com.au web casts

• Wikis

• Blogs

• Records Management

• For more see my ‘Leveraging the SharePoint Platform’ series

WHEN TO STICK WITH ASP.NETHow ASP.NET Developers can leverage SharePoint

WHY TO STICK WITH ASP.NET

• Client environment development

• Configuring server is straight forward

• Less Complexity (Junior Devs)

• ASP.NET 4.0 coming

• Larger community

• Data Access Layer

• Full control over user interface

• Lots of other WCMS products out there

SUMMARYHow ASP.NET Developers can leverage SharePoint

SUMMARY

• It’s an extension of what you already know

• SharePoint is not going away– Microsoft Server Products moving to Platform

– Microsoft see it as a Development Platform

• Do it if you’re going to need the features

• Don’t do it if you’re not going to utilise it

– Can always be ported in later

Discover, Master, Influence 33

http://bit.ly/JTHAKERATEhttp://wss.made4the.net @jthake

http://www.SharePointDevWiki.com @SPDevWikihttp://www.sharepointusers.org/Perth/

http://www.readify.net/rdn/