Michael Desmond of Redmond Developer News published an article linking to my new SharePoint Developer Introduction web site. The purpose of the site is to help .NET Developers who want to learn SharePoint development.
If you think learning SharePoint development isn't easy enough yet, please let me know. I would like to hear more ideas that Microsoft could do to make it easier.
If you're in Wellington and want to hear a bit about SharePoint development please come along. Details here: http://www.dot.net.nz/Default.aspx?tabid=30&mid=418&ctl=Detail&xmid=3544&xmfid=2
I'll be demoing Visual Studio 2008 development for SharePoint and talking about the basics of SharePoint development.
Please visit http://MSSharePointDeveloper.com instead of this blog post. All of this information is available and much easier to navigate at http://MSSharePointDeveloper.com/ but if you don't have Silverlight installed you can get most of the content links here.
Main Page Links
1. Web Parts Links
2. Data Lists Links
3. Event Handler Links
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Event Handlers MSDN Virtual Lab C# - coming soon
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Event Handlers MSDN Virtual Lab VB.NET - coming soon
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Event Handlers Screencast of the HOL Exercise 1 - coming soon
4. Workflow Links
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Workflow MSDN Virtual Lab C# - coming soon
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Workflow MSDN Virtual Lab VB.NET - coming soon
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Workflow Screencast of the HOL Exercise 1 - coming soon
5. Silverlight Links
6. Page Navigation Links
7. Page Branding Links
8. Web Services Links
9. Custom Content Types Links
10. User Management Links
Woo hoo. We launched http://MSSharePointDeveloper.com this week to coincide with TechEd Developers in Orlando, Florida. There's lots of material for .NET developers who want to see what building applications on SharePoint is like up there.
Please send me any feedback as comment on my blog about the MSSharePointDeveloper site. I would be pleased to hear what people think about it and any feedback or corrections you can think of.
The new content is all on Visual Studio 2005. It will all be the same on Visual Studio 2008 since the Visual Studio extensions for SharePoint are the same on both versions of Visual Studio.
Visual Studio 2008 extensions for SharePoint has just released today, so you can get that to do the hands on labs if you want also.
My presentation at TechEd Developers this year was OFC202 Introduction to SharePoint Development with Microsoft Visual Studio 2008. A previous version of the demo solutoin is here: http://blogs.msdn.com/cjohnson/archive/2008/02/13/office-developers-conference-2008-ser325-sitefeed-demo-session-files.aspx
I plan to get the current demo solution for VS2008 and the demo script online whenI'm back in the office.
Next month on June 11th 2008 I'm presenting at this public event on the Microsoft campus. Come along if you want to get an overview of SharePoint development.
I will be giving two talks there. One is a full on demo session going over different things you can build with the Visual Studio 2008 extensions for Windows SharePoint Services. The second one will be on Page Branding of SharePoint Sites using Visual Studio.
Mithun Dhar is arranging the event and has a more detailed post about it here that includes the registration URL.
http://blogs.msdn.com/mithund/archive/2008/05/19/sharepoint-web-2-0-fire-starter-event.aspx
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Update: To register for this event in person in Redmond, WA click here. To register for this event online via live meeting click here.
We're doing lots of things around introductory SharePoint development for .NET developers over the next few months. Here is the schedule for a series of MSDN web casts on 10 introductory SharePoint development topics for .NET developers. If you are a .NET developer then chances are these are the most interesting ten introductory things you can do on SharePoint Products and Technologies.
Each MSDN Web Cast is an introduction for .NET Developers to SharePoint and the Topic. You need to register for the web cast by clicking the link and entering some details. Then you get emailed a link to sign on and participate in the web cast on its date and time.
Each MSDN Web Cast is recorded for later viewing which should be through the same registration URL.
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Update: Unfortunately registration doesn't seem to be working for these today. You can use this link to see more about the web casts, but it doesn't allow you to register presently. I've escalated this issue.
I'm pleased to announce the release of the User Guide, Samples and Walkthroughs for the Visual Studio 2005 extensions for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, v1.1. The Visual Studio 2005 extensions for SharePoint were released back in Feb 2008 and an update for Visual Studio 2008 is planned for release in June 2008.
The user guide is downloadable here and represents approx 200 pages of documentation applicable to both the 2005 and the 2008 release of the Visual Studio extensions for SharePoint. The user guide contains an introduction to using the Visual Studio extensions for SharePoint, and it contains walkthrough samples for each of the project templates that are supplied with the Visual Studio extensions for SharePoint. These are the document sections:
- Starting out in SharePoint Development
An introductory guide.
- Walkthrough of the VSeWSS User Interface including the WSP View
A description of the user interface elements. The WSP view is a new tool panel which helps you put together the deployment package for SharePoint projects.
- The Team Site Project
A walkthrough and complete sample.
- The Blank Site Project
A walkthrough and complete sample.
- The List Definition Project
A walkthrough and complete sample.
- The Web Part Project
A walkthrough and complete sample.
- The Workflow Projects
A walkthrough and complete sample for each of Sequential and State machine workflows. Although these project templates are not shipped with VSeWSS we added them for completeness. They are included in Visual Studio 2008 and are available for Visual Studio 2005 in the Windows SharePoint Services SDK.
- Project Item Templates
A description and usage for each of the project item templates. Essentially the project templates are largely empty templates with default project items contained.
- Best Practices with VSeWSS
A collection of suggestions for working with the tool.
Changes from 1.0 to 1.1
A list of what was improved. There were lots of improvements from V1.0 of VSeWSS
Here's what the default install directory looks like on my machine. I'm running Windows Server 2008.
Once you unzip the Samples you can see these sub directories. Each sample is a completed example which the User Guide contains a walkthrough (similar to a Hands-on Lab) for. Each sample is in both C# and VB.NET.
To use this user guide you will need the following on your machine or on a Virtual PC image.
- Windows Server 2003 or Windows Server 2008
- .NET Framework 3.0 – no charge download
- Visual Studio 2005 Professional or greater – trial available
- Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 SP1 – no charge download
- Windows SharePoint Services SDK 1.3 – no charge download
- Visual Studio 2005 extensions for .NET 3.0, Windows Workflow Foundation – no charge download
- Visual Studio 2005 extensions for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, v1.1 – no charge download
How do I get started working as a Professional Developer on SharePoint? Here's a brief outline of the options.
First you need to have prerequisite skills in .NET Development and in particular ASP.NET Development. SharePoint is built on those technologies and most everything you do in SharePoint is using .NET and ASP.NET with additional functionality, and additional API's.
Go on a Training Course
When I started out on SharePoint as an experienced .NET developer I realized there is lots of new stuff to learn. The first thing I did was attend The Great SharePoint Adventure course by Ted Pattison Group. The trainer for the week long course was Andrew Connell.
Ted Pattison Group – The Great SharePoint Adventure
MindSharp – Developers Guide to Windows SharePoint Services
AppDev - FREE Sample Microsoft SharePoint 2007 for Developers Training CD
Microsoft Certified Partners for Learning Solutions – Advanced SharePoint 2007 Development
Online Microsoft eLearning Training – Free for a limited time
A great starting place is to take an online course.
WSS Development
MOSS Development
Read Books
Here's some great books on SharePoint development. There are plenty more available at the online book stores so make your own choice.
Inside Windows SharePoint Services 3.0
Inside Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007
Get Certified – Take an Exam
There is SharePoint developer certification for both WSS and MOSS.
70-541 TS: Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 – Application Development
70-542 TS: Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 – Application Development
Write Your First SharePoint Program
To write SharePoint code you need:
- SharePoint installed on your local development machine and this means you need to run Windows Server 2003 or Windows Server 2008. VPCs are available here. There is a SharePoint one, or you can get a smaller base and add WSS or MOSS to it.
- Get Visual Studio 2005 Professional or above, the Visual Studio 2005 extensions for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, v1.1 and the Visual Studio 2005 extensions for Windows Workflow Foundation (Visual Studio 2008 support is planned for June 2008).
- Get the WSS SDK and the MOSS SDK. They are also available online for WSS and MOSS.
- Start Visual Studio on your Windows Server machine that has SharePoint installed and create a new Windows Console Application. Yes there are SharePoint project templates, but I'm going for a fast first SharePoint program here and we don't need them yet.
- If you are on Windows Server 2008 then make sure you started Visual Studio by right click and run as administrator.
- Add a reference to Microsoft.SharePoint.dll (shown in references as Windows SharePoint Services)
- Add a using Microsoft.SharePoint
- Add this code:
static void Main(string[] args)
{
// Update to your server name
using (SPSite siteCollection = new SPSite("http://localhost"))
{
SPWebCollection site = siteCollection.AllWebs;
foreach (SPWeb web in site)
{
try
{
SPListCollection lists = web.Lists;
Console.WriteLine("Site: {0} Lists: {1}",
web.Name, lists.Count.ToString());
foreach (SPList list in lists)
{
Console.WriteLine("List: {0} {1}",
list.Title, list.ID.ToString());
}
}
//catch (Exception)
//{
// // handle
// throw;
//}
finally
{
web.Dispose();
}
}
} // dispose is called on site as a result of using()
Console.WriteLine("Press ENTER to continue");
Console.ReadLine();
}
9. Run it with F5
This is all also described here in the WSS SDK.
Join the Discussion and Ask Questions on the MSDN Forums
This is a great place to search for answers, or to ask questions yourself, or to answer other people's questions. The SharePoint Developer and Programming forum is pretty active.
SharePoint Development and Programming Forum
Watch WebCasts
For WSS (the basic SharePoint API stuff) there are many on MSDN under Getting Started and under Learn.
For MOSS there's also Getting Started and Learn material.
Try Virtual Labs Online
Creating a SharePoint Workflow
More SharePoint Developer Virtual Labs coming in June 2008.
Spend time on MSDN
There are separate sections for WSS and MOSS so you need to go to both.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/sharepoint - For WSS
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/office/aa905503.aspx - For MOSS
Check Out More Online Resources
Here's an introductory talk I gave at SharePoint Connections, Spring 2008.
http://blogs.msdn.com/pandrew/archive/2008/04/21/sharepoint-connections-talk-on-visual-studio-2005-extensions-for-sharepoint.aspx
Here's a Microsoft Learning Class Material which could be offered by a certified trainer:
50064 – Advanced SharePoint Developer course
Online Microsoft eLearning links are here:
http://www.microsoftelearning.com/catalog/developer.aspx#SharePoint
More developer resources here:
http://www.microsoft.com/sharepoint/learning/resources.mspx
Microsoft Developer Evangelist Lynn Langit:
http://blogs.msdn.com/socaldevgal/pages/sharepoint-2007-developer-resources.aspx
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Update 19th May 2008 - I added a Microsoft Certified Partners for Learning Solutions training course. I also improved the code sample to better represent best practices for SharePoint memory management.
Watch Davids take by screencast on SharePoint Development
Part 1 - http://channel9.msdn.com/Showpost.aspx?postid=373280
Part 2 - http://channel9.msdn.com/Showpost.aspx?postid=373289
In the video he's using the Visual Studio 2005 extensions for Windows SharePoint Services.
If you are involved in document imaging with SharePoint or on a Windows Workflow Foundation application that you are building then this may be useful.
Pegasus Imaging has released a set of WF activities compatible with Windows Workflow Foundation and with Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 workflow that help with scanning and processing documents which can then be auctioned on by other parts of the workflow.
Details are here.
Kris Horrocks and I gave a talk about this at TechEd US last year. The talk described a dozen different scenarios where you need some enterprise application integration and workflow. For each scenario we discuss different types of customer needs and whether BizTalk or WF would be a better solution. Recently Kent Brown wrote a whitepaper based on the talk which is published here:
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc303238.aspx
I was recently asked what the valid values are for this property. This is what I heard back from the development team. Hopefully it is useful to some other SharePoint developers also.
SPMobileFieldPropertyLabel Members (PropertyName and FormatString)
PropertyName
The possible values for this property are the followings:
<Fields>
<Field ID="FID_Body" Type="Note" RichText="TRUE" RichTextMode="FullHtml" IsolateStyles="TRUE" NumLines="15" Name="Body" DisplayName="Body" Sortable="FALSE" />
</Fields>
If the schema.xml for the current list contains above field definition, the below property names can be used.
"ID" // "FID_Body: " is rendered.
"Type" // "Note: " is rendered.
"RichText" // "TRUE: " is rendered.
"RichTextMode" // "FullHtml: " is rendered.
"IsolateStyles" // "TRUE: " is rendered.
"NumLines" // "15: " is rendered.
"Name" // "Body: " is rendered.
"DisplayName" // "Body: " is rendered.
"Sortable" // "FALSE: " is rendered.
Please refer to Field Element (List – Definition) for more detail.
FormatString
The default value specified in MobileDefault.ascx is "{0}: ".
This string is passed to System.String.Format() method along with the property value in order to generate the string to render.
e.g.
System.String.Format("{0}: ", "Body"); // "Body: " is rendered.
I did my first public talk on SharePoint today :-) I'm here at the SharePoint Connections Spring 2008 conference. My talk was mostly a long demo showing how to use the Visual Studio 2005 extensions for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, v1.1. The demo outline is:
- Build a Content Type
- Build a List Definition
- Build an Event Receiver
- Build a Template
- Build a Custom Action
- Build a Web Part
- Use them all in a SharePoint Site
- Show WSP View in Visual Studio
- Show SP Solution Generator
Here's what the Visual Studio 2005 Solution Explorer looks like after the demo is complete.
I've attached the PPT of the talk, the Demo Script and the few starter files required. I'll try to get a video recording of the talk in the next week or two.
