7 Techniques for Customizing SharePoint 2010
Another of my articles is currently being featured on SharePointBriefing.com. The article (titled "7 Techniques for Customzing SharePoint 2010") explains at a high level some of the more popular techniques for customizing SharePoint 2010.
Recap from devLINK 2010 in Nashville
devLINK 2010 ended today, and I've got to tell you that was one excellent conference. John Kellar and his leadership team obviously work really hard. This year the conference sold out with around 900 attendees. There were around 150 breakout sessions and opening/closing keynotes. Tim Huckaby pulled off an amazing keynote to kick the conference off. As fate would have it, he mentioned some of the cool things his company has done with WPF and SharePoint just minutes before I was to deliver the first SharePoint development session of the conference. So I was caught a little off guard when 120-130 filled the room -- me, on the third day of antibiotics and antihistamine battling a terrible sinus infection.
Thanks to the adrenaline rush from Tim's keynote (did I mention he was amazing?), I was able to pick up some steam. I only had 45 minutes to deliver a 75 minute presentation. Even after running over by five minutes, I was still not able to completely finish. I will post the code on my blog soon -- on a new page I added just for code. The reviews of the session were mostly good. Despite stating in the session description that my objective was to guide .NET developers when to develop on the SharePoint platform and introduce them to the SharePoint Object model, and my verbal disclaimer at the beginning that it wouldn't be a code-filled session, there were a handful of people who still expressed their desire to see more code. After all, this was devLINK -- where code rules and slide decks drool. So it was my first time there...give me a break! Call it a rookie mistake. Let me come back next year and I'll "code the far outta ya." Here is the slide deck for the "Intro to SharePoint Development" session.
The audience for the InfoPath session was a bit smaller as anticipated. We demonstrated how InfoPath can be used to replace paper forms and automate common business processes. We developed a simple workflow using a custom SharePoint list and a workflow developed in SharePoint Designer 2010. Then we demonstrated how to streamline that workflow using InfoPath. Using codeless rules and actions, we can show users only the views of a form that they should see and use buttons on the forms to move the workflow along with a minimal amount of clicks. The slide deck is below. A complete walk-thru will also be added to my labs page. The room came up with some great ideas for the InfoPath product team -- including the ability to share data connections and rules across forms, and the desire to inherit forms (instead of using lackluster form parts).
Links to Some SharePoint Resources at Microsoft.com
I have created some TinyURLs for some links that I refer to often when giving SharePoint presentations or answering questions in forums.
To see what features are available in which edition (Foundation, Standard, Enterprise) of SharePoint, refer to the SharePoint edition comparisons page at:
http://tinyurl.com/sp2010editions
To download the SDK (Software Development Kit), including documentation and code samples for SharePoint Foundation 2010 and SharePoint Server 2010, visit the Microsoft Download Site at:
To get started with SharePoint development, check out the presentations, videos, source code and hands on labs available in the Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Developer Training Kit at:
http://tinyurl.com/sp2010devkit
To get help making the right development and architectural decisions, visit the SharePoint Guidance Patterns and Practices site at:
Getting Started with .NET Development
A couple of times this week I got the opportunity to share with some individuals suggestions for getting started learning .NET development. Sometimes I take it for granted that these resources are commonly known, but there are definitely those who assume that there are still no free editions of Visual Studio. I wanted to point you to some FREE resources to help you get started learning .NET.
First of all, Visual Studio. Visual Studio 2010 Express Edition comes in a few flavors. The reason is that you can only support one language at a time in the Express Edition. So you must download the Visual Basic edition or C# edition, for example. With the Professional Edition you get support for all the languages in a single IDE (plus additional features), but the Express Editions are definitely a great way to test the waters and you can definitely write production ready code. See http://www.microsoft.com/express/ for more information and to download the Express Editions for free.
Also available on the Express page is a link to download SQL Server 2008 Express for free.
If you want to learn SharePoint (everyone should), then there are some free resources for you as well. If you have Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008, see http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=49c79a8a-4612-4e7d-a0b4-3bb429b46595&displaylang=en to download SharePoint Foundation. You will have to install it in standalone mode following the instructions listed at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee554869(office.14).aspx.
Finally, there is also a free download for the latest version of SharePoint Designer -- SharePoint Designer 2010. You can do a great deal of SharePoint development and administration using this product. See http://sharepoint.microsoft.com/en-us/product/Related-Technologies/Pages/SharePoint-Designer.aspx for more information.
I should mention that there is help available in each of the products. Visual Studio contains tutorials to help you get up to speed quickly. In addition, MSDN has virtual labs available for many Microsoft products at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/aa570323.aspx.
If you are an aspiring developer or a hobbyist programmer, don't use Java just because Eclipse or NetBeans are available for free. Microsoft has responded with these Express products to help you evaluate and learn the best development environment on the market.
Recap of Western Kentucky DNUG Meeting
I had a great time at the Western KY .NET User Group meeting last Thursday. Gene Merlin and I made the 2 and a half hour drive with a little help from Red Bull and Hershey's. There were great questions and feedback from this well-educated group at Murray State University. One thing I learned was that it is impossible to cover all of the new development features of SharePoint 2010 in a single sitting! I'm definitely going to split the presentation out into multiples. I thank everyone at the group for their attendance and hospitality.
My favorite demo of the meeting was WPF and the SharePoint Client Object Model. It is definitely worth an encore. I presented a bare bones approach to updating a SharePoint announcement list. If you look at the code attached below and it seems over-simplistic, that's because it is. It is worth taking a look at the solution to see get familiar with the concepts, but my intentions are to add to it as time allows to show some more advanced SharePoint 2010 Client Object Model functionality.
Visual Studio 2010 WPF Solution
SharePoint 2010, Office 2010 and Visual Studio 2010 Launches Are Final
The much anticipated launch date for SharePoint 2010 and Office 2010 has been set for May 12 -- with a RTM date of April. If you have attended a SharePoint Saturday event lately then you are aware of many of the new features. On a side note, I remember how great it was when MOSS 2007 (on WSS 3.0) was released -- it was SOOOO much better. One thing I tired of really quickly, however, were all of the books, articles, blogs and training courses that explained "this is how it was done in SPS 2003, but this is how you do it in MOSS 2007" or "this is what it is now called" or whatever. I have made it my personal intent to not go there. Not that I'm not a fan of MOSS 2007. I was with it from the beginning and I'm still rolling out MOSS 2007 projects today. I'm a huge fan. However, for the sake of clarity, I will focus on SPF4 and SPS2010 exclusively on this blog. My logic is that there are going to be many folks who are new to SharePoint this release. That is my audience. I'm guessing that they don't care how it was done before. And, by the way, I'm even more excited about SharePoint 2010 than I was MOSS 2007!
The other date that I'm really excited about is April 12 -- the official launch date of Visual Studio 2010. Hopefully you made it (or will soon make it) to one of the MSDN Live events! They only scratch the surface of what you can do with SharePoint 2010 in Visual Studio 2010, but it is enough to get you excited. I have been playing with the beta release for a while now. I hardly open Visual Studio 2008 any more.
Speaking of which, I will be showing some SharePoint 2010 development at the Western Kentucky .NET Users Group on March 11. If you are in the Murray State area, please come check it out!
