Visual Studio 2008 for SharePoint

1. Visual Studio 2008 for SharePoint New developer tools from Microsoft, including Visual Studio 2008 and VS Extensions for WSS pack a lot of productivity improvements for SharePoint developers.

2. Who am I Name: Piotr Prussak (or Peter) Profession: Architect for a manufacturing company Interests: Culinary Experience: ranging from IT Pro to Development and Architecture with SharePoint

3. Tools of the Trade Visual Studio 2005 Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Tools: Visual Studio 2005 Extensions, Version 1.1 [recently updated] Visual Studio 2008 [just released] SDKs [updated in feb] Windows SharePoint Services 3.0: Software Development Kit (SDK) http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=6D94E307-67D9-41AC-B2D6-0074D6286FA9&displaylang=en

4. Goals of Presentation Ideas to be addressed What tools should I use for SharePoint development What processes and training materials are there available Topics to be discussed Visual Studio 2008 VSTO Use for workflow development for now Use for SharePoint if you’re an expert VS 2005 + Visual Studio extensions for Windows SharePoint Services Use for other development activities

5. Visual Studio 2008 - workflow VS 2008 just released Great improvements in language AJAX and LINQ SharePoint tools exist in community Not yet integrated into VS 2008 Wait a few months until all move over to VS 2008 VSTO for VS 2008 Ideal for Workflow Development

6. SharePoint Workflows What are different types of workflows available for implementation, and when do they make sense? Built-In configurable workflows SharePoint Designer [SPD] Visual Studio More workflows in SDK 3rd party tools Let’s looks at the options…

7. 3rd Party Workflows Quick Reasons why you should look at 3rd party BPM tools Nintex http://www.nintex.com/ K2 http://www.k2.com Ascentn http://www.ascentn.com/ BlueSpring http://www.bluespringsoftware.com/ Global 360 http://www.global360.com

8. 3rd Party Strengths and Weaknesses Simpler developer options [business analyst] Good if developers don't care to maintain workflow Allows developers to work on heavy stuff Custom code/custom activities/custom integration Better administrative options Provisioning for working with workflow versions Ability to manage workflows on the fly Better management options Aggregated reporting and consolidated auditing Richer workflow experience Roles Activities Integration possibilities

9. Why you should look at VSTO workflow Already "own" the tools cheap no more IDEs to learn no other dependencies [upgrades/migrations/etc] Debugging *works* When building an application with tight dependencies, and not an enterprise wide solution When your company lacks great business process analysts to configure workflow in the first place

10. Workflow Backgrounder Business Interaction Workflow represents a business process Users interact with state data in SharePoint Users interact via SharePoint, office apps, or custom SharePoint and SPD target human workflow Important Concepts to know: Initiation of a process - how do things start State storage – where are things stored Interaction – how people interact with workflow Activities predefined – what is available for designer/developer

11. Workflow development with VS 2005 Traditional Developer problems SharePoint Designer is limited SharePoint Designer is a one-off tool.. an "instance" You have to know everything there is about SharePoint Heavy plumbing needed with VS 2005 Hardcore deployment with VS 2005 Hard to do debugging with VS 2005 Altogether: 14+8 steps that are not intuitive, and have nothing to do with programming, but plenty with development environment troubleshooting

12. Workflow with VS 2008 and VSTO VS 2008 makes a difference Better tools and templates built in [VSTO install needed] Custom tasks [activities] Custom code Custom forms Altogether the 2 steps are just 3 steps, wizard driven [and… one of the steps is coding!]

13. Things you need to know Unique name for the workflow Storage structures List against which the workflow will work Item against which it will run List events or human events which start a workflow Additional start options Other lists that are used to track interaction Tasks History Some development and deployment lingo Solutions contain features Features contain elements Activation Configuration Playing nice with others Managed by site administrator once available on the farm Your workflow may not be the only workflow Limit or open up configuration options Being aware of security Workflow runs under the security of initiator, if created in SPD Workflow runs under the security of system account, if created in VSTO

14. Things to get going Wizard driven Conceptual steps: Create a site [for debugging] Start a project Create a name Create automatic associations [for debugging] Use/create a library or list where workflow is associated to Use/create history list Use/create task list Configure instantiation options Use activities from "sharepoint workflow toolbox" Code Press "F5“ to deploy, activate, start, debug

15. VSTO demo Ease of use Debugging

16. Other cool tools - VSeWSSv11 Obviously VS 2008 is lacking in SharePoint development at this point in time… [July 2008?] No project templates Painful to create site definitions Debugging and deployment are hard Can't utilize SharePoint Designer work Enter Visual Studio 2005 + Visual Studio 2005 Extensions, Version 1.1 Targeting solution development Does not require super-expert skills

17. VSeWSSv11 – what’s in it? Old Stuff from V1.0 F5 – debug experience Templates [more on these later] Intellisense Solution Generator Project Templates WSP Editor View and edit all solution content Create new Features and rename existing ones Reorder elements between Features Check for conflicts with existing Features Change Feature activation order VB.Net support List Instance List Event Handler File System template (for expert solution builders)

18. VSeWSSv11 – what’s in it? Visual Studio 2005 Project Templates Web Part Team Site Definition Blank Site Definition List Definition Empty SharePoint Project

19. VSeWSSv11 – what’s in it? Visual Studio 2005 Item Templates Web Part Field Control - Custom Field List Definition List Definition from Content Type Content Type Module List Instance Event Receiver Template [file system template file _layouts]

20. VSeWSSv11 – what’s in it? Also: Faster F5 Localization Solution Generator Small Application that generates a VS project based on an existing SharePoint site or list Allows “designers” to use SPD Allows “developers” to use “designer’s” output and make it sing

21. VSeWSSv11 Caveats “SharePoint Solution” tab removed, migrated to a “Web Solution Package” window Have to set <compilation batch="false" debug="true"> in web.config on virtual directories ASP.Net debugging must be enabled first Does not work in 64bit scenarios and for WSS Farms Many site and list templates are not supported (check SPSolGen.exe.config) and generally stick to team sites Lookup Fields and Custom Field Types are still out of reach Some site settings and list settings will not be captured Workflow should be done via other tools Not on codeplex, unlike some other tools Remote deployment not there

22. VSeWSSv11 DEMO Turning a SPD modified site into a solution Coding and debugging

23. Links Windows SharePoint Services 3.0: Software Development Kit (SDK) http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=05E0DD12-8394-402B-8936-A07FE8AFAFFD&displaylang=en SharePoint Server 2007 SDK: Software Development Kit http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=6D94E307-67D9-41AC-B2D6-0074D6286FA9&displaylang=en Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Tools: Visual Studio 2005 Extensions, Version 1.1 http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=3E1DCCCD-1CCA-433A-BB4D-97B96BF7AB63&displaylang=en

24. Questions? ptprussak@hotmail.com