Basic SharePoint 3-WSS is a development platform

In this way, WSS can compete with professional software developers to some extent, because it allows users to create and customize their own websites. in just a few minutes, a user can create a WSS site, add several lists and document libraries, and customize the appearance of the site to meet certain commercial needs. an identical solution, if ASP. NET development, it may take a developer a few weeks or even months to complete.

 

On the other hand, WSS provides an exciting R & D opportunity for professional R & D personnel. because the WSS architecture and functions can only direct you to a certain distance, you will soon find that you need to create a custom list type, which is Web part, event handler, WSS components such as workflow write custom code. As a development platform, WSS was built on the principle of developing excellent scalability at the beginning. the WSS development platform includes the object model, Web Part framework, Web Services, and site creation model, which together provide the infrastructure for scalable portal applications.

 

Customization and development

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When you first use the WSS platform to design software, it is critical to clarify the differences between customization and development. WSS is flexible for users because it is designed to provide support for high-level customization. as we have pointed out, you no longer need to be a developer or create a complex and highly functional site.

 

A sophisticated user can create and customize lists and document libraries. users can also customize and personalize the appearance of their pages by modifying Web parts. advanced users can even provide a trademark-style ending solution efficiently, which can be achieved by customizing the dashboard pages and stacked style sheets associated with SharePoint in SharePoint designer.

 

You should remember that WSS saves the customized information of all sites by modifying the data in the content database. this applies to creating a new list, customizing an existing list (adding columns or views), or modifying any types of data through SharePoint designer.

 

In fact, saving customized information in the content database is both a weakness and a weakness of WSS. the advantage is that it provides users and site administrators with so much flexibility in temporary customized operations. it is a weakness of Professional Software, because such customized modifications are difficult to implement version control, and it is difficult to replicate between multiple sites.

 

Consider a typical ASP. net Development Project. all the source code of the application in your work exists in a separate folder with your development. once you finish the initial design and implementation of the site, you can add all site source files to a source code control management system, such as Microsoft Visual sourcesafe. this allows you to control the deployment and update in a disciplined manner after the site is deployed to the production environment. you can also select some modifications to the test environment where your page and code will be fully tested before being pushed to the production environment.

 

As a developer, you need to ask yourself the following questions: how do you guide source code management control for customization? How can you make a list definition or page instance custom modification, from the R & D environment to the test environment, and then to the production environment? How do you make custom modifications on one site and reuse your modifications on the other 100 different sites? Unfortunately, these problems are very difficult. Generally, you will find that the trouble caused by a possible solution is not worthwhile.

 

Fortunately, as a R & D engineer, you can work at the level of WSS-customized infrastructure. specifically, you can use underlying source files to create underlying definitions such as lists and page templates. these underlying source files do not exist in the content database. On the contrary, they exist in the file system of the Web Front-End Server. work at this level is a little more complex, and there is a steep learning curve. in any case, it enables you to manage the source code and migrate pages and code from the R & D environment to the production environment in a more disciplined manner. this method also makes it possible to implement version control and code reuse between multiple sites, between Web applications, and between server farms.

 

For customization and R & D, we use the following standards to differentiate.

WSS CustomizationUpdate a site by modifying the data in the content database, usually in a browser or in SharePoint designer. Site customization does not need to be performed on the front-end server.

WSS DevelopmentThe involved files must be deployed in the file system on the front-end server. WSS development includes creating page templates, list definitions, and DLL for creating compiled components, including Web parts, eventhandler, and workflow templates. WSS development at this level is also calledDeveloping provisioning components.

 

Remember, developers must have certain permissions on front-end services, because they need to push pages, templates, assembly files, and other files to front-end servers. if you work in a WSS environment and you have no permission to modify the front-end server, you cannot deploy any R & D achievements. in such an environment, you can only use customized technologies-technologies completed by modifying the content in the content database.

 

Despite the great flexibility provided by customization, development is indeed more powerful. R & D is undoubtedly a better way to create a reusable WSS solution, and the development method can optimize the site response time and throughput for high load.

 

SharePoint R & D opportunities

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As a developer, you have many different ways to expand WSS. some WSS page types allow you to directly write the hosted code in the background; others do not. however, you can.. Net user control, and then apply these components on pages that do not support direct background code writing.

 

Wss3.0 is enhanced by adding ASP.. Net master pages and Cascading Style Sheets. this provides a lot of control methods for you to create a flag site or top-level management. there are also ASP. the net navigation provider framework allows you to create standard ASP in Sharepoint.. Net site.

 

You can also develop many custom components that can be used in WSS sites. these components include ASP. NET Server Control, Web part, event handler, custom data domain type, custom policy.

 

As a developer, you also have the ability to control how to store data on a custom site. WSS allows you to define custom list types and document libraries to control which views can be exposed to users and which columns are included in the list or document library.

 

Wss3.0 added an item innovation called site column (website column ). the website column is a reusable column definition that can be used in multiple lists. the website column defines the name of a column, the data domain type under it, and other features such as the default value, format, and validity confirmation. once you define a website bar, you can modify the custom list and the schema of the document library to reuse them. one obvious benefit is that you can modify the website bar in one place and make your modifications take effect in all the lists that use this website bar.

 

Wss3.0 also has a powerful innovation aimed at content storage. it is called content type (content type ). A content type is a flexible definition of The WSS type used by the course. It defines its data columns and its behavior in a list, document, or document library. for example, you can create a content type for a customer demonstration document, including a series of unique data columns, an event handler, and its own document template. you can also create a second content type for a user requirement document, including some data columns, a workflow, and a different document template. then you can create a new document library and configure this document library to support both content types. content types are very important for wss3.0, because wss2.0 does not have the ability to support mixed types of content in lists and document libraries.

 

Another great development opportunity is to use the new office open XML document format. this new technology introduced by Microsoft Office 2007 provides you with custom components on the server side (such as event handler or workflow ), ability to generate or manipulate Microsoft Office Word files and Microsoft Office Excel files. this document removes the need to install a certain version of Microsoft Office application on the server. everything can be done by programming the server database. Such a database provides a high degree of scalability and robustness.

 

One of the most exciting aspects of wss3.0 extension is the workflow. WSS is built on Microsoft's new technology windows Workflow Foundation, and Windows Workflow Foundation is. net Framework 3.0. WSS adds an additional dimension based on the Windows Workflow Foundation. The list items and documents on the WSS site can be attached with some commercial logic. WSS extends the basic model of Windows Workflow Foundation by connecting a task list (SharePoint task list) and a history list (SharePoint workflow History List) to each workflow. this increases the responsibility and reliability of workflow, and is more user-friendly, such as the workflow for reviewing and approving documents.

 

WSS and Moss are both attached with workflows, which can be used after installation. WSS includes a simple routing workflow for easing and approving a category of things. moss provides more complex workflows that support features such as Web content management approval process.

 

The creation of custom workflows represents an obvious extension point. developers can use this point to create commercial solutions using WSS Or Moss. in addition to standard support for Visual Studio extensions for the Windows Workflow Foundation, the Office team also provides a WSS-specific workflow software development kit (SDK ), there is also a workflow starter kit (Beginner's Toolkit), including a visual Studio Project template for creating custom workflow for a specified WSS site.

 

The dependency between security and site members is another opportunity for developers to expand the standard WSS infrastructure. earlier versions of WSS are closely related to Windows accounts and Microsoft Active Directory, making SharePoint not applicable to Internet-facing sites. this is not a problem for wss3.0. ASP. NET 2.0 provides a new infrastructure for authentication providers. The new architecture for SharePoint user authentication is based on that.

 

If you do not want to save the WSS user account in the Active Directory, you can simply create or obtain an ASP.. Net certification provider, the change program is designed as another identity recognition storage medium, such as the SQL Server database. the enhancement of this architecture enables wss3.0 to gain a wider range of capabilities as a platform to create internet-facing sites.

 

For example, Asp.net has a form Authentication provider that allows you to save user accounts in SQL Server. the authentication provider can be used in the wss3.0 site. you do not need to do much, you can put your WSS site on the Internet, allowing unknown users to register as site members. ASP. net2.0 provides a convenient support for creating and saving user accounts, allowing you to manage user accounts and even allow users to modify or reset their passwords. you can. the Application Programming Technology in the. NET solution is the same as that in wss3.0 to manage user accounts.