Developing for SharePoint Online (Cloud Based SharePoint Site)

In the previous post I spoke about a point in the project where I wanted to do some specific things with the site. I also spoke about some difficulties I encountered. In this post I'll clarify the issues I'm facing. To begin with I'll describe the setup I am working with. It is a Microsoft BPOS (Business Productivity Online Services) SharePoint site. This is a cloud based SharePoint site based on SharePoint Server 2007. I access the site in an internet browser through a URL like this one https://exampleemeamicrosoftonlinecom-1.sharepoint.emea.microsoftonline.com/. Any changes I've made to the SharePoint site have been done in an internet browser or through SharePoint Designer. To edit a cloud based SharePoint site in SharePoint Designer simply click on the "open site" button and enter the URL used to access the site in the browser and then enter a username and password associated with the site.

Up until this point in the project  it has been sufficient to develop in an internet browser and through SharePoint Designer. However, now the site needs to function in very specific ways. These include;

• Dynamically calculating (calculating in real time) a result from three SharePoint drop down menus and presenting the result to the user before they commit the value to a SharePoint List.
• Populating the left hand side of a paired list box from a SharePoint List
• Each value in the left hand side must be associated to a control number when they are added to the right hand side of the paired list box. When the user commits the values to a SharePoint List both the value and the control number must be together.
• When the user adds a value to the right hand side of a second paired list box then a completion date must be appended to each value on the right hand side of that paired list box.

Initially I was going to use JavaScript for the first problem but I was unsure of using it with SharePoint drop down menus. A friend suggested that it would be messy to use JavaScript and to simply use the SharePoint APIs. This lead to the problem of setting up Visual Studio with a SharePoint BPOS site. I posted my problem on a couple of forums, the best answer coming from the TechNet forum. Basically Visual Studio is not built to develop for remote SharePoint sites and using a shared SharePoint environment means that it is not possible to deploy solutions built with compiled code.

Now I'm in the position where I have to use client-side code such as JavaScript for the functionality I need and also look at different ways around my other problems. So far I've got the problem of dynamically calculating the values just about done. There is still an issue of using the drop down menus with a List. I will continue to find work arounds for the problems as this prototype has to be developed on the setup I was given. If this was not just a prototype I would not recommend developing on a cloud based SharePoint site.

Appreciating how fast you can Develop on SharePoint

I've been working with SharePoint now for just over a month and I have to admit building a web application is quick and fairly easily. My first impressions of the platform were not good and I may have been a bit harsh on some points, but I do still feel if this application was to grow it would need a relational database. I know it is possible to import a relational database into SharePoint but the way SharePoint is set up for this project it's not possible.

SharePoint has helped so much with the speed of the development, I could not have gotten this far with the prototype if I was building it from scratch using ASP or JSP or PHP etc. It is also a testament to Microsoft for the support they have for their products. There are so many official resources on top of the large number of developer communities, which has helped immensely in troubleshooting and I've gotten some fantastic tips.

Everything is not exactly clear sailing as I am finding some restrictions developing for the platform. In some cases I can see where lower level coding would provide an easy solution but on SharePoint you need to use a work around. I suppose on the other hand lower level coding would be time consuming and in the end, there are work arounds. Solutions for SharePoint has forced me to think in a different way than I am used to when creating products for the web, and that has to be a good thing.

At the moment I'm working on two problems I'm having with SharePoint. One of which I've just about solved and I will post up a tutorial when I'm finished.

Going Ahead with SharePoint

We sat down this week and it was decided to go ahead with SharePoint even if some of the features are sacrificed. The main aim of this project is to have a prototype ready so that customers can say they like it or they don't.

I've been messing around with the data and SharePoint Lists and I will admit it looks handy to throw something together. I've had to rethink a lot of the original design as I based it on a relational database. I've put some Lists up and messed around with them, but I'm still waiting on SharePoint Designer to be installed on my machine. I've downloaded the free copy of SharePoint Designer 2007 onto my laptop but I can't really use it with the wireless network in here. Maybe with SharePoint Designer I will find a way of including all the features, I have some ideas and I'll update here with the progress.

The Wrong Platform

So I've made my decision, I think it's the wrong platform. Developing on SharePoint seems like a nightmare and for this project I would have to bend the platform to suit the needs of the system. There's plenty of resources out there where people talk about joining SharePoint Lists and manipulating Lists using Views and Web Parts but it's all unnecessary coding to get something simple to work! I can't guarantee the performance of the application or if it could be further developed due to the restrictions with storing data in SharePoint. Storing unrelated data with a 2000 item cap is bad. The project could not go from prototype to commercial release using SharePoint. To me SharePoint is aimed at people who can't code and just want a simple team website.

Sure it'll save me time as I don't have to code a user database or any lower level code but at the price I can't develop what I want, I'm restricted. It'll save time with testing too but I can see it getting messy.

I'm left scratching my head why SharePoint clumps information into a List and you can't use SQL. It's pointless having a system like that because there is so much power with SQL, I just don't know? I've read so many blogs and articles about developers constantly coming up with workaround for their SharePoint site and I don't want to be one of them. Also so many people frustrated trying to import a database into SharePoint.

I've come to dislike SharePoint without even getting stuck into it. Why use SharePoint when I can use PHP and MySQL. There are probably situations where SharePoint is a great idea but for this project it's not.