Overview of SharePoint Server 2010 Features and the Las Vegas Conference
Today, it became available to a wide audience of descriptions of some of the new features of SharePoint Server 2010. So long had to keep silent about them :)
The goal pursued by developers - on the new platform, you can quickly create the solutions needed by business, without spending resources on the deployment of specialized systems. When designing, they proceeded from the fact that the modern user actively uses both the phone, and the browser, and ordinary applications, and, accordingly, he must always have access to the information he needs.
I propose to watch demos and express your opinion - will the product help in solving urgent problems?
')
You can quickly rewind the video to the description of the most interesting features using Feature Highlights.
Of course, each opportunity deserves a separate article, and I am sure they will appear later, and I will only go over the most interesting.
The wave of changes in interfaces that started in the client applications of Office 2007 due to the fact that the functions for the menu became too many, has come to SharePoint. Users perceive Office apps in the ruler and SharePoint equally, intuitively finding the necessary functionality by opening the necessary tab, without additional training.
Although the concept of Office application becomes blurry - after all, office applications, such as Word and Excel, will acquire web versions and users will be able to edit documents directly on the SharePoint site, only using a browser.
An example of such a simplified approach in the interface is the editing of content that can be done directly on the same page, simply by switching to the edit tab.
Remarkably, it all works not only in Internet Explorer, but also in Safari and FireFox. The screenshot shows both the new interface and the ability to edit, and FireFox, in which it all works.
It has long been obvious that the limitations of web applications in SharePoint can be successfully replenished with Silverlight functionality. Look at the content of the 10th module in this tutorial to see how widely this approach can be used. Only here it was not very convenient to build such applications. And now the Silverlight Web Part has appeared and now you don’t need to program anything to embed a Silverlight application.
You know that Visio diagrams can be made dynamic? Well, for example, to display the location of the workplace employee on the floor plan. Well, or to visualize the workflow, as, for example, described here . Only earlier it was possible to view these live charts only in Visio, and now you can simply open the SharPoint site and visually see the status of a specific process.
Now it’s enough to link the site lists with SharePoint Workspace (the new name for Microsoft Office Groove) and your web application will start supporting offline script. We changed the information in the system while driving the train or were at a meeting with the customer, went online and everything was synchronized with the SharePoint site. In essence, SharePoint Workspace for SharePoint is the same as Outlook for Exchange.
SharePoint Designer has matured considerably. With it, you can create more complex workflow and even work with external data.
In Visual Studio 2010, there are a lot of new development features in SharePoint - Explorer for Sharepoint sites, just like the ones for databases,
The ability to draw web desks in the design view
and a bunch of types of projects and wizards, including for working with workflows and external data:
Search for errors and develop applications has become much easier, because On the SharePoint pages, you can enable Developer Dashboard with debugging information.
This is really cool stuff. Previously, external data using BDC could be published to SharePoint for reading and use them in lists, profiles, or search them ( description for those who are not up to date ), now you can also change the data! SharePoint, in fact, really becomes a full-fledged and flexible interface to databases and external systems.
And since the SharePoint platform is scalable and it already has software interfaces for expansion and integration, authentication and access control models are implemented, there is page rendering and administration interfaces, then you don’t have to do this yourself - web applications will be really powerful, and much simpler.
Not enough standard functionality for viewing and editing entities? Extend yourself in SharePoint Designer or Visual Studio 2010:
Also, you can now use LINQ to query data in SharePoint. Look at how elegant the query looks like, in which all possible errors will come out at the compilation stage:
I have already spoken above about Silverlight for use in SharePoint. Indeed, publishing a Silverlight application is very simple, but developing a Silverlight application to work with SharePoint is as easy as using the Client Object Model. Now in client .NET and Silverlight applications, as well as in JavaScript! There is an opportunity to work with Sharepoint data without messing around with web services.
The developers have worked on optimizing lists with a large number of entries, and in addition now the user is told that the list is inefficient and offers options for optimizing it:
Now you can view and restore the contents of sites from backups stored directly in files, without deploying them in a separate recovery farm - I know that there are people who have been waiting for this opportunity :)
Analyzers, wizards and reports appeared to help you quickly diagnose the condition of the farm, set it up and get a report. The interface has also changed for administrators - much more features are available without additional clicks.
These are just some of the innovations. There is something to hide;)
The new version of SharePoint will be a grand event in IT, and the Las Vegas conference on October 19, dedicated to SharePoint 2010, and Steve Ballmer will open it personally. Therefore,
write - Sergey.Polyakov@microsoft.com , we will think how to organize and issue invitations. Do not delay, because the vacancies will disperse much faster than it was last year - then there was no such announcement.
The goal pursued by developers - on the new platform, you can quickly create the solutions needed by business, without spending resources on the deployment of specialized systems. When designing, they proceeded from the fact that the modern user actively uses both the phone, and the browser, and ordinary applications, and, accordingly, he must always have access to the information he needs.
I propose to watch demos and express your opinion - will the product help in solving urgent problems?
')
You can quickly rewind the video to the description of the most interesting features using Feature Highlights.
Of course, each opportunity deserves a separate article, and I am sure they will appear later, and I will only go over the most interesting.
New interface
The wave of changes in interfaces that started in the client applications of Office 2007 due to the fact that the functions for the menu became too many, has come to SharePoint. Users perceive Office apps in the ruler and SharePoint equally, intuitively finding the necessary functionality by opening the necessary tab, without additional training.
Although the concept of Office application becomes blurry - after all, office applications, such as Word and Excel, will acquire web versions and users will be able to edit documents directly on the SharePoint site, only using a browser.
Simplified content editing
An example of such a simplified approach in the interface is the editing of content that can be done directly on the same page, simply by switching to the edit tab.
Not only Internet Explorer
Remarkably, it all works not only in Internet Explorer, but also in Safari and FireFox. The screenshot shows both the new interface and the ability to edit, and FireFox, in which it all works.
Silverlight
It has long been obvious that the limitations of web applications in SharePoint can be successfully replenished with Silverlight functionality. Look at the content of the 10th module in this tutorial to see how widely this approach can be used. Only here it was not very convenient to build such applications. And now the Silverlight Web Part has appeared and now you don’t need to program anything to embed a Silverlight application.
Visio on the Web
You know that Visio diagrams can be made dynamic? Well, for example, to display the location of the workplace employee on the floor plan. Well, or to visualize the workflow, as, for example, described here . Only earlier it was possible to view these live charts only in Visio, and now you can simply open the SharPoint site and visually see the status of a specific process.
SharePoint Workspace
Now it’s enough to link the site lists with SharePoint Workspace (the new name for Microsoft Office Groove) and your web application will start supporting offline script. We changed the information in the system while driving the train or were at a meeting with the customer, went online and everything was synchronized with the SharePoint site. In essence, SharePoint Workspace for SharePoint is the same as Outlook for Exchange.
SharePoint Designer
SharePoint Designer has matured considerably. With it, you can create more complex workflow and even work with external data.
Visual Studio 2010 SharePoint tools
In Visual Studio 2010, there are a lot of new development features in SharePoint - Explorer for Sharepoint sites, just like the ones for databases,
The ability to draw web desks in the design view
and a bunch of types of projects and wizards, including for working with workflows and external data:
Search for errors and develop applications has become much easier, because On the SharePoint pages, you can enable Developer Dashboard with debugging information.
Business Connectivity Services (formerly called Business Data Catalog)
This is really cool stuff. Previously, external data using BDC could be published to SharePoint for reading and use them in lists, profiles, or search them ( description for those who are not up to date ), now you can also change the data! SharePoint, in fact, really becomes a full-fledged and flexible interface to databases and external systems.
And since the SharePoint platform is scalable and it already has software interfaces for expansion and integration, authentication and access control models are implemented, there is page rendering and administration interfaces, then you don’t have to do this yourself - web applications will be really powerful, and much simpler.
Not enough standard functionality for viewing and editing entities? Extend yourself in SharePoint Designer or Visual Studio 2010:
LINQ and Client Object Model
Also, you can now use LINQ to query data in SharePoint. Look at how elegant the query looks like, in which all possible errors will come out at the compilation stage:
I have already spoken above about Silverlight for use in SharePoint. Indeed, publishing a Silverlight application is very simple, but developing a Silverlight application to work with SharePoint is as easy as using the Client Object Model. Now in client .NET and Silverlight applications, as well as in JavaScript! There is an opportunity to work with Sharepoint data without messing around with web services.
Large lists
The developers have worked on optimizing lists with a large number of entries, and in addition now the user is told that the list is inefficient and offers options for optimizing it:
Chips for administrators
Now you can view and restore the contents of sites from backups stored directly in files, without deploying them in a separate recovery farm - I know that there are people who have been waiting for this opportunity :)
Analyzers, wizards and reports appeared to help you quickly diagnose the condition of the farm, set it up and get a report. The interface has also changed for administrators - much more features are available without additional clicks.
These are just some of the innovations. There is something to hide;)
Further steps?
- Take into account system requirements and plan upgrades to 64bit architecture, since SharePoint 2010 will only work on it. This also applies to the SQL server, since 64-bit SQL Server 2008 or 64-bit SQL Server 2005 will be required.
- Install Service Pack 2 for Windows SharePoint Service 3.0 and Service Pack 2 for SharePoint Server 2007 and run the Upgrade Checker Tool which is included in Service Pack 2.
- If Internet Explorer 6 remains in the organization, then it will most likely work incorrectly and you will need to upgrade browsers to Internet Explorer 7, Internet Explorer 8 or use FireFox 3.x
- It makes sense to continue to follow Best Practices for administrators and Coding Best Practices for developers
- If you are not yet using the SharePoint Solution format (WSP files) for your developed solutions, it’s time to start doing this, because in Sharepoint 2010, this format will become the standard.
- If you can use Visual Studio 2008 for developing SharePoint Server 2007, then for SharePoint 2010 you will need Visual Studio 2010. Therefore, watch out for beta versions of the studio.
- I put links to TechDays reports on Language Integrated Query (LINQ) , Enterprise Models and Silverlight if you don't know them yet. If you want to quickly master new approaches in developing for SharePoint - these technologies will come in handy.
- Well, in order not to just wait for the next beta testing news - the most important step is to participate in the conference.
The new version of SharePoint will be a grand event in IT, and the Las Vegas conference on October 19, dedicated to SharePoint 2010, and Steve Ballmer will open it personally. Therefore,
- if you work in a large company that seriously thinks or uses SharePoint as a platform for business automation
- or are you a partner for whom SharePoint is a key technology
- if you want to find out how other companies and partners have already started using SharePoint 2010 and want to get first-hand information,
- Well, in the end, you just want to visit Las Vegas ( Denis Kortunov's Las Vegas report on participation in the Mix ),
- and also, it is possible to pay for tickets and participation,
write - Sergey.Polyakov@microsoft.com , we will think how to organize and issue invitations. Do not delay, because the vacancies will disperse much faster than it was last year - then there was no such announcement.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/64372/
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