First Look: SharePoint 2010 Developer Documentation Now Live on MSDN!
By now you’ve probably been hearing some of the big news coming out of the SharePoint Developer Conference being held this week in Las Vegas. Doubtlessly, there’ll be tons more great information coming out of the Conference over the next four days concerning what’s new and notable in SharePoint Foundation 2010 and SharePoint Server 2010. But if you weren’t lucky enough to make it to Vegas this year, or are there but can’t wait for the session on your favorite area of SharePoint development, then have we got something you’ll want to take a close look at:
Introducing the SharePoint 2010 (Beta) Developer Center
That’s right, this morning we launched the SharePoint 2010 (Beta) Developer Center on MSDN. We’re using this new, combined Developer Center to give you your first detailed, public technical information and instruction around both SharePoint Foundation and SharePoint Server 2010. This new sub-site of the revamped SharePoint Developer Center highlights some early videos, documentation, and hands-on lab walkthroughs to introduce you to the exciting developer features on both SharePoint Foundation 2010 and SharePoint Server 2010.
But that‘s not all: we’ve also published a Beta release of the combined SharePoint 2010 SDK!
You’ll definitely want to spend some time on the site, getting ramped up for when the SharePoint 2010 Betas are released in November.
Learn SharePoint from the Ground Up
Of particular interest to developers new to SharePoint will be the Get Started Developing on SharePoint 2010. We’ve put together a series of 10 modules to help you get your feet wet on some of the main areas of SharePoint development, including:
· What Developers Need to Know About SharePoint 2010
· Building Blocks for Web Part Development
· Accessing Data and Objects with Server-Side APIs
· Accessing Data and Objects with Client-Side APIs
· Accessing External Data with Business Connectivity Services
· Developing Business Processes with Workflows
· Creating Silverlight User Interfaces
· Sandboxed Solutions for Web Parts
· Creating Dialog Boxes and Ribbon Controls
Each module includes multiple video lessons, as well as code samples and hands-on lab walkthroughs, to give you a firm grounding in the topics covered.
Even experienced SharePoint developers will want to take a look at the modules that cover brand new development areas, like the client-side APIs, Silverlight user interfaces, sandboxed solutions, and the new ribbon user interface.
Get Your First Look at What’s New for Developers in SharePoint 2010
For an even deeper look at what’s new and notable in SharePoint Foundation and Server 2010, we’ve posted a Beta version of the combined SharePoint 2010 SDK. It’s packed with conceptual, procedural and reference material covering the major developmental areas of both Foundation and Server. All in all, it’s almost half a million words detailing how to develop SharePoint solutions.
For example, take a look here for what’s new in SharePoint Foundation 2010, including:
· Business Connectivity Services
· Mobile Device Development Enhancements
· Ribbon
· Service Application Framework
· Silverlight Integration and the Fluid Application Model
· Windows PowerShell for SharePoint
And take a look here for what’s new in SharePoint Server 2010, including:
· User Profiles and Social Data
· Business Connectivity Services (BCS)
· Enterprise Content Management (ECM)
· SharePoint Enterprise Search
Some other places you might want to start:
· If you’re newer to SharePoint development, you might want to spend some time in the Getting Started and Building Blocks sections of the SDK, getting a firm grounding in the basics.
· If you’re coming to SharePoint from an ASP.NET development background, but sure and check out the Glide Path for ASP.NET Developers section, which is specifically aimed at developers transitioning from ASP.NET development to development on the SharePoint Foundation platform.
Let Us Know What You Want
Now, this SDK is a Beta release, so you’ll likely see some rough edges. But we’ve combined this SDK to cover both SharePoint Foundation and Server, and restructured it to present the continuum of SharePoint development in as logical and intuitive a way as we could. We then packed it with new and updated conceptual, procedural, and reference material.
We’d love to hear what you think of what we’ve done. As always, as you read through the SDK, if you spot issues, don’t see the information you need, or have suggestions, please drop us a line and let us know how we can improve our developer documentation. It’s easy; just do one of the following:
· Enter a comment in the MSDN ratings box
· Email us directly at docthis (at) Microsoft.com
· Email us through this blog
Be sure and check back here often (or even better, subscribe to our RSS feed), as we plan on using the blog to preview draft versions of additional SDK content as it gets written.