Pardon the vague question, but I've just inherited a project to build a couple dozen forms pulling data from a SQL 2005 database. The forms are mostly standard database lookups with just a couple updates so the data layer is very simple -- I'm the DBA -- but we just recently started using SharePoint WSS 3.0 for a departmental web site and I would prefer to integrate these forms into WSS rather than build a separate standalone ASP.NET app.
I'm hoping there is some RAD framework out there that integrates with WSS for data bound forms. I've been searching online, but haven't found anything very promising and the data viewer web part in SharePoint Designer looks complicated to integrate with an external SQL database.
TIA,
Rusty
Given that there isn't any real integration with SharePoint happening, the easiest option is probably to build the forms as standard .net user controls then add them to SharePoint using SmartPart.
Related
To my knowledge, web parts have the ability to display portions of other Web pages.
Is it possible to integrate SharePoint 07 with Project Server 07 and display portions of a Web page from the Project Server via a web part that's on a SharePoint site. If it's possible, how difficult is it to do?
I found these pages (Integration with Office SharePoint Server 2007, and SharePoint Integration) explaining a bit about the integration but I'm no SharePoint expert, I'm actually new to SharePoint, so much of what is mentioned there doesn't help me much.
You may already be aware that Project Server actually is SharePoint, with additional components. A Project Web Access (PWA) portal is a SharePoint site collection that is aware of both the SharePoint content database and the four Project Server databases, and contains a boatload of web parts and pages that present Project data and manage processes within the SharePoint site collection
The simplest out-of-the-box web part for showing pages within a SharePoint page is the Page Viewer Web Part. Under the hood, it drops an IFrame on the page to give the effect of looking at a page within a page.
I'm not familiar with Project Server but I am familiar with SharePoint. Web Parts in SharePoint can contain any arbitrary code and are more or less identical to regular ASP.NET web parts - in fact SharePoint web parts inherit from ASP.NET web parts.
From the second article you mentioned, it looks like Project Server contains its own set of SharePoint web parts, so you are likely to get better integration with SharePoint using these than simply by displaying a web page inside another one (sounds to me more like an IFRAME).
As a quick SharePoint overview, there are 3 versions of SPT 2007 - Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, which ships alongside Windows Server 2003; Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) 2007 Standard, which adds portal, content management and enterprise search features; and MOSS 2007 Enterprise, which adds other tools for line-of-business app integration, including the Business Data Catalog (BDC). The BDC is meant to be an easy way of getting line-of-business data into SharePoint. It uses an XML definition file but don't try cutting one by hand!
However, SharePoint 2010 has now been released (I'm not an expert). SharePoint 2010 Foundation is roughly equivalent to WSS 3.0. SharePoint 2010 is 64 bit only. It looks like quite a nice step up from WSS 3 / MOSS 2007. Don't forget though that SPT 2007 is already 3 years old, so it's already well advanced down its support lifecycle.
We are happy with WSS 3.0 and the only thing that we can't do is that building a workflow form.
We are thinking to use custom ASP.NET coding as in separate stand-alone page or maybe as a webpart. We heard about InfoPath but this is not available unless upgrading to MOSS.
I am just wondering what other people have done in regards to this. MOSS is not really an option at this stage.
I am appreciated your feedback.
We've done a number of custom ASP.NET pages, it's pretty easy when you get the hang of it
We've been asked to create a web application. One part of the specification is that in future, it can be integrated into Sharepoint. The last version of this app was written in PHP and "integrated" by means of an iframe embedded into Sharepoint; not ideal.
I'm looking to understand the use of Sharepoint in this context. I believe that you can write Sharepoint Applications which are more "native" to Sharepoint than the rough-and-ready iframe approach I discussed before. How easy is it to take a standard ASP.NET MVC application and fully integrate it into Sharepoint?
Does anyone have any thoughts, experiences, or resources on this matter?
I think the first question is what kind of integration with SharePoint are you trying to accomplish? The simplest is to use the Page Viewer webpart (i.e. iframe) method. You can also write custom webparts that show data from your custom application. That's a form of integration. The ultimate form of integration, of course, is to make your application run inside of SharePoint. That leads to my next point.
SharePoint (as of version 2007) is essentially a giant ASP.NET framework. So you can theoretically use it to host any ASP.NET web application. I have actually done it before and it works. However, that was a plain old ASP.NET webforms application (not MVC). If this is what you are trying to do, you definitely would need to rewrite your php application in ASP.NET.
In Sharepoint there is a Page Viewer webpart using which you can load a different url. This way you can easily "integrate" your application to sharepoint site ;-)
But if you are really looking at Re Engineering the application in SharePoint then its a different story. You have to study the current application and then develop it in SharePoint.
This fellow has an approach to writing PHP for SharePoint. A key statement:
There are two big tricks – getting the
XML right and using NTLM
authentication.
I am used to building java web applications.
I am used to MCV.
As I learn how to build a Sharepoint site, is it ok to think of building Sharepoint sites similarly, particulary where there is business logic layer, that, for instance, would grab data from various DBs, do some logic, then go to a certain page?
SharePoint and MVC do not play well together, not in a supported way at least. This isn't going to change for 2010 either. It's an ASP.Net Web Forms app, and so acts accordingly.
There is a Open Source Project for SharePoint MVC but you need to understand the plataform first, with some SharePoint for Developers tutorials.
There's Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) and then there is Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS). MOSS considerably more expensive than WSS (which ships as part of Microsoft Server licensing).
My question is: what does MOSS do that makes it worth the extra cost?
..and does Microsoft Search Server not compete with the Business Data Cache (BDC)?
Edit: The feature comparision page is helpful in illustrating the numerous features that MOSS has and WSS does not. By the looks of it, most of MOSS's feature set is Enterprise oriented.
How would you describe the differences (or additional benefits) of MOSS over WSS in a couple of sentences? In essence, what are the "big ticket" items in MOSS (and not in WSS)?
Don't assume that WSS is free in all deployment scenarios. We got a nice wake up call when we deployed WSS in a client-facing extranet configuration. One "main site" w/ a bunch of segregated, client sub-sites. Turns out we needed to buy an "intranet license" (can't remember the exact name) for the OS. This is different from the SharePoint internet connector - it actually lets you use Win 2003 w/ an unlimited number of internet users. Not hugely expensive, but it was a couple thousand dollars we weren't expecting on paying...
About WSS vs MOSS:
WSS in not a portal, it's only a collaborative plateform (there are no publishing features in WSS)
MOSS allows you to use user profils, not WSS
Search functionalities are cheap in WSS compare to MOSS (but you can extend them using Search Server Express)
Many others: Infopath, BDC, Additional WebParts, Additional site and list templates
About Search Server and BDC: They do not compete.
Search Server is the MOSS search engine striped out. So you have only search functionalities (you can index SharePoint, WebSite, FileSystem).
The BDC (Business Data Catalog) allows you to view an external business data source, such as a SQL database (not necessarily SQL Server, it can be Oracle, MySQL....) or webservices. You'll be able to view data in your portal, and integrate this data to any of your list.
The BDC also allows you to index this content source if you have SharePoint Enterprise Edition.
Whether it's worth the extra cost really depends on how many of the added features MOSS brings to the table that you're actually going to use.
The following comparison page by Microsoft will definitely help to answer your question.
Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Edition Comparison
There is a lot built in to WSS but MOSS has a ton of extra stuff as referenced in the other answer.
On the second part of your question.. Search server and Business Data Connector are quite different.. Search server is about finding things... BDC is about merging datasources to be able to use them easily in sharepoint or in connected excel sheets etc.. The focus is on what is being delivered-- search results or data.
I would say if you just need a few collaboration sites for a few internal groups, then wss is just fine. It is when you start using SharePoint for enterprise level applications and as a primary platform for development that you should consider MOSS.