Microsoft SharePoint has been a key tool in collaboration within organizations for many years. It serves many important functions, including the creation and management of intranets (websites for internal use) as well as the integration with many other parts of Office 365, such Excel or Skype for Business.
Since its release in 2001, Sharepoint has come a long ways since then. It is now available in a variety deployment options, including the SharePoint Server on-premises and the Office 365-bundled SharePoint Online. The SharePoint Framework is another important addition to the SharePoint family. It makes it possible to create apps for the platform using a new framework called SharePoint Framework.
SharePoint Framework: What’s it all about?
The.NET framework has been the foundation of Office applications development for a long time. SharePoint is a complex web app that requires multiple pages to be updated. This has made SharePoint a difficult platform for developers with experience in.NET.
SharePoint development was not evolving with the platform until recently. Despite the vastly different tasks, developers had to rely upon a similar set tools to Microsoft’s. SharePoint is not limited to the traditional workflow of writing nearly everything in C# programming language, then compiling it into dynamic-link libraries is fine. Enterprises must support multiple sites in the age of cloud computing.
SharePoint development must include many of the key features of cloud computing, such as:
Support for open source software that can be easily modified.Client-side development, which reduces overhead, improves response times and supports mobile app strategies.Scalability as business requirements change and more users come online.Tight integrations with numerous other applications and services in the cloud.SharePoint Framework is basically a cloud-conscious successor to the old .NET model. It uses open-source technologies like TypeScript, Yeoman and webpack to create a toolchain. This flexible design allows developers to have more control than they used to have when they relied heavily on iFrame elements.
SharePoint Framework also makes it possible to develop client-side applications for the first time. Its robust HttpClient allows for easy authentication to SharePoint Online and Office 365. However, SharePoint Framework is not compatible with SharePoint Server 2016 at this time. Support for it will be added in Feature Pack 2, which will be released later in 2017.
“Client-side Development is also available in SharePoint Framework for the first time.”
Client-side development is platform independent, which is crucial as it eliminates the need to have knowledge of the.NET universe. SharePoint Framework uses a JavaScript-based model, which can reduce the need to use expensive.NET resources.
SharePoint Framework: Causes and effects
JavaScript, a multi-purpose programming languages, was one of the key trends that led to the need for SharePoint Framework. JavaScript was originally created in the 1990s as a frontend language to web development. However, JavaScript has become much more versatile. It can be used in both client and server-side applications. It can also embedded in many runtimes for desktop applications.
“Seeing full-stack developers as the largest occupation, and JavaScript as the top language among both backend-end and front-end aligns to what we’ve seen in overall JavaScript adoption,” said Mikeal Rogers (a community manager for Node.js Foundation), in an email to The New Stack.
Stack Overflow’s recent survey of over 56,000 developers found that JavaScript has outperformed PHP and other backend languages like Java in popularity. The evolution of JavaScript is partly what has led to SharePoint Framework. It was designed for a world where JavaScript of SharePoint apps runs within a browser. It makes API calls to SharePoint Online and Office 365.
SharePoint Framework, an extension of Office 365’s SharePoint platform, allows for greater integration between SharePoint and other Microsoft products. SharePoint has been a key influencer on many of Microsoft’s collaboration services such as Power BI, PowerApps and Office Groups. SharePoint Framework will continue this long-standing trend by giving developers more control over how they create custom applications.
SharePoint Framework is a new way to bring SharePoint into the future. It allows SharePoint to compete with other Office applications like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, which have been available for years on many devices. SharePoint used to be something you could only access from a desktop or laptop, while other apps had versions that could be used on smartphones and tablets. SharePoint Framework allows SharePoint apps to have the same polished look, feel, and functionality as the rest of Office 365.
Get a certification from New Horizons Computer Learning Center to become proficient in SharePoint
SharePoint is a complex platform but it is worth learning because of its many capabilities in collaboration, project management, and application development. At a New Horizons Learning Group Campus near you, you will be able to acquire the skills necessary to become an expert in SharePoint and the rest of Office Suite, including applications like Skype for Business or Azure.
Take a look at our course listings to see the variety of options available. Take a look at our webinars page to learn more about the benefits of New Horizons.
