SharePoint 2013 apps, brief overview

SharePoint 2013 development overview

development options

farm solution

sandbox solution

SharePoint hosted app

provider hosted app

Microsoft Azure hosted app

deployment options

on premise farm installation

Office 365

SharePoint Online

hosted installation

development tools

web browser

SharePoint Designer 2013

Visual Studio 2012

"Napa" Office 365 Development Tools

Eclipse, Dreamweaver…

SharePoint 2013 apps are;

a new way to extend SharePoint

2013

self contained

more business scenario focused;

event management

ticketing system

more robust

for end users directly

cloud and/or web oriented

three different apps types

→ fills the entire page UI→ used to implement new scenarios→ example scenario usage can be; ticketing system…

full page app→ surfaces as an iframe in a page→ very similar to web parts→ example scenario usage can be; news ticker, image slider…

app part→ extend ribbon or item menu actions→ similar to SharePoint 2010→ example scenario usage can be; print document menu…

extension app

three flavors of apps hosting

→ no server code allowed→ use html, css and javascript→ can use site elements such as lists, files, and web parts

SharePoint-hosted apps

→ supported by Office 365 → Windows Azure and SQL Azure components are provisioned→ can use site elements such as lists, files, and web parts

auto-hosted apps

→ use your own server infrastructure→ use any technology; .net, java, php…→ can use site elements such as lists, files, and web parts

provider-hosted apps

three different ways to get apps

→ similar to Windows Phone Marketplace or Apple App Store→ subject to submission process and approval

SharePoint store

→ for apps developed internally → for apps acquired and approved for internal use

corporate app store

→ developers can use remote/local SharePoint and Azure APIs to deploy apps with custom code→ APIs restricted to developer site template

custom deployment

SP2013 apps programming model

client

SharePoint

HTML apps JavaScript Client Object Model

.NET Client Object Model REST services

_api/web _api/lists _api/item _api/search

_api

SharePoint 2013 apps boundaries

cannot run server-side code in SharePoint

environment

custom code can only execute in the client, cloud

or on premise

cannot access SharePoint server-side object model

cannot change SharePoint standard definitions

(like list definition, site definition…) or other apps

cannot use some SharePoint components and

services

cannot provide/execute administrative tasks for

SharePoint

why use SharePoint 2013 apps?

→more stable / secure SharePoint environment

→no custom code on server

→better maintainability / upgradeability

←consume apps from store

←customize SharePoint without returning to IT

←quicker delivery time

→develop packages instead of artefacts

→technology independent

→better integrate external services

SharePoint 2013 apps facts

PROS CONSno custom code on server

reduced ramp-up time to build applications

use hosting platform features

buy instead of build

re-finance the development by reselling apps

limitation when modifying/using SP functions

support can get messy if store is not restricted

corporate data in the cloud

you get what you buy, no more no less