Newbie Development environment question
I need help figuring out what / where I need to install to develop for SPS 3.0. I plan to use Visual Studio 2005. But from what I have read you have to install it on a Windows 2003 server with Sharepoint installed (at leas that is for the extensions)? I have Sharepoint 2007 Designer installed and you can edit sites from a client BUT I also need to link in a legacy database in DB2 - and that does not work from SPS 07 Designer.
I can do DB2 connections using Visual Studio 2005 - but what is required to be installed and where (I know I need SDKs and extensions - not sure which ones) - so I can do SPS site development?
Thanks for any help.
Many will disagree or say you shouldn't, but you can develop solutions on your Workstation (XP or other). Simply make a copy of the SharePoint DLLs you need to reference, or reference them through the network if you have access (VS.NET will give you a warning but all will work).
I have not had a problem yet developing on my WinXP box. I usually make a local copy of the DLLs I need to reference and I usually compile directly to the server. But that part is up to you.
Good Luck!
I say that your best bet is to develop from a Win2003 machine, either actual or virtual, with WSS v.3 or MOSS 2007 installed, then Visual Studio. You will have fewer problems and can test throughly before deploying to production. To reference a site from Visual Studio, either local or remote is to use some version of the following lines:
SPSite collection = new SPSite("http://mysite/");
SPWeb site = collection.OpenWeb();
You will then have a reference to your site collection. Each of the objects above have constructor overloads, and collections that you want to inspect and become familiar with in order to effectively work with them; that is do more than rotely access them. You can find some good examples to further your understanding at http://tedpattison.com/.
I hope this helps.
