Programmatically creating site columns and content types in SharePoint 2010 is a relatively straightforward process, especially with the new project item framework in Visual Studio 2010 and enhancements like CKS:DEV. Create an element file to define the columns, create another to define the content type and specify which columns to include, deploy it and whistle […]

With the inclusion of new tools and features in Visual Studio 2010 which directly support SharePoint development, programmers now have a much wider set of options for creating custom solutions. As with the introduction of any new approach, there are various factors which need to be considered in order to ensure that the final outcome […]

While working on an application which uses SharePoint 2010 claims, I came across a strange error trying to create a password change web part for users who had forgotten their password (and, consequently, can’t log in so they need to change their password without any kind of system identity). I assumed – wrongly – that […]

There are a number of different ways to create customized MOSS publishing sites – through the web UI, SharePoint designer, Visual Studio Extensions for SharePoint, and so on.  But sometimes these aren’t enough – you just have to build it from scratch yourself.  This means diving into the world of custom site definitions, features, xml […]

This isn’t technically a SharePoint-related post as the issue is one of pure XML manipulation but I ran across it while building a custom solution in SharePoint and it took hours to figure it out so I thought it merited some attention. When working with XML, as is often the case in SharePoint (especially when […]

Part One of this series gave a general overview of SharePoint 2010 code deployment using Visual Studio 2010. Part Two described the creation and use of SharePoint Commands. In this installment we will explore SharePoint Deployment Steps and their relationship with both SharePoint Commands and SharePoint Deployment Configurations. Introduction A Deployment Step defines the order […]

Part One of this series gave a general overview of SharePoint 2010 code deployment using Visual Studio 2010. Now it’s time to dig deeper and take an in-depth look at how developers can customize the deployment process. We will begin at the lowest level by creating some custom SharePoint Commands, then move into creating Deployment […]

One of the most exciting aspects of Visual Studio 2010 is the tight integration it will have with SharePoint. The Visual Studio team has worked hard to make the SharePoint developer experience much more streamlined and less dependent upon manual configuration files and custom scripts. They have also made a tremendous investment into extensibility, allowing […]

Thanks to Alan Stevens for retweeting this blog post by Steve Smith. I’ve met Steve at a number of conferences and he’s a really sharp programmer. If you read his post and come away thinking his anti-patterns and anti-practices don’t apply to SharePoint then you need a hefty dose of the red pill – and […]

Good friend and fellow SharePoint MVP Rob Bogue has a great new article on developer.com about general principles for developing high-performance custom code solutions. Rob and I have shared many a beer agonizing over these issues – especially related to SharePoint programming – so I applaud his effort to get as much information as possible […]