[TechED Session review] WSS 3.0 and MOSS as a development platform

I just finished David Gristwood's talk about SharePoint as a development platform - very interesting overview but not a lot of in depth topics (I should probably not expect more from a Level 200 session). Here is a quick rundown of my OneNote notes :

7 reasons why developers will love SharePoint 2007 (WSS 3.0 and MOSS 2007):

1. Built on top of ASP.NET 2.0

• Web Parts (But also master pages, provider model, ….)
• Site template with behaviors + different components (web parts, lists, etc …)
• Use plain ASP.NET 2.0 when you really need full control on all aspect of the platform. When reproducibility/reusability is a key use WSS or MOSS
• Web part manager, web part zones - ootb present in WSS/MOSS

2. Data, metadata, features, content types …

• Rich Object Model
• Features - possible to hook up your own code and UI - activate and deactivate features - more flexible model

3. InfoPath Forms Services

• Forms are everywhere
• InfoPath Forms Services offer server side generation and handling of forms

4. Workflow

• Workflow technology
  • Business run on business processes
  • Succesfull executing business process is a key success factor for companies
  • Easier for developers - provide another layer of abstraction - easier to visualize complex software problems
  • More time on business process development and less on plumbing (state management, etc …)
  • Code creap - with every change - easier to build modular software

5. Excel services

• Great charting and calculation engine
• Now server-side calculation engine available for browser based spreadsheet viewing & interactivity (It's like DDE all over again but this time on a scalable server platform)

6. Business Data Catalog (BDC)

• XML metadata driven engine to integrate your backend systems (CRM, ERP systems, …)
• OOTB web parts present - Business Data Detail WebPart, Business Data List Web Part, ...
• Will evolve into Line of Business Integration (LOBi) and Office Business Entities (OBE) - unification of the programming model on the client and server side of Office

7. Lots of other stuff : document and storage enhancements, Business Intelligence solutions possible, multi language support, wikis and blogs, ...

tags: sharepoint2007, sharepoint+2007, MOSS, MOSS2007, WSS3, office2007 , TechEd-Developers