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Business Connectivity Serviceswith SharePoint 2010

Alexander Meijers

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About me

• Alexander Meijers• Solution Architect / SharePoint Consultant• Over 16 years of IT experience• Small to large SharePoint projects• Owner of the Dutch SharePoint User Group• SharePoint Black belts group• SharePoint Geek and Speaker

• Blog: http://www.bloggix.com• Usergroup: http://www.dutchsug.nl• Twitter: @ameijers

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Agenda

• BCS Architecture• BCS Components• Tools & Solution Types• Web Parts• Security

Demo’s with SharePoint Designer 2010 and Visual Studio 2010!

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BCS ARCHITECTURE

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BCS Architecture

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BCS Architecture

• BDC Metadata – store provides the storage for a collection of External Content Types

• BDC Server Runtime – connects to external data through External Content Types

• OOB Web Parts – available to display external data and provides deep integration through

external lists

• BCS Security– supports Secure Store Service or custom security model

• Solution Packages – Package BCS solutions as Visual Studio Tools for Office (VSTO)– delivering to SharePoint Workspace, Outlook, Word

• Data support– SQL, Dynamics, SAP, Siebel, LOB, Web 2.0

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BCS COMPONENTS

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BCS Components

• External Content Types• External Lists• Associations• Profile page

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External Content Type

“Describes the schema and data access capabilities of an external data source and its behavior inside SharePoint and Office clients”

• Stored in the Metadata store of the BDC service• Connections default / client• As native Office entity in SharePoint, Outlook, SharePoint Workspace,

Word, InfoPath, Access, other through code• Permissions• Operations like Read Item, Read List, Create, Update, Delete methods• Allows you to create associations• Allows you to specify actions (via BDC Service)• Profile page

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External List

“A means to expose external data defined by an External Content Type as an ordinary SharePoint list”

• Trustful environment• Searchable• Not all list options are available

– Workflow not allowed– Not possible to add / change columns

• Taking lists offline– Office Item Type Generic List, Appointment, Contact, Task

and Post

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Association

“Relations between External Content Types to enrich your data”

• Based on foreign key– One-to-many association – Self-referential association

• Not based on foreign key– One-to-many association– Many-to-many association– Association based on uniqueness of multiple ECT’s

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Profile pages“Pages used for showing relations (associations) between the External Content Types”

• Defined as default action in your ECT

• Created / Upgraded when generated based on the association

• Using BDC Web Parts• Allows you to run

other custom defined actions

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TOOLS & SOLUTION TYPES

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Tools

• SharePoint Designer 2010• Visual Studio 2010

• SharePoint 2010– BDC Service– Metadata store

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Solution TypesSimple

• OOB Ux on thin and rich clients (Outlook and Groove) based on External Lists

• Custom forms In SharePoint and Groove

• Connect to existing back-end integration services or simple databases

• Simple BDC models• Few ECT’s • Simple association

• Transparent packaging• Managed by BCS

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Advanced

• OOB UX and data integration on thin and rich clients

• Applications that support VSTO add-in

• Through Office, SharePoint and BCS Models

• Custom back-end connectivity through .NET objects

• Complex BDC models• Many ECT’s• Complex associations

• Explicit packaging• Managed by developers

Power UserRAD Developer

AdvancedDeveloper

No coding Custom Code

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Solution scenario’s

Simple Advanced

Client

Server

Microsoft WordMicrosoft OutlookSharePoint Workspace

SharePoint Designer 2010

VSTO 4 SolutionsDeclarative Solutions

.NET Host Connector

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SharePoint Designer 2010Demo

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Visual Studio 2010Demo

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WEB PARTS

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Web Parts

• Business Data Item Builder• Business Data Item• Business Data List• Business Data Related List• Business Data Actions

• Business Data Connectivity Filter

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SECURITY

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Security

Authentication type

WCF Connector Database Connector

.NET Host connector

SQL N/A Yes Code based

Username & Password

Yes Yes Code based

NTLM through Yes Yes Yes

Claims token Yes No Code based

Oauth / LiveID Code Based No Code based

There are different security options available when using BCS solutions

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BCS Runtime

Apps

Web Parts

CredentialsDelegation tokenTicketsOther

Security modes

PassThrough• Uses logged-on

user

RevertToSelf• Uses process

account

SSO Authentication• Credentials and

other from Secure Store

Legacy LOBClaims AwareService

Web 2.0

Secure Store

Service

ProcessAccount

LoggedOn

User

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Questions?