sharepoint integration and interoperability - sharepoint saturday philly
TRANSCRIPT
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SharePoint 2010 (and a little 2013)Integration and Interoperability:What you Need to Know
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Presented By: Richard Harbridge
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Thanks To Our Sponsors!
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SharePoint User Group
• SharePoint
• End Users
• Administrators
• Architects
• Developers
• IT Pros
• Meetings: 2nd Tuesday of the month, Microsoft Malvern, 5:30-8 pm
WEB: www.TriStateSharePoint.org
EMAIL: [email protected]
TWITTER: @tristateSP
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SharePoint NetworkAre you an independent consultant or remote worker who deals with SharePoint, Office or Office365?
Do you sometimes feel cut off from the rest of the SharePoint world?
Do you need help with technical or business issues, or just want the chance to socialize with others?
If so, then the SharePoint Network might be for you!
www.SharePointNetwork.org
Who am I?
BostonWashington
Our Goal Today…
From Here To Here
What we will be talking about…1. Business Data Challenges2. SharePoint’s Important Interoperability3. What is the BCS?
• External Content Types• External Columns• External Lists• Extensibility and Tooling
5. Limitations of BCS and SharePoint 2013
4. Demonstration
Bonus!
Business Data Challenges
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Business Data in an Enterprise
Customers FinancialQuality OperationsSuppliersCustomers FinancialQuality OperationsSuppliers
Users
IT
High Overhead (Maintenance, Security)High Integration Costs (Custom)
High Training CostsHigh Dissatisfaction
Redundant Data and Processes!
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Challenges with Business DataChallenge IT End User
Higher Overhead for IT to Service User Requests
Multiple Places to Search
Multiple Places to Administer and Maintain
Multiple Places to Manage Content
Multiple Places to Secure Information
High Data Integration Costs (Often 100% Custom and One Offs)
Silos/Islands of Data Lead to Redundant Data or Processes
Multiple Interfaces; Dissatisfaction and Higher Training Costs
Higher Operational and Compliance Risk
Direct ImpactIndirect Impact
The Outcome
There are challenges that disparate and disconnected business data systems cause.
What to watch out for…
No system, product or application can completely solve business data
challenges.
People
Process
Technology
SharePoint’s Important Interoperability
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“Interoperability is the ability of a system.. to work with other systems.. without special effort on the part of the customer.”
What the heck is Interoperability?
(IHN-tuhr-AHP-uhr-uh-BIHL-ih-tee)
How?
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How do we achieveInteroperability?
2. By making use of a "broker" of services that can convert one system’s interface into another system’s interface "on the fly".
1. By adhering to published interface standards. Does SharePoint do this?
What about this one?
SPOILER ALERT!
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SharePoint Interoperability
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Is it a UI Platform?
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Why would we use SharePoint as a User Interface Platform?
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Consistent User Experience Across Browsers
Well.. Almost.
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It’s a UI Platform1. By adhering to published interface standards.
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A UI Platform Bonus?Bonus!
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Leverage Office and SharePointInterface Familiarity
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Is it an Identity Platform?
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Why would we use SharePoint as an Identity Platform?
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Because Claims is Awesome
Connect with 3rd Party Authentication ProvidersConnecting with a Non Windows Integrated Authentication driven web site.
Delegation with Back-End SystemsShowing data from another server on a SharePoint web page.
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Claims UsesConsistent Standards
*Doesn’t actually support SAML Protocol (SAMLP)
1. By adhering to published interface standards.
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It’s an Identity Platform
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Is it a Search Platform?
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Why would we use SharePoint as a Search Platform?
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Query a 3rd Party Search Engine Using SharePoint UI
Federate Queries to Multiple Search Systems…
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Index Content from a Range of Content Repositories
What does all of these?
Indexes Databases, Web Services or Custom Repositories
Provides Consistent Access to External Content
Has SharePoint Designer and Visual Studio Plug-ins
B
C
S
_ _ _B C S
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A Search Platform Bonus!Bonus!
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Have you heard of OpenSearch?• Standard (Creative Commons) for syndication and
aggregation of search results• Syntax for executing queries• Results returned in RSS/ATOM + extensions• Supported by Microsoft Search Server 2008
Clients: Windows 7, IE, FireFox, Chrome, SharePoint …Providers: Amazon, Flickr, Wikipedia, SharePoint…
1. By adhering to published interface standards.
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It is a Search Platform
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Is it a Data Access Platform?
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SharePoint Does a Great Job of Accessing SharePoint Content!
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What about External Systems and Content?
_ _ _B C S
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A Data Access Platform Bonus!Bonus! x 2
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Content Management Interoperability Services
CMIS specification provides a Web services interface that: Is designed to work over existing repositories enabling
customers to build and leverage applications against multiple repositories—unlocking content they already have
Decouples Web services and content from the content management repository, enabling customers to manage content independently
Provides common Web services and Web 2.0 interfaces to dramatically simplify application development
Is development platform and language agnostic Supports composite application development and mash-up by
the business or IT analyst
A platform that allows you to build against multiple technologies without knowing anything about how all the API’s work. (If you know CMIS.)
Microsoft has been implementing this from both a client and provider perspective.
Not available “in the box”. Available via SharePoint Admin Toolkit
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And then there’s RESTAccess to SharePoint Lists and Document Libraries…
• RESTful interface over HTTP • Uses the ADO.NET Data Services interface conventions• Feature rich: retrieve, update, browse data using
just URLs and XML/JSON• Low barrier of entry. If you have an HTTP stack
you can use it.
Visual Studio Integration…• Entirely built on top of the open RESTful interface• No client is required• Visual Studio creates proxies, visualizes schemas,
provides LINQ support etc.
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SharePoint has Interoperability
Some might even say it has storage interoperability or that OData is a standard… But the coolest part of interoperability?
2. By making use of a "broker" of services that can convert one system’s interface into another system’s interface "on the fly".
The Outcome
SharePoint is a growing Interoperable UI, Identity,
Search, and Data Access Platform.
What to watch out for…
Remember this?“Interoperability is the ability of a system to work with other systems without special effort on the part of the customer.”
without special effort
What is the BCS?
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BCS in Office Client
Persistence
Store
Data
Cubes
SAP ORACLE SiebelSQL
Custom .NET
assembly
Identity Federation
serviceBCS in SharePoint
BCS MetaData Store
External data
AS Custom
Connector
Client to Backend
Direct Connection
Client DataCache
DB
Connector
WCF /WS
Connector
.NET
Assembly
Connector
SharePoint Client
You could look at this diagram…
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External Data
External Content Types
External ListsSharePoint
Workspace w/ InfoPath Forms
Outlook Forms and Task Panes
Office Applications
Search Results
Or this simplified one…
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External Data
External Content Types
External ListsSharePoint
Workspace w/ InfoPath Forms
Outlook Forms and Task Panes
Office Applications
Search Results
External Content Types
Describes:• Structure of the external
system (Fields, Methods, Connection)• How this data behaves within
SharePoint and Office
Added to the BCS Service Through:• SharePoint Designer• Visual Studio 2010• Via an Import into the Business Data
Connectivity Service as part of a model
Manage and Re-Use from a Central Location
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External Data
External Content Types
External ListsSharePoint
Workspace w/ InfoPath Forms
Outlook Forms and Task Panes
Office Applications
Search Results
External Lists
The external content type is leveraged in a variety of ways…
Such as for Exposing External Data as an External SharePoint List
Full CRUD capability Familiar UI and NavigationSort, Filter, GroupProgrammatic Access via SPList OMProfile Page for Each ItemFormAuto-generated OOBUpsize to InfoPath
Can be Taken “Offline”
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External Data
External Content Types
External ListsSharePoint
Workspace w/ InfoPath Forms
Outlook Forms and Task Panes
Office Applications
Search Results
Offline Lists
External Lists also be leveraged as Offline “Lists”
Or Connected to Outlook as Contacts, Tasks, Calendars and Posts
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External Data
External Content Types
External ListsSharePoint
Workspace w/ InfoPath Forms
Outlook Forms and Task Panes
Office Applications
Search Results
Office Applications and Search
w/ Code
External Content Types can also be leveraged in…
Many other Office Applications (or Custom Applications)
Or Leveraged to allow for External Data Searching or Filtering
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External Data
External Content Types
External ListsSharePoint
Workspace w/ InfoPath Forms
Outlook Forms and Task Panes
Office Applications
Search Results
Bonus! Integration Webparts
w/ Code
Bonus!
Web PartsExternal Data ListExternal Data ItemExternal Data Item BuilderExternal Data Related ListExternal Data Connectivity FilterChart Web Part (New)
Integration Webparts
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Didn’t those webparts work with the BDC?
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So what’s different? (Besides the Chart Control?)
Read/Write CapabilityClaims AwareConnect via ADO/SQL, WCF/WS, .Net Assembly and Custom ConnectorsBatch and Bulk Operation Support
BDC is still used for search indexing connectors in 2010 they added blob, incremental crawl and item level security.
They added symmetrical server and client runtimes. Allowing them to connect from client or server directly to external data.
SQL CE database is used to cache external data which allows for “cached mode” behavior on external data basically creating a rich client cache.
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How do I actually build it out?
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Intermediate AdvancedSimple
• Create Reusable Components (UI parts, ECTs, Actions)
Out-of-box• Surface data in
External Lists
• Connect those lists to Outlook, SPW
• External Data Columns
DeveloperPower User
NO CODE
Advanced Developer
CODE
Where things fit.
“NO CODE”
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1. Discover your Data Source• Database
• Web services
• .NET type
2. Map Operations to Data Source• Create, read, update, delete, lookup
3. Connect to SharePoint and/or Office • External List
• Contact
• Task
• Appointment
• Post
SharePoint Designer Process
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Visual Studio Process
w/ Code
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Suggested Life Cycle
The Outcome
The BCS has a bunch of new capabilities bundled with some old enhanced BDC ones.
What to watch out for…
Selecting the right tool is important. Practice makes perfect.
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That’s a lot of information!
Demo!
The Outcome
You saw how the BCS can be leveraged in SharePoint Designer and in the SharePoint
UI.
What to watch out for…
Don’t assume the tools will significantly reduce the time it takes
to ‘integrate’. It typically reduces time to ‘interface’.
What are BCSLimitations?
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General BCS Limitations
• No Write support for BLOB• You cannot write back to BLOB fields using BCS
unless you write your own method.• You can access BLOB columns by defining a
StreamAccessor method and presenting the external data via the BCS Data List web part by checking the Display stream fields property.
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External List Limitations• Workflows cannot be associated with external lists
• Workaround: You can use the external data columns and manipulate it that way.
• No RSS feed support for external lists• No REST based access for external lists
• http://sharepoint/_vti_bin/ListData.svc does not support external lists• LINQ to SharePoint spmetal.exe does not support external lists• Cannot configure alerts for external lists• Cannot export external list items to Excel (using the Export to Excel
feature), Create Visio Diagram, Open with Access or Open with Project• Versioning cannot be configured on external lists• Version History is not available on external lists• Datasheet view cannot be used in external lists
• XSLT is Supported (So you can basically make your own.)
External Lists
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External List Limitations Continued…
• Ratings feature is not supported for external lists• Information policies cannot be configured on external lists• Item-Level permissions are not available for external lists• No item or field level validation (without InfoPath)• Lookups don’t work on any column but ID• No attachments.
External Lists
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• You cannot create a site column of type ‘External Data Column’• External data columns can be created only as list based
columns and cannot be consumed in site level content types
Bonus! External Column Limitations
Bonus!
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Some Data Types Not Supported
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff621599.aspx
• No support for structs that are not simple types. (Do not use non-primitive structs.)
• No nested collections (array of arrays etc)• No support for multi dimension arrays• BDC only works with .Net 3.5 - No dynamic programming in
.Net 4• No support for ICollection or IEnumerable interfaces to
represent collections in data structures (ICollection<T>, IEnumerable<T>, IList<T>…)
The Outcome
You now know more about the limitations of BCS and will make fewer
assumptions.
What to watch out for…
Some of the many limitations mentioned make sense. Think
carefully before you build a ‘workaround’.
What about SharePoint 2013?
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SharePoint 2013 Main BCS Differences
There are basically five things you need to know:1. oData connector now available through Visual Studio OOTB
(WCF, SQL, .Net Assembly Remain).2. Remote Event Receiver capability – think of this as more of
a simple framework for remote event subscription.3. App-Scoped – Instead of only Farm level external content
types developers can now build isolated app scenarios.4. External List Enhancements – Performance
improvements, limit per page, filtering, sorting, and export to excel.
5. More client object model support! (Office 365)
The Outcome
SharePoint 2013 BCS isn’t really different. Just more flexible and capable.
What to watch out for…
SharePoint 2013 introduces many new concepts/methods that you will
need to learn (app-scoped, client object model focus etc.)
1. Business Data Challenges2. SharePoint’s Important Interoperability3. What is the BCS?
External Content TypesExternal ColumnsExternal ListsExtensibility and Tooling
4. Limitations of BCS
1. The Challenges Aren’t All Technology Challenges2. Interface, Identity, Search and Data Access Platform3. A Set of Powerful Connection Capabilities
Structured Types of External ContentLeveraging External Content with Internal ContentInteract Like SharePoint ListsExtensibility/Tool Range from UI to SPD to VS 2010
4. Good Enough and Better than Most Options
What we talked about…
Questions? Ideas? Feedback? Contact me:
Twitter: @RHarbridge Blog: http://www.RHarbridge.com Email: [email protected] Resources: 700+ SharePoint IA Slides at.. PracticalIntranet.com130+ SharePoint Standards at.. SPStandards.com15 Pages of Important Questions at.. SharePointDiagnostics.com
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