Beginning SharePoint 2013 Development

Chapter 9

Overview of the Client-Side Object Model and REST APIs

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN IN THIS CHAPTER:

• Understanding the API options available in SharePoint 2013
• Learning how to use the new CSOM APIs
• Learning about REST and OData support in SharePoint 2013

WROX.COM CODE DOWNLOADS FOR THIS CHAPTER

The wrox.com code downloads for this chapter are found at: http://www.wrox.com/WileyCDA/WroxTitle/productCd-1118495845.html on the Download Code tab. The code for this chapter is divided into the following major examples:

• MyODataJavaScriptApp.js
• MyFirstCSOMConsole.zip
• JavaScriptCSOMApp.js

SharePoint applications begin a fundamental shift away from building code that runs within the SharePoint process. Along with this shift comes the start of a movement away from using the historical API sets that don’t provide support for this newly decoupled code. In this chapter you learn about and explore the updated and new options available for working with SharePoint at a programmatic level. You also learn when is best to use the various options, how they work, and most importantly, how to use them to your advantage. As this chapter explains, many of the design philosophies, technologies, and principles that went into SharePoint are shared with services on the Internet with which developers are already familiar, such as Twitter and Facebook. This means learning them should be more straightforward and far simpler than learning a proprietary system.