Microsoft Silverlight 4 and SharePoint 2010 Integration

Microsoft Silverlight 4 and SharePoint 2010 Integration

by Gastón C. Hillar
Released July 2010
Publisher(s): Packt Publishing
ISBN: 9781849680066

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Book description

Techniques, practical tips, hints, and tricks for Silverlight interactions with SharePoint

  • Develop Silverlight RIAs that interact with SharePoint 2010 data and services
  • Explore the diverse alternatives for hosting a Silverlight RIA in a SharePoint 2010 Page
  • Work with the new SharePoint Silverlight Client Object Model to interact with elements in a SharePoint Site
  • Use Visual Studio 2010's new features to debug Silverlight RIAs that interact with SharePoint 2010
  • Learn to perform CRUD (Create, Read, Update, and Delete) operations on SharePoint 2010 lists from Silverlight
  • Access and interact with external data sources and WCF Data Services
  • Use themes and work with multiple interactive animations and effects to create distinct User eXperiences (UX) in a SharePoint environment
  • Develop Silverlight RIAs that interact with SharePoint Visual Web Parts
  • A step-by-step, fast-paced book that guides you in implementing Silverlight 4 applications in SharePoint 2010 environments
  • A hands on, short guide taking administrators through the installation, configuration, deployment, and ultimately, the administration of Dynamics NAV

In Detail

Silverlight is a powerful development platform for creating engaging, interactive user experiences for the Web, desktop, and mobile applications. Integrating Silverlight RIAs in SharePoint 2010 offers amazing opportunities to combine the power and flexibility offered by SharePoint. It is easy to create great user experiences when you have a step-by-step guide to implement Silverlight 4 applications on SharePoint 2010 sites.

This book is not a primer on Silverlight 4 or SharePoint 2010. This book focuses on the integration of Silverlight 4 and SharePoint 2010 and provides step-by-step guidelines for implementing Silverlight RIAs in SharePoint. It is filled with real-world examples that depict the various techniques for interacting with data and services provided by this powerful business collaboration platform, for the enterprise and the Internet. As you sit reading this, you might have already started thinking about the benefits of implementing multiple Silverlight applications in a SharePoint environment. This book will help bring those thoughts to fruition.

This book begins with the fundamental concepts of integrating Silverlight 4 with SharePoint 2010, such as the preparation of the development environment to create applications using Silverlight 4 and the addition of one or more Silverlight RIAs to a SharePoint site. Then, it moves on to the SharePoint Silverlight Client Object Model world, using step-by-step examples to combine a Silverlight application and a SharePoint module. It also covers methods to deploy and debug the Silverlight application while it runs as Silverlight Web Part in a SharePoint page. The book teaches you to take advantage of the new features offered by Visual Studio 2010 to browse SharePoint lists.

Once the reader has control over the SharePoint Silverlight Client Object Model and its asynchronous operations in Silverlight applications, it is time to access external databases through the new Business Connectivity Services (BCS) and interact with workflows. Then, the book explains to perform CRUD operations by consuming the new SharePoint 2010 WCF Data Services in Silverlight. In the end, you'll learn to utilize Silverlight 4's rich media features to add effects and interactive animations to images and videos, thus offering the final touches to the Silverlight 4 and SharePoint 2010 integration learning experience.

By the end of this book, you'll learn to take advantage of the unique features offered by Silverlight in order to create impressive UX that interact with SharePoint 2010.

A hands-on guide packed with real-world examples for integrating your Silverlight 4 applications in a SharePoint 2010 environment.

Table of contents

  1. Microsoft Silverlight 4 and SharePoint 2010 Integration
    1. Table of Contents
    2. Microsoft Silverlight 4 and SharePoint 2010 Integration
    3. Credits
    4. About the Author
    5. Acknowledgement
    6. About the Reviewers
    7. Preface
      1. What this book covers
      2. What you need for this book
      3. Who this book is for
      4. Conventions
      5. Reader feedback
      6. Customer support
        1. Errata
        2. Piracy
        3. Questions
    8. 1. Integrating Silverlight 4 with SharePoint 2010
      1. Understanding the benefits of integrating Silverlight with SharePoint
        1. Creating a SharePoint solution
      2. Preparing the development environment
        1. Setting up the development environment
        2. Discovering the rich controls offered by the Silverlight Toolkit
        3. Browsing themes with sample controls
      3. Preparing the server
        1. Browsing SharePoint Site collections
      4. Creating a Silverlight LOB (Line-of-Business) RIA
        1. Creating rich User eXperiences (UX)
        2. Building a Silverlight 4 RIA
      5. Adding a Silverlight Web Part
        1. Adding a Silverlight RIA as a shared document
        2. Adding a Silverlight Web Part to display a Silverlight RIA
        3. Working with many Silverlight Web Parts in a single page
        4. Understanding client and server code
      6. Summary
    9. 2. Deploying and Debugging Techniques for Silverlight and SharePoint
      1. Deploying a Silverlight RIA included in a SharePoint solution
        1. Creating a list of tasks in SharePoint
        2. Browsing SharePoint lists and fields with Visual Studio
        3. Creating a Silverlight RIA to be linked with a SharePoint module
          1. Working with the asynchronous methods and callbacks
          2. Working with the ClientContext object
          3. Linking a SharePoint module to a Silverlight RIA
          4. Understanding the default deployment configuration
      2. Debugging Silverlight and SharePoint
        1. Debugging Silverlight Web Parts
        2. Taking advantage of Visual Studio 2010 multi-monitor support
        3. Understanding 32-bit and 64-bit differences
        4. Understanding scalability
        5. Preparing applications for multiple-browser support
      3. Summary
    10. 3. Interacting with Data on the SharePoint Server
      1. Managing data in a Silverlight RIA included in a SharePoint solution
        1. Working with the SharePoint 2010 Silverlight Client Object Model to insert items
        2. Inserting items in a SharePoint list with the Silverlight Web Part
        3. Working with successful and failed asynchronous queries
        4. Retrieving specific information about fields
        5. Creating complex LOB applications composed of multiple Silverlight RIAs
        6. Interacting with multiple Silverlight Web Parts in the same page
        7. Understanding Line-Of-Business systems as independent Web Parts
        8. Expanding LOB systems with delete operations
          1. Understanding how to delete an item from a list
        9. Expanding LOB systems with update operations
          1. Updating an item in a list
      2. Summary
    11. 4. Creating Dynamic Business Solutions
      1. Accessing an external database in a Silverlight RIA included in a SharePoint solution
        1. Creating a new database
        2. Creating a new external content type to access data in a SQL Server database
        3. Browsing a SharePoint list with external content and its fields
        4. Interacting with external data sources using the SharePoint 2010 Silverlight Client Object Model
        5. Specifying the fields to include in a CAML query for an external list
        6. Consuming Business Connectivity Services from a Silverlight Web Part
        7. Understanding security issues related to Business Connectivity Services
        8. Impersonating BCS calls
        9. Applying dynamic filters in a CAML query
        10. Running Silverlight RIAs as Out-of-Browser Applications
      2. Interacting with workflows
        1. Attaching a workflow to a list of tasks in SharePoint
        2. Inserting and approving items in a list with an attached workflow
        3. Using a Silverlight RIA to display a SharePoint workflow's status
        4. Understanding workflows' status fields
      3. Summary
    12. 5. Working with WCF Data Services
      1. Working with SharePoint 2010 WCF Data Services
        1. Querying SharePoint 2010 lists in a web browser
        2. Working with SharePoint 2010 WCF Data Services to display data from a list
      2. Consuming SharePoint 2010 WCF Data Services from a Silverlight Web Part
      3. Performing CRUD operations with SharePoint 2010 WCF Data Services
        1. Deleting an item from a list with SharePoint 2010 WCF Data Services
        2. Updating an item in a list with SharePoint 2010 WCF Data Services
          1. Working with SharePoint 2010 WCF Data Services to insert items
          2. Using LINQ to objects to perform joins
      4. Debugging HTTP Requests with Fiddler
      5. Analyzing Web Parts with SharePoint Developer Dashboard
      6. Analyzing pages and Web Parts with SharePoint Developer Dashboard
        1. Activating the Developer Dashboard On Demand display mode
        2. Understanding the Developer Dashboard
        3. Deactivating the Developer Dashboard
      7. Summary
    13. 6. Interacting with Rich Media and Animations
      1. Bringing life to business applications and complex workflows
        1. Creating asset libraries in SharePoint 2010
          1. Adding content to an assets library
          2. Browsing the structure for SharePoint Asset Libraries
        2. Controlling the rich media library by using controls in a Visual Web Part
        3. Creating a Silverlight RIA rendered in a SharePoint Visual Web Part
          1. Linking a SharePoint Visual Web Part to a Silverlight RIA
        4. Adding a SharePoint Visual Web Part in a Web Page
          1. Organizing controls in a containing box
          2. Reading files from an assets library
        5. Working with interactive animations and effects
        6. Adding and controlling videos
          1. Video formats supported in Silverlight 4
          2. Adding and controlling sounds and music
          3. Audio formats supported in Silverlight 4
        7. Changing themes in Silverlight and SharePoint
      2. Summary
    14. Index

Product information

  • Title: Microsoft Silverlight 4 and SharePoint 2010 Integration
  • Author(s): Gastón C. Hillar
  • Release date: July 2010
  • Publisher(s): Packt Publishing
  • ISBN: 9781849680066