SharePoint 2010 Wizardry with Silverlight Widget and Web Part Communication

http://about.me/scottcurrier

Innovation is Key to Success Consumer Focus “What incredible benefits can we give to the customer? Where can we take the customer? Not starting by sitting down with the engineers and figure out what awesome technology we have and how are we going to market that…” – Steve Jobs “The way to achieve the best long term value is to build real value in the world” – Mark Zuckerberg

Understand This Principle Awesome technology is adopted if it provides a benefit.

Some Great Technology SharePoint - the last slide should tell you just how flexible SharePoint as a platform actually is. Flexibility is key here Smart Phones – Windows Phone 7, Android, and iPhones place dotted lines around the form applications can take but allows for highly consistent experiences on the platform. Consistency is key here Windows 8 and iOS – Attempt to provide flexibility and consistency over multiple form factors. Social Platforms – Facebook, Twitter, WordPress

SharePoint as a Development Platform Exemplifies the 80/20 Rule SharePoint can be low cost using all out of the box features and branding The last 20% represent specialized purposes usually at a higher cost Benefits of that last 20% may not exceed the cost of development if poor choices are made

SharePoint Development Approaches A major decision point in this last 20% is on approach The choices include: Creating applications from multiple third party web parts (and features) Super user development using native capabilities Rolling your own widgets with compiled and middle tier code Purchasing complete sub systems such as pmPoint and Project Server Some combination of everything

Good Technology + Vision = Excellent Applications Think in terms of an application domain not just a collection of widgets that meet line item requirements Stay away from monolithic thinking Keep the idea of atomic development a first class principle. Leverage as much of the platform as practical How should platform components communicate with each other to enhance the value and consistency SharePoint falls down in areas where specific requirements exceed the general purpose nature of SharePoint – of to say this another way you’re in the last 20% of your implementation.

Linking Applications and Widgets Huge trend enabling dynamic linking between applications and components as well as more robust communication between components Video

Building a Basic Silverlight Web Part Demo … and web part islands

Some Observations Web parts tend to live in self contained islands Connecting to other web parts OTB is simple but has limited functionality It takes work to connect in ways that reach the vision presented in the video

HTML5 Affiliated Communication APIs Web Messaging Web Sockets Server Sent Events Web Workers Node.js CORS – Cross Origin Resource Sharing XHR -

Cross Component Communication in SharePoint New HTML5 standards when integrated with SharePoint open up the platform for some really unique possibilities Middle Tier Development with JQuery Silverlight has rich connectivity into SharePoint

Silverlight/XAML Web Client Duplex Services ScriptObject HTMLPage SOAP/WCF/RIA LocalMessageReceiver LocalMessageSender CORS – Cross Origin Resource Sharing XHR -

Communicating to the Host Page public void HideHTML(string name) { ScriptObject obj = (ScriptObject)HtmlPage.Window.GetProperty("HideHTML"); obj.InvokeSelf(name); } public void ShowHTML(string name) ScriptObject obj = (ScriptObject)HtmlPage.Window.GetProperty("ShowHTML");

Communicating to the Host Page <asp:Content ContentPlaceHolderId="PlaceHolderAdditionalPageHead" runat="server"> <script type="text/javascript" src="/_layouts/Xaptic/js/jquery- 1.4.4.min.js"></script>

Communicating to the Host Page <script type="text/javascript"> function AddToHeader(css) { $('head').append(css); } function MoveHTMLTo(name, top, left) { $('#' + name).css('top', top); $('#' + name).css('left', left); </script> Sample Code

Communication Between Local Silverlight-Based Applications http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd833063(v=vs.95).aspx // In the receiving application: LocalMessageReceiver messageReceiver = new LocalMessageReceiver("receiver", ReceiverNameScope.Global, LocalMessageReceiver.AnyDomain); // In the sending application: LocalMessageSender messageSender = new LocalMessageSender( "receiver", LocalMessageSender.Global);

Making Things a bit Easier Upload and Drag / Drop Easier to add properties Leverage the web part concept as atomic level widgets Build in communication mechanisms beyond connected web parts

Communication Between Local Silverlight-Based Applications send = new LocalMessageSender(xaptic.GetProperty("SendTo"), System.Windows.Messaging.LocalMessageSender.Global); send.SendCompleted += (object sender, SendCompletedEventArgs e) => {}; allowedSenderDomains.Add("localhost"); allowedSenderDomains.Add("dev"); allowedSenderDomains.Add("dev01.com"); receiver = new LocalMessageReceiver(xaptic.GetProperty("ReceiveFrom"), ReceiverNameScope.Global, allowedSenderDomains); receiver.MessageReceived += (object sender, MessageReceivedEventArgs e) => { L3.Content = e.Message; }; receiver.Listen();

Putting it all Together XAPTIC A Silverlight Widget Platform for Prototyping Rich UI’s in SharePoint 2010

Thank you!

http://about.me/scottcurrier