SharePoint 2010 and Windows Azure: Getting Started

Version: 1.0

Description

This lab introduces some of the ways in which you can integrate SharePoint 2010 and Windows Azure. While there are many ways, this lab focuses on SQL Azure as a hosted data source in the cloud and then integrates that data source with an external list and with a visual web part.

Overview

This lab introduces some of the ways in which you can integrate SharePoint 2010 and Azure. While there are many ways, this lab focuses on SQL Azure as a hosted data source in the cloud and then integrates that data source with an external list and with a visual web part.

Objectives

The goals of this lab are:

  • To understand how to create a SQL Azure table
  • To use SQL Azure with an external list
  • To use SQL Azure with a visual web part.

System Requirements

You must have the following items to complete this lab:

  • Microsoft Visual Studio 2010.
  • ASP.NET AJAX 4.0 Preview 2.
  • An Azure developer account and key.
  • SQL Server 2008 R2
  • Azure SDK and Tools

To provision an Azure account and obtain your developer key, go to the following site and click Get Started: https://www.azure.com.

Note: You can also see the Appendix for introductory information on how to get started with SQL Azure.

After you’ve got an Azure account provisioned and have your developer key, you are now ready to begin the HOL.

Exercises

In this HOL, you will 1) create a new database called Customers and table called Store Information in your SQL Azure Customer database, 2) add some data to the SQL Azure (Store Information) table, 3) create an external list that loads the SQL Azure data using BCS, and 4) consume the SQL Azure data in a visual web part.

Estimated time to complete this lab: 60 minutes.

Starting Materials

This Hands-On Lab includes the following starting materials.

  • Visual Studio solutions. The lab provides the following Visual Studio solutions that you can use as starting point for the exercises.
    • SQLAzureWebPart\SQLAzureWebPart.sln