Reference Implementation: Client

  • Article

Microsoft® SharePoint® 2010 includes new areas of functionality that simplify the development of rich Internet applications (RIAs) for the SharePoint platform. The Client Application Models chapter described many of these areas, which include a client-side object model (CSOM) for JavaScript, Microsoft Silverlight®, and managed .NET clients, a Representational State Transfer (REST) interface, enhanced tooling, and improved native support for Ajax and Silverlight components. The Client Reference Implementation (Client RI) demonstrates how you can use these technologies in real-world scenarios.

The reference implementation uses the same basic manufacturing scenario as all our previous reference implementations—in short, a data-driven application that allows users to manage related entities such as machines, parts, and inventory locations. The key idea behind this reference implementation is that it shows you how to implement the same user interface using different client data access technologies and different approaches to user experience. For example, it demonstrates how to implement the user interface using Silverlight with the CSOM, Silverlight with the REST interface, JavaScript with the CSOM, JavaScript with the REST interface, and Silverlight with ASP.NET Web services. This allows you to compare and contrast each implementation approach. In addition, the Client RI demonstrates the following key aspects of client-side development for SharePoint applications:

  • It demonstrates how to use client-side logic to overcome the limitations of the sandbox execution environment.
  • It demonstrates how to use RIA technologies and asynchronous execution to build a highly functional user experience without the associated server load.
  • It demonstrates the use of the Model-View-ViewModel (MVVM) pattern in Silverlight applications to isolate business logic from the presentation layer and the underlying data source.
  • It provides equivalent non-MVVM implementations of the Silverlight applications, in order to help developers who are unfamiliar with the pattern to understand the application logic.

Deploying the Client RI

The Client RI includes an automated installation script that creates various site collections, deploys the RI components, and adds sample data. After running the installation script, browse to the new Client site collection at http://<Hostname>/sites/ SharePointList/client. You can open and run the project in Visual Studio, but this does not create a site collection or add sample data. To see the system fully functioning, you must run the installation script. The following table summarizes how to get started with the Client RI.

Note

The Client RI is added as a subsite of the SharePointList RI because of a restriction in the ECMAScript Client Side Object Model (CSOM) implementation. The ECMAScript version does not permit access across site collections. The client RI must use the same site collection as the SharePoint List RI in order for the ECMAScript implementation to work because it accesses the SharePoint List RI.

Question

Answer

Where can I find the Client RI?

<install location>\Source\Client

What is the name of the solution file?

Client.sln

What are the system requirements?

SharePoint Foundation 2010

What preconditions are required for installation?
  • You must be a member of SharePoint Farm Admin.
  • You must be a member of the Windows admin group.
  • SharePoint must be installed at http://<Hostname:80>. If you want to install to a different location, you can edit these settings in the Settings.xml file located in the Setup directory for the solution.
  • SharePoint 2010 Administration service must be running. By default, this service is set to a manual start. To start the service, click Start on the taskbar, point to Administrative Tools, click Services, double-click SharePoint 2010 Administration service, and then click Start.
  • You must install Silverlight 4 from here.
  • You must install ADO.NET Data Services from here.

How Do I Install the Client RI?

Follow the instructions in the readme file located in the project folder.

What is the default installation location?

http://<Hostname>/sites/SharePointList/ Client

(This location can be altered by changing the Settings.xml file in the Setup directory.)

How do I download the Client RI?

The Client RI is included in the download Developing Applications for SharePoint 2010.