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Incorporating .NET 2.0 in SharePoint 2003
December 8, 2006
Since SharePoint Products and Technologies was introduced in 2003 the development landscape has changed considerably. For example by the release of the Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0. This post will tell you about the use of the Guidance Automation Toolkit (GAT) that can be used to enhance developing web parts with Visual Studio.NET 2005.
Creating a web part with Visual Studio.NET 2003 was easy due to the use of the web part template from Microsoft. There is no web part template available for creating web parts for SharePoint 2003 in Visual Studio.NET 2005. By making use of the Guidance Automation Toolkit you can make the development of web parts in Visual Studio.NET 2005 easier. The Guidance Automation Toolkit is an extension to Visual Studio.NET 2005 that allows architects to automate the easy parts of development so that the developer can concentrate on the other parts. The Guidance Automation Toolkit can be used to create assets that are developed in-house or by third parties, like Microsoft. In the case of building a web part, the Guidance Automation Toolkit can be used to build a package you can use as a template to start creating web parts in Visual Studio.NET 2005.
The Guidance Automation Toolkit contains a Guidance Package Development Template to help you with the guidance development. This template can be used to create your own guidance package. We have made a web part library template using the Guidance Automation Toolkit to enhance the development of web parts in Visual Studio.NET 2005. The web part library template can be downloaded here. This download is in the form of a Windows Installer file (.msi).
If you want to use the web part library template, your computer needs to have the following software installed:
- Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services and Service Pack 2.0
- Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2005
- Guidance Automation Extensions (GAX). This runtime component is required when running guidance packages. The Guidance Automation Extensions can be downloaded here
- Guidance Automation Toolkit. The GAT documentation says the GAT is not necessary, but in our experience the beta versions of GAT require the presence of Guidance Automation Toolkit
After installing the web part library template you will find a new template in the New Project dialog window of Visual Studio.NET 2005.
After creating a new web part library solution your visual studio project will look like the following figure:
For more information about SharePoint 2003 and contemporary development techniques such as the development of a Guidance Automation Package you should take a look at the following book: Pro Sharepoint 2003 Development Techniques.
