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Overview of SharePoint Integration and Operability Best Praxtices coving approaches and llimitations.
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BEST PRACTICES CONFERENCE SHAREPOINT
Clarity. Direction. Confidence.
SHAREPOINT 2010 INTEGRATION AND INTEROPERABILITY
What You Need to Know
#BPC11 @RHarbridgePresented By: Richard Harbridge
BEST PRACTICES CONFERENCE SHAREPOINT
Who am I?
I
BEST PRACTICES CONFERENCE SHAREPOINT
Our Goal Today…
From Here To Here
BEST PRACTICES CONFERENCE SHAREPOINT
What we will be talking about…1. Business Data Challenges2. SharePoint’s Important Interoperability3. What is the BCS?
• External Content Types• External Columns• External Lists• Extensibility and Tooling
5. Limitations of BCS
4. Demonstration
Bonus!
BEST PRACTICES CONFERENCE SHAREPOINT
Business Data Challenges
BEST PRACTICES CONFERENCE SHAREPOINT
#BPC11 @RHarbridge
Business Data in an Enterprise
Customers FinancialQuality OperationsSuppliersCustomers FinancialQuality OperationsSuppliers
Users
ITHigh Overhead (Maintenance, Security)High Integration Costs (Custom)
High Training CostsHigh Dissatisfaction
Redundant Data and Processes!
BEST PRACTICES CONFERENCE SHAREPOINT
#BPC11 @RHarbridge
Challenges with Business DataChallenge IT End User
Higher Overhead for IT to Service User Requests
Multiple Places to Search
Multiple Places to Administer and Maintain
Multiple Places to Manage Content
Multiple Places to Secure Information
High Data Integration Costs (Often 100% Custom and One Offs)
Silos/Islands of Data Lead to Redundant Data or Processes
Multiple Interfaces; Dissatisfaction and Higher Training Costs
Higher Operational and Compliance Risk
Direct ImpactIndirect Impact
BEST PRACTICES CONFERENCE SHAREPOINT
The OutcomeThere are challenges that disparate and
disconnected business data systems cause.
BEST PRACTICES CONFERENCE SHAREPOINT
What to watch out for…No system, product or application
can completely solve business data challenges.
People
Process
Technology
BEST PRACTICES CONFERENCE SHAREPOINT
SharePoint’s Important Interoperability
BEST PRACTICES CONFERENCE SHAREPOINT
#BPC11 @RHarbridge
“Interoperability is the ability of a system.. to work with other systems.. without special effort on the part of the customer.”
What the heck is Interoperability?
(IHN-tuhr-AHP-uhr-uh-BIHL-ih-tee)
How?
BEST PRACTICES CONFERENCE SHAREPOINT
#BPC11 @RHarbridge
How do we achieve Interoperability?
2. By making use of a "broker" of services that can convert one system’s interface into another system’s interface "on the fly".
1. By adhering to published interface standards. Does SharePoint do this?
What about this one?
SPOILER ALERT!
BEST PRACTICES CONFERENCE SHAREPOINT
#BPC11 @RHarbridge
SharePoint Interoperability
StorageExternal
Data
Search Platform
UI Platform
Data Access Platform
Iden
tity
Platf
orm
BEST PRACTICES CONFERENCE SHAREPOINT
#BPC11 @RHarbridge
Is it a UI Platform?
StorageExternal
Data
Search Platform
UI Platform
Data Access Platform
Iden
tity
Platf
orm
BEST PRACTICES CONFERENCE SHAREPOINT
#BPC11 @RHarbridge
Why would we use SharePoint as a User Interface Platform?
BEST PRACTICES CONFERENCE SHAREPOINT
#BPC11 @RHarbridge
Consistent User Experience Across Browsers
Well.. Almost.
BEST PRACTICES CONFERENCE SHAREPOINT
#BPC11 @RHarbridge
It’s a UI Platform
StorageExternal
Data
Search Platform
UI Platform
Data Access Platform
Iden
tity
Platf
orm
HTML Standards
1. By adhering to published interface standards.
BEST PRACTICES CONFERENCE SHAREPOINT
#BPC11 @RHarbridge
A UI Platform Bonus?
StorageExternal
Data
Search Platform
UI Platform
Data Access Platform
Iden
tity
Platf
orm
Bonus!
HTML Standards
Works in Office
BEST PRACTICES CONFERENCE SHAREPOINT
#BPC11 @RHarbridge
Leverage Office and SharePoint Interface Familiarity
BEST PRACTICES CONFERENCE SHAREPOINT
#BPC11 @RHarbridge
Is it an Identity Platform?
StorageExternal
Data
Search Platform
UI Platform
Data Access Platform
Iden
tity
Platf
orm
HTML Standards
Works in Office
BEST PRACTICES CONFERENCE SHAREPOINT
#BPC11 @RHarbridge
Why would we use SharePoint as an Identity Platform?
BEST PRACTICES CONFERENCE SHAREPOINT
#BPC11 @RHarbridge
Active Directory
LiveID
ASP.net Membership Trust
SharePointSTS
Client
SharePoint
Security token
4
Service token request5
Identity ProviderSecurity Token Service
(IP-STS)
SAML Based
SharePointAuthorization
ClaimsProviders
Trust
Authentication Request
3
Request Resource with service token
7
Security token response6
Request Resource
1
Authenticate Request/Redirect
2
Because Claims is Awesome
Connect with 3rd Party Authentication ProvidersConnecting with a Non Windows Integrated Authentication driven web site.
Delegation with Back-End SystemsShowing data from another server on a SharePoint web page.
BEST PRACTICES CONFERENCE SHAREPOINT
#BPC11 @RHarbridge
Claims UsesConsistent Standards
• WS-Federation 1.1Provides the architecture for a clean separation between trust mechanisms, security tokens formats, and the protocols for obtaining tokens.
• WS-Trust 1.4Provides a method for assessing, requesting and receiving security tokens.
• SAML Token 1.1XML vocabulary used to represent claims in an interoperable way.*
• WS-Security… (various aspects) *Doesn’t actually support SAML Protocol (SAMLP)
1. By adhering to published interface standards.
BEST PRACTICES CONFERENCE SHAREPOINT
#BPC11 @RHarbridge
It’s an Identity Platform
StorageExternal
Data
Search Platform
UI Platform
Data Access Platform
Iden
tity
Platf
orm
HTML Standards
Works in OfficeClaims
BEST PRACTICES CONFERENCE SHAREPOINT
#BPC11 @RHarbridge
Is it a Search Platform?
StorageExternal
Data
Search Platform
UI Platform
Data Access Platform
Iden
tity
Platf
orm
HTML Standards
Works in OfficeClaims
BEST PRACTICES CONFERENCE SHAREPOINT
#BPC11 @RHarbridge
Why would we use SharePoint as a Search Platform?
BEST PRACTICES CONFERENCE SHAREPOINT
#BPC11 @RHarbridge
Query a 3rd Party Search Engine Using SharePoint UI
Federate Queries to Multiple Search Systems…
BEST PRACTICES CONFERENCE SHAREPOINT
#BPC11 @RHarbridge
Index Content from a Range of Content Repositories
What does all of these?
Indexes Databases, Web Services or Custom Repositories
Provides Consistent Access to External Content
Has SharePoint Designer and Visual Studio Plug-ins
B
C
S
_ _ _B C S
BEST PRACTICES CONFERENCE SHAREPOINT
#BPC11 @RHarbridge
A Search Platform Bonus!
StorageExternal
Data
Search Platform
UI Platform
Data Access Platform
Iden
tity
Platf
orm
HTML Standards
Works in OfficeClaims
Open Search
Bonus!
BEST PRACTICES CONFERENCE SHAREPOINT
#BPC11 @RHarbridge
Have you heard of OpenSearch?• Standard (Creative Commons) for syndication and
aggregation of search results• Syntax for executing queries• Results returned in RSS/ATOM + extensions• Supported by Microsoft Search Server 2008
Clients: Windows 7, IE, FireFox, Chrome, SharePoint …Providers: Amazon, Flickr, Wikipedia, SharePoint…
1. By adhering to published interface standards.
BEST PRACTICES CONFERENCE SHAREPOINT
#BPC11 @RHarbridge
It is a Search Platform
StorageExternal
Data
Search Platform
UI Platform
Data Access Platform
Iden
tity
Platf
orm
HTML Standards
Works in OfficeClaims
Open Search
BEST PRACTICES CONFERENCE SHAREPOINT
#BPC11 @RHarbridge
Is it a Data Access Platform?
StorageExternal
Data
Search Platform
UI Platform
Data Access Platform
Iden
tity
Platf
orm
HTML Standards
Works in OfficeClaims
Open Search
BEST PRACTICES CONFERENCE SHAREPOINT
#BPC11 @RHarbridge
SharePoint Does a Great Job of Accessing SharePoint Content!
BEST PRACTICES CONFERENCE SHAREPOINT
#BPC11 @RHarbridge
What about External Systems and Content?
_ _ _B C S
BEST PRACTICES CONFERENCE SHAREPOINT
#BPC11 @RHarbridge
A Data Access Platform Bonus!
StorageExternal
Data
UI Platform
Data Access Platform
Iden
tity
Platf
orm
HTML Standards
Works in OfficeClaims
Search Platform Open Search
Bonus! x 2
CMIS
REST
BEST PRACTICES CONFERENCE SHAREPOINT
#BPC11 @RHarbridge
Content Management Interoperability Services
CMIS specification provides a Web services interface that: Is designed to work over existing repositories enabling
customers to build and leverage applications against multiple repositories—unlocking content they already have
Decouples Web services and content from the content management repository, enabling customers to manage content independently
Provides common Web services and Web 2.0 interfaces to dramatically simplify application development
Is development platform and language agnostic Supports composite application development and mash-up by
the business or IT analyst
A platform that allows you to build against multiple technologies without knowing anything about how all the API’s work. (If you know CMIS.)
Microsoft has been implementing this from both a client and provider perspective.
Not available “in the box”. Available via SharePoint Admin Toolkit
BEST PRACTICES CONFERENCE SHAREPOINT
#BPC11 @RHarbridge
And then there’s RESTAccess to SharePoint Lists and Document Libraries…
• RESTful interface over HTTP • Uses the ADO.NET Data Services interface conventions• Feature rich: retrieve, update, browse data using
just URLs and XML/JSON• Low barrier of entry. If you have an HTTP stack
you can use it.Visual Studio Integration…
• Entirely built on top of the open RESTful interface• No client is required• Visual Studio creates proxies, visualizes schemas,
provides LINQ support etc.
BEST PRACTICES CONFERENCE SHAREPOINT
#BPC11 @RHarbridge
Data Access Platform
SharePoint has Interoperability
StorageExternal
Data
UI Platform
Iden
tity
Platf
orm
HTML Standards
Works in OfficeClaims
Search Platform Open Search
CMIS
REST
RBS
Some might even say it has storage interoperability or that OData is a standard… But the coolest part of interoperability?
BCS
2. By making use of a "broker" of services that can convert one system’s interface into another system’s interface "on the fly".
OData
BEST PRACTICES CONFERENCE SHAREPOINT
The OutcomeSharePoint is a growing
Interoperable UI, Identity, Search, and Data Access Platform.
BEST PRACTICES CONFERENCE SHAREPOINT
What to watch out for…Remember this?
“Interoperability is the ability of a system to work with other systems without special effort on the part of the customer.”
without special effort
BEST PRACTICES CONFERENCE SHAREPOINT
What is the BCS?
BEST PRACTICES CONFERENCE SHAREPOINT
#BPC11 @RHarbridge
BCS in Office Client
Persistence Store
Data Cubes
SAP ORACLE SiebelSQL
Custom .NET assembly
Identity Federation
serviceBCS in SharePoint
BCS MetaData Store
External data
AS CustomConnector
Client to Backend Direct Connection
BDCClient DataCache
DBConnector
WCF /WSConnector
.NET Assembly
Connector
BDC
SharePoint Client
You could look at this diagram…
BEST PRACTICES CONFERENCE SHAREPOINT
#BPC11 @RHarbridge
External Data
External Content Types
External ListsSharePoint
Workspace w/ InfoPath Forms
Outlook Forms and Task Panes
Office Applications Search Results
Or this simplified one…
BEST PRACTICES CONFERENCE SHAREPOINT
#BPC11 @RHarbridge
External Data
External Content Types
External ListsSharePoint
Workspace w/ InfoPath Forms
Outlook Forms and Task Panes
Office Applications Search Results
External Content TypesDescribes:• Structure of the external
system (Fields, Methods, Connection)• How this data behaves within
SharePoint and Office
Added to the BCS Service Through:• SharePoint Designer• Visual Studio 2010• Via an Import into the Business Data
Connectivity Service as part of a model
Manage and Re-Use from a Central Location
BEST PRACTICES CONFERENCE SHAREPOINT
#BPC11 @RHarbridge
External Data
External Content Types
External ListsSharePoint
Workspace w/ InfoPath Forms
Outlook Forms and Task Panes
Office Applications Search Results
External Lists
The external content type is leveraged in a variety of ways…
Such as for Exposing External Data as an External SharePoint List
Full CRUD capability Familiar UI and NavigationSort, Filter, GroupProgrammatic Access via SPList OMProfile Page for Each ItemFormAuto-generated OOBUpsize to InfoPathCan be Taken “Offline”
BEST PRACTICES CONFERENCE SHAREPOINT
#BPC11 @RHarbridge
External Data
External Content Types
External ListsSharePoint
Workspace w/ InfoPath Forms
Outlook Forms and Task Panes
Office Applications Search Results
Offline Lists
External Lists also be leveraged as Offline “Lists”
Or Connected to Outlook as Contacts, Tasks, Calendars and Posts
They can be Downloaded to a SharePoint Workspace as Lists or Word Document Libraries with External Data Columns
BEST PRACTICES CONFERENCE SHAREPOINT
#BPC11 @RHarbridge
External Data
External Content Types
External ListsSharePoint
Workspace w/ InfoPath Forms
Outlook Forms and Task Panes
Office Applications Search Results
Office Applications and Search
w/ Code
External Content Types can also be leveraged in…
Many other Office Applications (or Custom Applications)
Or Leveraged to allow for External Data Searching or Filtering
BEST PRACTICES CONFERENCE SHAREPOINT
#BPC11 @RHarbridge
External Data
External Content Types
External ListsSharePoint
Workspace w/ InfoPath Forms
Outlook Forms and Task Panes
Office Applications Search Results
Bonus! Integration Webparts
w/ Code
Bonus!Web Parts
External Data List External Data ItemExternal Data Item BuilderExternal Data Related ListExternal Data Connectivity FilterChart Web Part (New)
Integration Webparts
BEST PRACTICES CONFERENCE SHAREPOINT
#BPC11 @RHarbridge
Didn’t those webparts work with the BDC?
BEST PRACTICES CONFERENCE SHAREPOINT
#BPC11 @RHarbridge
So what’s different? (Besides the Chart Control?)
Read/Write CapabilityClaims AwareConnect via ADO/SQL, WCF/WS, .Net Assembly and Custom ConnectorsBatch and Bulk Operation Support
BDC is still used for search indexing connectors in 2010 they added blob, incremental crawl and item level security.
They added symmetrical server and client runtimes. Allowing them to connect from client or server directly to external data.
SQL CE database is used to cache external data which allows for “cached mode” behavior on external data basically creating a rich client cache.
BEST PRACTICES CONFERENCE SHAREPOINT
#BPC11 @RHarbridge
How do I actually build it out?
BEST PRACTICES CONFERENCE SHAREPOINT
Intermediate AdvancedSimple
Custom• Custom connectivity for
data aggregation, transformation, security, etc.
• Use Custom Code to Integrate Data into any Office Application
• Business Logic In Forms• Create Reusable
Components (UI parts, ECTs, Actions)
Out-of-box• Surface data in External
Lists
• Connect those lists to Outlook, SPW
• External Data Columns
SharePoint Designer
SharePoint SDK
DeveloperPower User
NO CODE
Advanced Developer
VisualStudio
CODE
Customize• InfoPath Forms
• Workflow
• Web Part Pages
• Outlook Taskpane and Ribbon
Where things fit.
“NO CODE”
BEST PRACTICES CONFERENCE SHAREPOINT
#BPC11 @RHarbridge
1. Discover your Data Source• Database • Web services• .NET type
2. Map Operations to Data Source• Create, read, update, delete, lookup
3. Connect to SharePoint and/or Office • External List• Contact• Task• Appointment• Post
SharePoint Designer Process
BEST PRACTICES CONFERENCE SHAREPOINT
#BPC11 @RHarbridge
Visual Studio Process• Upsize IT Solutions Created in SharePoint Designer• Create Connectivity Packs in Visual Studio to
• Aggregate data across multiple back-end systems• Perform custom data transformations• Execute custom business logic/rules (trigger workflow)
• Bring External Data into other Office clients with VSTO Add-Ins (Excel)
w/ Code
BEST PRACTICES CONFERENCE SHAREPOINT
#BPC11 @RHarbridge
Suggested Life Cycle
BEST PRACTICES CONFERENCE SHAREPOINT
The OutcomeThe BCS has a bunch of new capabilities
bundled with some old enhanced BDC ones.
BEST PRACTICES CONFERENCE SHAREPOINT
What to watch out for…Selecting the right tool is important.
Practice makes perfect.
BEST PRACTICES CONFERENCE SHAREPOINT
#BPC11 @RHarbridge
That’s a lot of information!
BEST PRACTICES CONFERENCE SHAREPOINT
BEST PRACTICES CONFERENCE SHAREPOINT
Demo!
BEST PRACTICES CONFERENCE SHAREPOINT
The OutcomeYou saw how the BCS can be leveraged in
SharePoint Designer and in the SharePoint UI.
BEST PRACTICES CONFERENCE SHAREPOINT
What to watch out for…Don’t assume the tools will
significantly reduce the time it takes to ‘integrate’. It typically reduces
time to ‘interface’.
BEST PRACTICES CONFERENCE SHAREPOINT
What are BCSLimitations?
BEST PRACTICES CONFERENCE SHAREPOINT
#BPC11 @RHarbridge
General BCS Limitations
• No Write support for BLOB• You cannot write back to BLOB fields using BCS
unless you write your own method.• You can access BLOB columns by defining a
StreamAccessor method and presenting the external data via the BCS Data List web part by checking the Display stream fields property.
BLOB
BEST PRACTICES CONFERENCE SHAREPOINT
#BPC11 @RHarbridge
External List Limitations• Workflows cannot be associated with external lists
• Workaround: You can use the external data columns and manipulate it that way.
• No RSS feed support for external lists• No REST based access for external lists
• http://sharepoint/_vti_bin/ListData.svc does not support external lists• LINQ to SharePoint spmetal.exe does not support external lists• Cannot configure alerts for external lists• Cannot export external list items to Excel (using the Export to Excel
feature), Create Visio Diagram, Open with Access or Open with Project• Versioning cannot be configured on external lists• Version History is not available on external lists• Datasheet view cannot be used in external lists
• XSLT is Supported (So you can basically make your own.)
External Lists
BEST PRACTICES CONFERENCE SHAREPOINT
#BPC11 @RHarbridge
External List Limitations Continued…
• Ratings feature is not supported for external lists• Information policies cannot be configured on external lists• Item-Level permissions are not available for external lists• No item or field level validation (without InfoPath)• Lookups don’t work on any column but ID• No attachments.
External Lists
BEST PRACTICES CONFERENCE SHAREPOINT
#BPC11 @RHarbridge
• You cannot create a site column of type ‘External Data Column’• External data columns can be created only as list based
columns and cannot be consumed in site level content types
Bonus! External Column Limitations
Bonus!
BEST PRACTICES CONFERENCE SHAREPOINT
#BPC11 @RHarbridge
Some Data Types Not Supported
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff621599.aspx
• No support for structs that are not simple types. (Do not use non-primitive structs.)
• No nested collections (array of arrays etc)• No support for multi dimension arrays• BDC only works with .Net 3.5 - No dynamic programming
in .Net 4• No support for ICollection or IEnumerable interfaces to
represent collections in data structures (ICollection<T>, IEnumerable<T>, IList<T>…)
BEST PRACTICES CONFERENCE SHAREPOINT
The OutcomeYou now know more about the
limitations of BCS and will make fewer assumptions.
BEST PRACTICES CONFERENCE SHAREPOINT
What to watch out for…Some of the many limitations mentioned make sense. Think
carefully before you build a ‘workaround’.
BEST PRACTICES CONFERENCE SHAREPOINT
1. Business Data Challenges2. SharePoint’s Important Interoperability3. What is the BCS?
External Content TypesExternal ColumnsExternal ListsExtensibility and Tooling
4. Limitations of BCS
1. The Challenges Aren’t All Technology Challenges2. Interface, Identity, Search and Data Access Platform3. A Set of Powerful Connection Capabilities
Structured Types of External ContentLeveraging External Content with Internal ContentInteract Like SharePoint ListsExtensibility/Tool Range from UI to SPD to VS 2010
4. Good Enough and Better than Most Options
What we talked about…
BEST PRACTICES CONFERENCE SHAREPOINT
Thank You!Thanks to Organizers, Sponsors and You for Making this Possible.
Questions? Ideas? Feedback? Contact me:
Twitter: @rharbridge
Blog: www.rharbridge.com
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/rharbridge
Email me at: [email protected]
My company: www.Allin.com