When we work with a client on SharePoint development projects, often times the technical folks have questions about where and how to get started. SharePoint is a massive platform and has a vast surface area. Compared to the “dark ages” of SharePoint 2007, Microsoft has really stepped up by providing great documentation, guidance and tools. However, finding this information can sometimes be challenging to developers who are new to the platform
Below is a list of resources that I use to stay on top of what’s going on.
SharePoint Foundation & SharePoint Server 2010 SDK Documentation
These guides are the core product SDK documentation. They include walkthroughs and excerpts from SharePoint books, and are frequently updated. You can even download the documents in Windows Help file format, along with sample code.
SharePoint Developer Center
Microsoft has a portal that is entirely dedicated to SharePoint Developers. It Includes links to documentation, resources, online training etc.
SharePoint Developer Wiki
This is a 3rd party development wiki focused on SharePoint 2007 and 2010. It provides insights and commentary that you won’t find on the Microsoft sites, such as work-arounds for common problems and limitations. Most of the content focuses on SharePoint 2007, but the 2010 stuff is starting to show up too.
SharePoint Overflow
This is a technical Q&A forum site similar to Stack Overflow with a focus on SharePoint.
eBook: Patterns & Practices – Developing Applications for Microsoft SharePoint 2010
This free eBook provides a narrative overview of SharePoint development. Unlike the pure SDK reference, this book explains some of the “why” as opposed to the specific “how.” There are also some great code samples and reference architectures.
eBook: Patterns & Practices – Designing Solutions for Microsoft SharePoint 2010
This is an extension of the eBook described above. It has more of an architectural focus, and thought it is only available as paid content, it is very worthwhile. Printed books are sold through O’Reiley Media.
SharePoint Team Blog
This is the official Microsoft SharePoint product team blog. It has information and news about the latest releases and updates for the product.
All Top – SharePoint
All Top is a blog aggregator; this link points to various SharePoint blogs. It consolidates a “best of” collection from most of the SharePoint MVP community.
Visual Studio 2010 SharePoint Power Tools
Download add-ons and extensions to Visual Studio for SharePoint development which go beyond the base templates.
Community Kit for SharePoint: Development Tools Edition
Like the Power Tools described above, the CKS Dev tools extend Visual Studio to provide enhanced capabilities for SharePoint development.
SharePoint Manager 2010
This is an indispensable SharePoint development tool. I compare it to .Net Reflector but rather than looking at .Net assemblies, it allows you to look into the internals of a running SharePoint farm. It’s great for looking at things that you can’t see in the Web UI.