When and how to use React component lifecycle management in a SharePoint Framework?

14th of November, 2018 / / No Comments

There are various advantages of using React lifecycle methods in building SharePoint Framework components. It is not a necessity to use component lifecycle methods but we could get a lot out by using these methods with states. For a generic understanding of React component lifecycle methods, check here

Note: The use-cases description in this blog are specific to the SharePoint Framework lifecycle but could be considered for app using React in App model too.
The details in this blog are for guidance and can vary based on the requirements, so please use your best judgement while implementing the lifecycle methods

 

Few of the benefits of using React component lifecycle methods are :

1.… [Keep reading] “When and how to use React component lifecycle management in a SharePoint Framework?”

Walkthrough of Site Provisioning process using PnP PowerShell

12th of November, 2018 / / No Comments

In the previous blogs here, we have looked at the Provisioning process for a complex Team site. Much of complexity was easily handled by the PnP Provisioning process.

In this blog, we will look at the similar Provisioning process but from an Admin point of view and use PnPPowerShell for create and provision the site.

Steps:
The steps are actually quite simple and could be done quickly.

1. Build a Template Site to be used for creating the Provisioning Template

2.… [Keep reading] “Walkthrough of Site Provisioning process using PnP PowerShell”

Deploy SPFx web parts to a Site Collection only – Site Collection App catalog

2nd of November, 2018 / / No Comments

One of the few hidden gems of SharePoint Online hosting model is Site Collection App Catalog. Yes, you read it right, Site Collection App catalog !!!, not Tenant App catalog. Don’t confuse this with delegating app catalog rights to Site Collection Administrators. This is different and the requirement is to have the app deployed and scoped to a Site Collection only.  For more details about deployment options, please check here

So what does it mean by Site Collection App catalog ?… [Keep reading] “Deploy SPFx web parts to a Site Collection only – Site Collection App catalog”

Pump up your investments in Modern Intranet and Team Sites with latest cool advancements (Ignite 2018)

25th of October, 2018 / / No Comments

At Ignite 2018, Microsoft provided a great perspective about how Modern Intranets (using SharePoint Communication Sites) and Collaboration features are becoming a major collaboration platform for many companies and investments Microsoft is doing to make them better. Some of these cool features were mentioned during the event. We will take a look at many of them in this blog and how we could use it to make Modern Intranets, Modern Team Sites and Microsoft Teams work even better and seamlessly together.… [Keep reading] “Pump up your investments in Modern Intranet and Team Sites with latest cool advancements (Ignite 2018)”

Bring in Strategy for building Next-gen Modern Intranet using Communication Sites

23rd of October, 2018 / / No Comments

With the modern responsive design and full-page layouts, Communication sites are an ideal candidate for Intranet sites. During last few projects, we have implemented Modern Intranet portals using Communication Sites and found that user adoption was exceptionally high. We also gained a lot of experience from these implementations, which I will be sharing here.

Note: Most of the below features and advancements are of during Oct 2018, there are few major releases from Ignite 2018 which be released later.
… [Keep reading] “Bring in Strategy for building Next-gen Modern Intranet using Communication Sites”

Options to consider for SharePoint Framework solutions deployment

19th of October, 2018 / / No Comments

There are various options to package and deploy a SharePoint Framework solution and as part of packaging and deployment process, the developers have to identify a best approach for their team. Sometimes it becomes a nightmare to plan the right approach for your solution, if you haven’t weighed the options properly.

Working at multiple implementations of SPFx solution for sometime now, I have been able to get an idea of various options and approach for them.… [Keep reading] “Options to consider for SharePoint Framework solutions deployment”

Provisioning complex Modern Sites with Azure Functions and Flow – Part 3 – Post Provisioning Site Configuration

3rd of October, 2018 / / No Comments

In the previous two blogs part 1 and part 2, we looked at steps to create a Modern team site and apply a custom provisioning template to it. In this blog, we will have a look at the steps for the post provisioning process to implement site specific requirements. Some of them could be:

1. Apply default values to list fields
2. Create a bunch of default folders
3. Manage Security groups (SP level) and permission level.… [Keep reading] “Provisioning complex Modern Sites with Azure Functions and Flow – Part 3 – Post Provisioning Site Configuration”

Hub-Spoke communication using vNet Peering and User Defined Routes

10th of August, 2018 / / 1 Comment

Introduction

Recently, I was working on a solution for a customer where they wanted to implement a Hub-Spoke virtual network topology that enabled the HUB to communicate with its Spoke networks via vNet Peering. They also required the SPOKE networks to be able to communicate with each other but peering between them was NOT allowed.
Drawing1
As we know, vNet peering is Non-Transitive – which means, even though SPOKE 1 is peered with the HUB network and the HUB is peered with SPOKE 2, this does not enable automatic communication between SPOKE 1 and SPOKE 2 unless they are exclusively peered which in our requirement we were not allowed to do.… [Keep reading] “Hub-Spoke communication using vNet Peering and User Defined Routes”

Provisioning complex Modern Sites with Azure Functions and Microsoft Flow – Part 1 – Architecture

10th of August, 2018 / / 3 Comments

In one of my previous blog here,  I have discussed about creating Office 365 groups using Azure Function and Flow. The same process could be used also to provision Modern Team sites in SharePoint Online because Modern Team Sites are Office 365 groups too. However, if you are creating a Complex Modern Team Site with lots of Libraries, Content types, Termstore associated columns etc. it will challenging to do it with a single Azure Function.… [Keep reading] “Provisioning complex Modern Sites with Azure Functions and Microsoft Flow – Part 1 – Architecture”

Planning Site structure and Navigation in SharePoint Modern Experience Communication and Team sites

26th of June, 2018 / / No Comments

If you are planning to implement or implementing Modern team sites or Communication sites, there is change in best practices for planning and managing the Sites structure, Site Hierarchy and Navigation. This is a very common question during my presentations – how do we manage site structures, navigation and content in Modern experiences.
So, in this blog, we will look at few strategies for planning Site structure and Navigation in Modern Experience sites.
1. First and foremost, get rid of nested subsites and Site hierarchy navigation.… [Keep reading] “Planning Site structure and Navigation in SharePoint Modern Experience Communication and Team sites”