PnP Provisioning PowerShell, Site Scripts or CSOM scripts – which one to use and when?

23rd of November, 2018 / / No Comments

There are various approaches to plan and automate the process for Site creation and management of SharePoint Online Sites. In this blog we will look at these options and how to use with a best possible approach.

Pnp Provisioning PowerShell is a great way to automate creation of SharePoint assets through an xml or pnp template file using PowerShell. Similarly, Site scripts and site design allows us to create Site using JSON templates and also allows call to any Provisioning automation scripts or use a Template for custom implementation.… [Keep reading] “PnP Provisioning PowerShell, Site Scripts or CSOM scripts – which one to use and when?”

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”

Deploy and Add SPFx webparts to Modern Pages using OfficeDevPnP CSOM library

20th of September, 2018 / / 1 Comment

In the previous blog here, we looked at how to install apps on a SharePoint site. With SharePoint and Office Dev PnP CSOM, we could also add web parts to Modern Pages, both out of the box (OOB) web parts and custom web parts. For out of box web parts, refer to Chris O’Brien article here , where he has provided steps and also the web part IDs for the OOB webparts which is really helpful.… [Keep reading] “Deploy and Add SPFx webparts to Modern Pages using OfficeDevPnP CSOM library”

Programmatically deploy and add SharePoint Framework Extensions using SharePoint CSOM and PowerShell

18th of September, 2018 / / No Comments

In the previous blog here, we looked at how to deploy and install SharePoint Apps. Now let’s look at installing SharePoint Framework extensions – Listview command sets programmatically.

SharePoint CSOM

SharePoint Framework has three type of extensions that could be created – Application customiser, Listview command sets and Field customisers. In this blog, we will look at adding list view command sets programmatically.

Listview command extensions are actually custom actions installed in a library or list.… [Keep reading] “Programmatically deploy and add SharePoint Framework Extensions using SharePoint CSOM and PowerShell”