SharePoint Development Tutorial For Beginners

August 21, 2024 by Chris

This is a SharePoint development tutorial designed for beginners. By the end of this tutorial, you will have a solid understanding of how to create custom solutions using SharePoint.

Step 1: Introduction to SharePoint Development

Before we dive into the world of SharePoint development, let’s take a step back and understand what SharePoint is. SharePoint is a web-based collaborative platform that allows users to share information, collaborate on documents, and manage projects. It’s widely used by businesses and organizations to improve communication, increase productivity, and reduce costs.

As a developer, you can create custom solutions using SharePoint to enhance its functionality and provide specific business requirements. In this tutorial, we’ll focus on the basics of SharePoint development, including creating custom lists, workflows, and web parts.

Step 2: Setting Up Your Development Environment

To start developing for SharePoint, you’ll need a few tools:

  • Microsoft Visual Studio (VS) – This is the primary Integrated Development Environment (IDE) used for SharePoint development.
  • SharePoint Server or SharePoint Online – You can use either the on-premises version of SharePoint or its cloud-based counterpart, Office 365.
  • .NET Framework 4.5 or later – This is the minimum requirement for developing SharePoint solutions.

Step 3: Creating Your First Custom List

Now that you have your development environment set up, let’s create your first custom list in SharePoint. A custom list is a collection of items that can be used to store and manage data.

To create a custom list:

  1. Log in to your SharePoint site using the credentials provided by your administrator.
  2. Click on the gear icon in the top-right corner of the screen, then select “Site settings” from the dropdown menu.
  3. In the Site Settings page, click on the “Lists” link under the “Web Designer Galleries” section.
  4. Click on the “Create a new list” button to start creating your custom list.
  5. Fill in the required information for your list, such as its title and description.
  6. Define the columns for your list by clicking on the “Add a column” link and specifying the type of data you want to store (e.g., text, number, date).

Step 4: Creating Your First Custom Workflow

Workflows are a powerful feature in SharePoint that allow you to automate business processes. In this step, we’ll create our first custom workflow.

To create a custom workflow:

  1. Log in to your SharePoint site using the credentials provided by your administrator.
  2. Click on the gear icon in the top-right corner of the screen, then select “Site settings” from the dropdown menu.
  3. In the Site Settings page, click on the “Workflows” link under the “Web Designer Galleries” section.
  4. Click on the “Create a new workflow” button to start creating your custom workflow.
  5. Fill in the required information for your workflow, such as its title and description.
  6. Define the steps in your workflow by clicking on the “Add a step” link and specifying what actions you want to perform (e.g., send an email, update a list item).

Step 5: Creating Your First Custom Web Part

Web parts are reusable components that can be used to add custom functionality to SharePoint sites. In this step, we’ll create our first custom web part.

To create a custom web part:

  1. Log in to your SharePoint site using the credentials provided by your administrator.
  2. Click on the gear icon in the top-right corner of the screen, then select “Site settings” from the dropdown menu.
  3. In the Site Settings page, click on the “Web Parts” link under the “Web Designer Galleries” section.
  4. Click on the “Create a new web part” button to start creating your custom web part.
  5. Fill in the required information for your web part, such as its title and description.
  6. Define the controls and properties for your web part by clicking on the “Add a control” link and specifying what functionality you want to add (e.g., text box, drop-down menu).

Step 6: Deploying Your Custom Solution

Now that we’ve created our custom lists, workflows, and web parts, it’s time to deploy them to your SharePoint site. This involves creating a solution package (.wsp file) that contains all the necessary files for deploying your custom solution.

To deploy your custom solution:

  1. Log in to your SharePoint site using the credentials provided by your administrator.
  2. Click on the gear icon in the top-right corner of the screen, then select “Site settings” from the dropdown menu.
  3. In the Site Settings page, click on the “Solutions” link under the “Web Designer Galleries” section.
  4. Click on the “Upload a solution package” button to upload your .wsp file.
  5. Fill in the required information for your solution package, such as its title and description.
  6. Click on the “Deploy” button to deploy your custom solution to your SharePoint site.

Conclusion

This tutorial has covered the basics of SharePoint development, including creating custom lists, workflows, and web parts. By following these steps, you should now have a solid understanding of how to create custom solutions using SharePoint.