I grew up in the South.  When a good storm rolls through, you can feel nature's might.  Rain comes down with force (unlike the Seattle drizzle), there's lightning, gutters overflow in a matter of seconds, and trees shudder.  I love that stuff.  Why?  Once the storm is over, air is so crisp and clean. 

 

Big storms are good for many reasons.  They cleanse, nourish, and give you a sense of being.

 

In the SharePoint world, there seems to be a “storm” brewing ... or as some would say... it’s already raging.  Daniel McPherson's latest post points out a great blogsphere conversation centered on using ascx controls, and more to the point, Jan Tielen's SmartPart.

 

In reading the various threads surrounding this "storm", I think it's all good.  It's really exciting to see folks that jazzed about SharePoint; especially those folks looking forward and requesting a roadmap. 

 

It's been widely published that v3 of SharePoint will be built on Whidbey's web part framework (an example post where I mentioned this a few months ago).  In my opinion, this huge - WebParts are going become more prevalent in SharePoint *and* Asp.net development. 

 

V2 WebParts will work on v3... new Whidbey WebParts will work on v3.  If you take a step back, you'll see that SharePoint's use of Whidbey can't be isolated to just WebParts.  This effectively means a lot of the neat things that the Asp.net team is producing will be inherently available in SharePoint.  This is another huge point that is not to be overlooked. 

 

Good question.  It will be released in due time.  It exists, but right now it's not ready for public consumption.  Why you ask?  It needs to simmer - the product team needs to make sure their ideas are on track for what you need.  Yes - everything you say, where it's through PSS calls, blogs, tech conferences (both on and off campus), customer visits, etc. is being weighed against what the product team wants to improve or add. 

 

What about Jan's SmartPart?
Cheers to Jan for creating a custom solution.  In fact, every person that's created a custom web part, web service, or solution should be applauded. 

 

Have I used the SmartPart?  No.  Why?  I don't use ascx controls (mentioned here).  In the SharePoint model, it's easier to create *and* deploy WebParts.  Yes, I know some folks will say developing WebParts is "masochistic", but I would counter that ascx controls are equally painful. The two biggest problems with using ascx control are deployment and code access security requirements. 

 

Isn't SharePoint's WebPart deployment model lacking anyways?

Absolutely.  I will be the first person to tell you that SharePoint dropped ball here.  It's a long story best saved for a conversation over a latte, but the fact is that WebPart deployment (and more to the point, solution deployment) is lacking extensibility and usability. 

 

Nonetheless, SharePoint offers web part packages as a means of deploying code and, at the end of the day, I can hand you one file and know that my code will be properly installed.  No additional work is necessary.  The same cannot be said of user controls.

 

Is the SmartPart worth using?  Weigh your needs and the setup cost. That's the great thing about having an extendable platform.  Pick and choose what works for you. 

 

Is the concept new?  Not really.  It's a technique that's been around for quite sometime.  Case in point, I remember discussing this technique two years ago with a couple of beta customers.  The fact is that Jan's SmartPart makes the technique easier to use in v2.  That I really like. 

 

Paul Murphy points out that in the v3/Whidbey timeframe, a solution like the SmartPart will probably be obsolete.  That's ok.  You have a plenty of time to love the SmartPart!  :)

 

Apparently several folks believe it is too small.  I would agree that sufficient documentation doesn't exist.  I know it sounds cliche, but it takes time to get stuff out the door.  In some sense, this is part of the reason roadmaps haven't been released.  Microsoft needs to get the word out about v2 before inundating the world with v3 information.  Trust me, the tech writers are booked solid. 

 

That's where the beauty of the blogsphere comes in.  Do you work with SharePoint and run into problems?  Blog about it.  Know something about SharePoint?  Share it with the world.

 

I see more and more projects come online each and every week.  Some are open source, others are not.  The developer community is definitely growing. 

 

Like I said, storms are good.  I like the fact that this "SharePoint storm" came through town...

 

-Maurice