Preparing the Development Environment

Another point in favor of app development for SharePoint is the creation and use of a development environment.

Since the app is available for both cloud and on-premises, the development environment can be created in two ways:

8. Creation of the classic development environment for SharePoint solutions where we need Visual Studio installed on the same machine (virtual or otherwise) where SharePoint is installed.
9. Using a developer subscription of Office 365 that allows us to have a much more streamlined system, without the burden of having SharePoint installed—which is greatly appreciated because we know that SharePoint needs a lot of resources.

Obviously, the second approach is most appropriate to what we are discussing in this book, but not for the development of farm solutions. It also allows us to begin development immediately, without losing too much time installing and configuring SharePoint properly.

In all cases where one needs to have total control of the farm being developed, it is recommended that you use a virtual machine (VM) with SharePoint installed.

You might be wondering how you can get a developer subscription of Office 365. The best way to do so is to buy it or use the one included in your MSDN subscription. You can also take advantage of a test environment for 30 days. It’s your choice.

In both cases, we use a site collection that was created with the Developer Site Template that allows us to have a feature called Side-Loading enabled.

Note: Side-Loading allows us to install apps without going through an App Catalog, and then makes sure that Visual Studio can install the app directly at debugging time.

To begin creating a development environment based on Office 365, go to http://dev.office.com/build, scroll down, and click on “Building Apps for SharePoint.”

At this point, we must do two things: One, first make sure we have installed the Office Developer Tools in Visual Studio, otherwise we have to stop and install them. Second, we must sign up for a free trial of the Office 365 Developer Site.

Office Developer Tools for Visual Studio

The Office Developer Tools are available for both Visual Studio 2012 and Visual Studio 2013. My advice is to use the latest available version of Visual Studio so that you can use the latest features of this integrated development environment (IDE). This tool allows you to have all the project templates and project items needed to develop apps for SharePoint.

2. dev.office.com site

Sign Up for the Office 365 Developer Site

If you do not have a SharePoint 2013 environment configured or a developer subscription of Office 365, you can use a trial version for 30 days to develop and test your app.

3. Office 365 developer site sign up

This step requires you to create an account and buy a developer subscription to Office 365, which includes SharePoint Online, Exchange Online, and Lync Online. Once you are subscribed, follow the setup instructions.

Napa

Napa is another tool you can use to develop apps for SharePoint. This tool is distributed as an app for SharePoint (available in the SharePoint Online store for free). It allows you to develop apps that have only client-side code (HTML and JavaScript) and, therefore, are useful in contexts where you want to develop SharePoint-hosted apps and do not want to or cannot use Visual Studio.

4. Add Napa app

These tools are completely web-based and allow you to not only write code but also package the app so you can then deploy it.

5. Create new SharePoint app using Napa

6. Modify app code using Napa code editor

Summary

In this chapter, we learned how to create, with little effort, a development environment that can create apps for SharePoint 2013. A Developer Subscription to Office 365 allows us to immediately appreciate the potential in developing an app rather than solutions, allowing the development of apps that can run both in the cloud and on-premises.

If you want to have a complete environment where you can create all kinds of apps for SharePoint, then the choice is Visual Studio with the Office Developer Tools. If you want to create only SharePoint-hosted apps and use a web-based IDE, then you can opt for Napa.