SharePoint for a C# ASP.NET Developer [closed]

Answer 1

The first thing to remember is that SharePoint is just an ASP.NET application. It has a ton of framework, and various things like security, etc, built-in. But from your perspective, you can just build a Web Control, and basically deploy it right to the server. Check out this post from MikeG, and especially look at SmartPart on CodePlex. That will help you get up and running without too much fuss. Since you are using standard web controls, you have access to CodeBehind. The one caveat is that your assemblies have to either be deployed to the GAC or granted Full Trust in the config files - something SmartPart will help you through.

SharePoint Designer is just FrontPage, rebranded. It very much could help you with some basic stuff, and might be worth looking into if this is an occasional thing. But if you are going to be doing any kind of long term work, I highly recommend taking a class on developing SharePoint applications. It can be quite a beast, and you may find yourself in quicksand faster than you think.

Answer 2

Perhaps the fastest and easiest way to get started is by using the SharePoint Designer application that is part of one of the Microsoft Office versions. If you just need to create simple Forms, Microsoft InfoPath will go along way. I would then go ahead and buy a book on SharePoint development since its a big landscape. Channel 9 is a good resource for SharePoint bits as well.

Answer 3

A very good start, to get you rolling in the right direction, is Microsoft site for SharePoint Development, at http://www.mssharepointdeveloper.com/. This will get you a long way towards understanding what you need to prioritize in your learning efforts.

To answer your second question, in short: yes, you can create pages that use code-behind, just like regular ASP.net. The longer answer is a bit beyond the scope here since it requires a better understanding of how SharePoint works with master pages, customized pages, and the layouts or application pages concepts in SharePoint.