Development environment for Sharepoint 2007?

Question

I've been customizing SharePoint 2007 through SP Designer and Visual Studio, but until this point I haven't done any development that required a SharePoint template in VS. Now I have to create a custom workflow in VS and getting my environment setup seems to be a major hurdle.

Here's my current setup:

• 64-bit PC with Windows 7 and Visual Studio 2010 on my machine
• SharePoint 2007 on a remote server running Windows Server 2003

I tried to create a Sequential Workflow project in VS, but I got a message that I had to have SharePoint 2007 installed on my machine. After much work, I was able to get SharePoint 2007 and SQL Server Express installed on my Windows 7 box, but now I'm getting an error message that VS needs a 32-bit SharePoint installed. I tried to install a 32-bit SP, but I could only get the 64-bit version to install.

I also tried to install the WSPBuilder tools, because I read that they include a template which can be used from a 64-bit install to create a Sequential Workflow, but after installing WSPBuilder tools, I don't see any additional project templates in my Visual Studio.

What's the best way to develop for SharePoint 2007 using VS 2010 and the SP Sequential Workflow template on a Windows 7 box?

Answer 1

In doing development for SharePoint 2007 it is recommended you use VS 2008. It's a pain developing solutions using VS2010. You might finally get them to work, but it just isn't worth the lost time.

Answer 2

Developing for SharePoint 2007 on a non-server OS is possible if you copy any referenced DLLs from a SharePoint server installation to your development machine. You will not be able to debug the application, but the project will compile and can be deployed to a server. I have done this for three years using STSDEV (similar to WSPBuilder) with no problems...

...except for custom workflows.

Copying the necessary DLLs locally seems to be enough to get the workflow designer to open, but there has always been something that has not worked correctly. For custom workflows, I would recommend installing Visual Studio on a server OS with SharePoint installed. If possible, install Visual Studio on a second server (virtual machines are recommended) that is separate from your existing remote server where you will test your solution.

Answer 3

AFAIK, it's not possible to create SharePoint 2007 solutions with VS 2010 and SharePoint 2010 project templates. I generally use WSPBuilder and it works without problems. There may be a problem with your WSPBuilder installation because there should be WSPBuilder project templates after installation.