When we first proposed this book, we set a goal of writing a different kind of SharePoint book. We did not want a reference that repeated the software development kit, nor did we want a how-to book that explained how to configure the out-of-the-box functionality. Instead, we envisioned a book that helped developers apply the Microsoft Office platform to customer problems. Since Susie and I work at the Microsoft Technology Center in Virginia, we have a unique opportunity to work with a wide variety of customers, in both the commercial and public sectors, who are trying to realize a benefit from incorporating Office technologies into their enterprises | cyan yelloW MAGENTA BLACK panTONE 123 C Books for professionals by professionals® The EXPERT’s VOIce® in SharePoint Companion eBook Available Pro SharePoint Solution Development: Pro SharePoint Solution Development Combining .NET, SharePoint, and Office 2007 Dear Reader, Microsoft Office 2007 offers much more to the developer than the desktop product its predecessors were so well-known for. It provides capabilities for the enterprise, including a line of application servers. This book presents Pro Microsoft Office 2007 (both client and server) as a development platform that Ed Hild you can leverage to build solutions that generate documents, automate pro- cesses, enhance collaboration, and integrate line-of-business data. This book is not a reference book that teaches you the basics about Office or SharePoint. Instead, it discusses how you can apply these technologies to build solutions that combine custom .NET code with Office client and server applications. The solutions include items such as custom web parts, Office add-ins, SharePoint features, forms, workflow, the Business Data Catalog, Outlook form regions, SharePoint Excel Services, and the Open XML file format. We utilize Microsoft Office 2007, Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, and Visual Studio 2005 Tools for Office SE. We cover this material in the context of real-world problems, making each chapter a self-contained solution. This means you can read the chapters in any Solution Development order, focusing on the solutions that mean the most to you at any given time. We meet daily with both commercial- and public-sector customers at the Susie Adams Microsoft Technology Center in Reston, Virginia to discuss business requirements and map them to the Microsoft platform. With the release of the Microsoft Office 2007 product suite we have noticed several new patterns of solutions Combining .NET, SharePoint, and Office 2007 emerging. These solutions start with Office and SharePoint as a foundation and
