DemoFest Build Notes...

  • Article

I got some questions about last week's BenkoTIPS webcast - DemoFest, and what you need to do to replicate it. Based on what I did for my version It thought I would share some notes. A couple points to successfully complete the full DemoFest application…(LINQ to Amazon to Silverlight to Web Part to SharePoint)

  • You’ll need VS 2008 sp1 installed along with the Silverlight Tools on the workstation you’re developing the Silverlight web part on…can be your workstation. Get all of these tools from https://silverlight.net/getstarted
  • To do the flip animation (can’t remember if we did that version or not) it’s much easier to build in Expression Blend…also available on the get started link
  • Register for an Amazon Web service key at https://aws.amazon.com
  • On your MOSS Server you’ll need a few things installed as well including
    • Same Silverlight tools as on workstation…(VS2008 sp1, Silverlight Tools)…note that I used the express version of Visual Studio on the server…get it from https://msdn.microsoft.com/express
    • WSS 3.0 sp1 (although sp1 is only because I was running Server 2008)
    • A site you want to deploy onto …
      • From Central Admin site create new site on arbitrary port…for example port 88…This creates a site in c:\inetpub\wwwroot\wss\virtualdirectories\88
    • Upgrade the wss site to .net 3.5 by opening the web site with VWD from the directory (not the web server because VS can’t edit SharePoint sites from IIS)…it should prompt you to upgrade the site to the new framework…say yes
    • Edit the web.config in the target site to add Silverlight configuration settings (from Patrick Tissighem's post)
    • Add your web part assembly to the “SafeControls” section of the web.config
    • Create a directory for holding the Silverlight applications:
      • c:\inetpub\wwwroot\wss\virtualdirectories\88\clientBin
    • Add “User” to security rights to read this directory…otherwise Silverlight app won’t work
    • Copy your webpart.dll to the bin directory
      • C:\inetpub\wwwroot\wss\virtualdirectories\88\bin
    • Advertise the web part in the web part gallery by going to site settings of the target site and if you’ve got the web config correct you should see it in the list of web parts you can add…check the box and click add
    • Create a demo page and add your part to it
      • On the Misc settings for the web part change the source to include a leading \
        • Source: /clientBin/BookFinder.xap
      • Refresh the page

That should do it...