SharePoint and .NET v2 Compatibility

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I continue to get at least one question a week regarding SharePoint's compatibility with .NET v2 so I thought I would summarize the info I normally share with customers:

SPS2003 requires .NET v1.1 and is NOT compatible with .NET v2.

SharePoint Portal Server 2003 must use ASP.NET 1.1

 

WSS v2 can run under either .NET v1.1 or 2.0, but cannot use 2.0 Web parts (unless you use a custom tool like the SonofSmartPart).  WSS also requires SP2 for .NET v2 compatibility.  Unfortunately, the SmartPart is not a Microsoft-supported tool but it is getting a lot of attention and I have been using it successfully for some time.

 

Description of Windows SharePoint Services Service Pack 2

 

SPS can only run under 1.1 (but 2.0 can be installed on the same box) and has the same Web part restrictions as WSS. .NET v2 can be installed on the same Web server but the virtual server hosting the SPS portal must be configured for .NET v1.1.

 

How to enable an ASP.Net application to run on a SharePoint virtual server

 

However, you can do the following:

 

  • run Windows Forms and Console based .NET v2.0 applications on the Web server hosting the portal.
  • run ASP.NET 2.0 Web applications using excluded paths on the Web server hosting the portal. To do this you need to make sure you have created a separate application pool from the SharePoint application pool and your application uses the separate pool.
  • you can create and consume Web services written in 2.0 from a 1.1 based Web part.

 

SPS2007 fully utilizes the .NET v2 framework and is backward compatible.  Very exciting times ahead!!!

 

HTH

 

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