Visual Studio and Sharepoint development

Question

GIVENS: - We run Sharepoint 2010. - No one here has ever used Visual Studio here to enhance Sharepoint.
- They want to stick with SP 2010.

QUESTIONS: - Is there any advantage to using Visual Studio 2012 vs. 2010 (2013 not an option at this time)? - If we decided to go to VS 2012, does Premium give us any advantage when dealing with Sharepoint over Professional or will Professional suffice? - When we start using VS, do we start using SQL Server tables instead of lists? - Someone (not me) mentioned possible security issues using SQL Server for Sharepoint apps. Do you find this to be true?

Answer 1

VS2012 (I advise updating to Update 4 version which is up to date at the time of writing this) provides a number of updates regarding SharePoint 2010 development. Some of them are:

• Create lists and Content Types by using new designers
• Create Site Columns
• Create Silverlight webparts
• Publish SharePoint solutions to remote SharePoint server
• Test SharePoint Performance by using profiling tools
• Create Sandboxed Visual webparts
• Improved support for Sandboxed solutions
• Support for JavaScript debugging and Intelligence for JavaScript
• Streamlined SharePoint Project Templates
• Test you code by using Microsoft Fakes Framework

Any version higher or equal to Professional will support SharePoint development. Please refer to msdn on what other functions are included in the premium edition. Other than some code quality tools, the professional version should be sufficient for your development needs.

As for the last question, I do not see why you would cease to use SharePoint lists and work with SQL Server directly...? I do not see this as a best practice and you will probably rarely find yourself ever needing to work on the databases themselves. Everything you need most likely is contained within the SharePoint Server Object Model.

Answer 2

• VS 2012 - 2010
  • Personally I wouldn't say there's a big difference
• VS 2012 - Premium vs Professional
  • Fakes would for me be the biggest value in having Premium over Professional, only useful if you intend to do Unit Tests.
• Please, do not resolve to SQL Tables but just use the SP Lists if you don't have a specific reason to go to SQL Tables.

Personally, I would advise that at least one of you follows an introductory training to programming for SP, if indeed you itend to program custom solutions. That way you will be aware of best practices the quickest.