SharePoint Development Options: The difference [ With Pros & Cons ]

Microsoft SharePoint works in every manner from the designing application to deploying it. Sharepoint server and online hosted SharePoint version provide multiple options to SharePoint developers for building custom solutions, which can extend and customize the experience of the product in external applications. With the help of different methodologies and tech stacks, these professionals can implant it in applications within specific guidelines for development models.

SharePoint on-premises and online versions often leverage the programmers to custom services and extend it to the modified functionality which might not be easy without a SharePoint consultant. As the various development models are introduced over each new version in the past decade to overcome different challenges faced during the process at the time. Albeit, not available all of them you still can find some of them in a particular environment.

While customization resides within SharePoint development various models apply to the scenarios to get a better outcome in different circumstances. These changes usually include the different prospect of a project, which comprises web parts or extending users’ experience or other certain pointers to imply on the model. With SharePoint development, one can be sure that whether all of it is applicable or not, and if yes then where will be the data going to store.

This post will help you to understand the customization process and various SharePoint development approaches for your model with all the pros and cons, let’s Begin!

Importance of customization in SharePoint Development

As a user of SharePoint, you often might get amused by the fact that other than collaboration and communication function, there is a lot more to achieve after implanting it. What if the associated organization seeks beyond the core functionality, what will you do? Opt for another software solution? If you’re a kind of that personality then I am afraid you have got the wrong perception of the customization feature of SharePoint.

To satisfy many association’s requirements such as modify menus and dashboards or integrate the solution with other software, for those changes you don’t have to go for another development. Sharepoint customization can implant the mentioned changes, though there is some complexity with it, you can deal easily with those risks and limitations, so you don’t have to worry about the customization process.

Now, why do you need customization in SharePoint development?

Sometimes some software’s functionality is unable to provide the required solutions, at times customization gives you what you’re looking for. SharePoint’s customization features are able to create various unbelievable solutions for the company’s existing process.

Customization depends on the core functionality of any solution, hence the creation of SharePoint was for content management, it needs less customization to implant a DMS in the solution to get better output.

Here is the list of problems that you might face while processing but customization of SharePoint will help you to resolve the problem.

• Disintegrated workflow: Due to insufficient tools or methodologies, it’s seen that it usually disintegrates the workflow for the developers and business. However, integrating SharePoint with other tools can help your business to process ahead for success.
• Customization always ensures an incredible operating system with integrated tools. Such integration leads to automation implanting data into SharePoint, that prohibits usages of manual data storage, which somehow creates strong storage for the entire system in a digital way.
• Hard to transfer data to new technical space: Most of the time while transferring data into another system causes glitches through it. Customization ensures glitch-free content transfer to the modified SharePoint platform or the cloud.
• Boosting employee performance: Human work always consists of multiple errors. Though there is nothing wrong with it, to boost their work efficiency It becomes important to Implant SharePoint solutions into the system including AI technicality boosts the power of employees efficiency and success rate in the business market.
• Resistance towards productivity and collaboration tools: Following the same protocol can make the human mind numb for sometimes, but to emerge productivity, customization of SharePoint will increase the productivity of your team by implying UX/UI designs.
• Compliance regulations: When you’ve full access to use a hybrid SharePoint solution which includes on-premises and the cloud deployments, it certainly creates a better environment for management and stores the regulation compliance safely in the cloud without the fear of misplacing the documents.

How SharePoint developers perform Customization tailored to your business needs and budget

As you know why you need to customize, I think the knowledge of what to customize is next in line. These are the elements which you need to customize to expect better digital solutions.

• Workflows: Customization immunes the damages caused to models, by applying various tools such as Microsoft Flow, SharePoint designer, or visual studio. The sudden boost in the workflows of the system results in a better and reliable outcome.
• Page Content: Doing customization you can create a page content layout that possibly adds a web portion, such as image gallery, file manager, events, etc. Because of customization, SharePoint developers can attempt various solutions, accommodation analytics reports, content personalization and more relevant inclinations to custom something important for marketing.
• Navigation: Navigating through content helps users to access relevant information without being lost on the site. Sharepoint Developers certainly can edit the menu bar and make the search easy for the viewer, customization of navigation brings easier processors for every user on the page.
• Design: With SharePoint, the customization modifies logos, fonts, colours, style, or other formatting layouts which designs the page interesting and enticing for the user at any time. It’ll boost the business in the digital landscape in no time.

Now the knowledge of customization you possess here we have some essential SharePoint development approaches with pros and cons that will lead you to the best solutions.

1. SharePoint Framework:

The SharePoint framework induced a new enticing process for the users to encounter advanced network technologies and tools that present a development context that produces fertile experience and application for the project.

SPFx is a web part model that backs up the client’s requirement in the form of SharePoint development into transferring data to open tools sourcing. The best part is it supports both the version of SharePoint; on-premises and online SharePoint.

Pros of SharePoint Framework:

• It supports the cloud-friendly and mobile-friendly solution.
• It works for both ways; old-school classic and modern UI pages.
• Sufficient to support React, Knockout, and AngularJS.
• Customization rendered through DOM pages rather than IFRAMEs.

Cons of SharePoint Framework:

• Compared to new emerging technologies, it has a few bugs and certain limitations. But there is a possibility to get a better version of it without the earlier glitches.
• For the .Net developer, it can be daunting.
• It’s hard to deal with developing when you’re lacking in Visual Studio.
• You can’t find web parts and extensions that easily.

2. SharePoint Add-ins:

SharePoint Add-ins were originally introduced in 2013 as SharePoint Apps. It’s a complete self-extension that works with exclusive data and cloud-based logic, various SharePoint components, and client-side scripts except it’s not for the custom management code.

It can be easily installed from the organization add-in catalogue or office store and also can be installed on both the mentioned version of SharePoint. Also, there are two types of SharePoint add-ins one is SharePoint hosted add-ins and another id provider-hosted add-ins.

Pros of SharePoint Add-ins:

• Easy to add new functionality in SharePoint Online and SharePoint server.
• Compared to a farm solution, the installation process is much easier.
• All the apps could be monitored by the administration.
• Various revenue sharing models for app stores from Microsoft.

Cons of SharePoint Add-ins:

• It’s reliable on REST API calls and Javascript.
• Due to overload in IFRAME SharePoint, it devises a contrary impact on the clients’ production and UI action for the website.
• It’s not feasible for master pages if we go for the customization.

3. Sandbox solution:

Sandbox solution in SharePoint’s 2010 version which turned-out quite effective. It’s somehow the same as farm solutions except for one fact that it can empower the site collection to establish custom solutions without going interpreted by more powerful management.

It’s run by a CAS (Code Access Security) policy and various resource restrictions, after all, Sandbox solutions are stored in the solution gallery. It also can be installed in both versions; you can’t expect it to run across domain-site.

Pros of Sandbox solution:

• It’s available for SharePoint on-premises and online servers.
• With any loophole in the code, it’ll not be going to affect the whole server except particular site collection.
• The administration somehow permits the solution to deploy in the whole site collection.

Cons of Sandbox solution:

• Not fully compatible with the cross-domain site.
• It can’t be useful for resource files of the multiple lingual methods.
• The Sandbox solutions can’t deploy Visual Studio for custom workflow.

4. Farm solution:

Farm solution since the time introduced in the market in 2001, it contained custom managed codes that SharePoint consultants or developers can deploy to SharePoint farm servers. It highly communicates with the solution on the server-side. The solution package of it pretty much covers relative assemblies, XML, and all the other file extensions in that one package, it has a .wsp extension but the format is .cab-based.

You can count on-farm solutions for the hosted IIS worker process, while any other developers will deploy the features, system application because the farm solution can’t be distributed offshore and other than that it can’t install on SharePoint Online.

Pros of Farm solution:

• Best to access server-side for API in a SharePoint server.
• All the assemblies are fully trusted and accessible for the farm to achieve dome of the complex needs.
• High-security for the model because of only farm administration intact on it.
• Dependent on the .Net framework giving more space to customization.

Cons of Farm solution:

• It’s usable for only on-premises SharePoint servers.
• Not powerful processor while the deployment of processes.
• A simple loophole affects the whole SharePoint farm.

Conclusion

These are the few options or approaches for you to create SharePoint customization. If you’re planning to host within SharePoint, you’ll be able to explore all the aforementioned options. Each one of them features different yet similar qualities. This post will help you to formulate a plan with SharePoint