Microsoft Sharepoint Products and Technologies Resource Kit eBook

952 Part IX: Maintaining a Server in Windows SharePoint Services
SharePoint Services document library to your application outside of the Windows
SharePoint Services environment. This functionality cannot be underestimated: the
ability to access internal components enables you to create external functionality on
a grand scale. Rather than moving data from point A to point B, writing display
pages, and so forth, we can use the same Windows SharePoint Services component,
including its user interface in both sites, and still maintain security.
Note Not all Windows SharePoint Services component objects can be
used in an ASP.NET application. Some require parts of the framework that
prevent use outside of a Windows SharePoint Services site. Although all lists
and document libraries are supported, additional ones are being added.
Sharing Windows SharePoint Services Component Data
Although we can instantiate a Windows SharePoint Services component within our
application, the focus of our example in this chapter is to access the data (or content)
within a component within a Windows SharePoint Services site. In other words, we’re
going to set up a standard Windows SharePoint Services site, set up a component
there, and then get (and display) the data it holds in an ASP.NET application.
Why would we do this? Simple: we can use a Windows SharePoint Services
component to do all the work (add, update, delete, and so on) within a secured
environment (even our intranet) but make this data available (view-only, in our
example) on an ASP.NET application in a completely different environment. This is
a great way to use your intranet content on your external sites and maintain security!
In the next section, we will demonstrate how to share Windows SharePoint Services
component data with ASP.NET.
Sharing Windows SharePoint Services Component
Data with ASP.NET
To demonstrate how to share Windows SharePoint Services component data with
ASP.NET, we’ll use a hypothetical company named Contoso, Inc. This section
requires some familiarity with Windows SharePoint Services Administration and
basic knowledge in objects, Visual Studio, and Visual Basic .NET.
The Business Requirements
Contoso, Inc. has a special application named How Cool that it sells and supports.
Presently, its corporate site is built on ASP.NET, and with only 25 people on staff,
they’ve decided to use Windows SharePoint Services for internal department sites,
document management, and knowledge management. The Support Group has its