Microsoft 365 Community Transform SharePoint Add-in model solutions to modern development patterns, 30 Mar 2023

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From YouTube: Provisioning artifacts to SharePoint Sites - Different options and capabilities

Description

This module introduces you to the modern provisioning of artifacts in SharePoint Online. In particular, you will learn about how to use the SharePoint Framework provisioning, the remote provisioning, and the PnP Provisioning Engine.

This video is part of a series in a playlist about "Transform SharePoint Add-in model solutions to modern development pattern": https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLR9nK3mnD-OXJLA29Q0Xk7psbAUqzQZwe

➡️ Next video on this series - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iq8iMXaTpBQ&list=PLR9nK3mnD-OXJLA29Q0Xk7psbAUqzQZwe&index=16
⬅️ Previous video in this series - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLHMjJNHehE&list=PLR9nK3mnD-OXJLA29Q0Xk7psbAUqzQZwe&index=14

#Microsoft365 #Provisioning #SharePointOnline

In this video, you will learn about

- Provisioning artifacts using SharePoint Framework
- Understanding remote provisioning
- Learning how to use the PnP Provisioning Engine

📖 All guidance content including code samples can be found here: http://aka.ms/sp/add-in/modernize/samples

✨ Presenter
• Paolo Pialorsi (PiaSys.com)

📃 Agenda
0:00 Introduction
3:25 Demo
4:20 SharePoint Framework provisioning
7:34 Remote provisioning with PnP Provisioning Engine

📝 Learn more
• YouTube playlist for this video series - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLR9nK3mnD-OXJLA29Q0Xk7psbAUqzQZwe
• Provision SharePoint assets from your SharePoint client-side web part - https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/dev/spfx/web-parts/get-started/provision-sp-assets-from-package
• Tenant-scoped solution deployment for SharePoint Framework solutions - https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/dev/spfx/tenant-scoped-deployment
• Use the site collection app catalog - https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/dev/general-development/site-collection-app-catalog
• PnP PowerShell - https://pnp.github.io/powershell/
• Introducing the PnP provisioning engine - https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/dev/solution-guidance/introducing-the-pnp-provisioning-engine

💡 Learn more about the Microsoft 365 & Power Platform community
• Microsoft 365 Unified Sample gallery - https://aka.ms/community/samples
• Microsoft 365 & Power Platform Community in YouTube - https://aka.ms/community/videos
• Microsoft 365 & Power Platform - http://aka.ms/community/home

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Hi there and welcome to this video about understanding how modern provisioning Works in SharePoint online just to set the context. Let me remind you that in the SharePoint adding model we used to rely on the SharePoint feature framework for classic provisioning of content and artifacts. What do I mean? Well, we used to use the camel based and XML based provisioning model, which was able to create, for example, new, set columns, new content types, new list, definitions, new views and schemas using the SharePoint feature framework.

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This model was really good for the initial provisioning of artifacts was not really good when you needed to upgrade on the goal. The artifacts you already deployed, moreover, in the SharePoint and in model, the out of the box. Experience was based on the extensibility and the provisioning of artifacts in the upside of the add-in that you created. While in order to provision artifacts in the host side, you need to use the client of the model of SharePoint, whether using Json or season, and to do remote provisioning of artifacts in the SharePoint framework. Modern development word.

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Now we still have the SharePoint feature framework provisioning with the modern experience, meaning that we can use it in our modern solutions. But under the cover we still have the SharePoint feature framework. So still we have the elements and the feature files in order to provision artifacts and even if less than before, but we still have to struggle a bit whenever we need to do maintenance on the go of the solutions that we deployed. So that's why?

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Nowadays, we usually rely on the remote provisioning based on the PMP provisioning engine, where the PMP provisioning engine is a remote provisioning engine built and provided by the micro, 360 file and Power Platform Community as an open source effort, and it relies internally on the rest apis of SharePoint online line and on season when needed. It can be used either as a library through the PMP framework Library.

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So you can create your own provisioning, Solutions, with.net and reference the PMP framework library, or you can simply use the PMP power shell commandlets and do the actual provisioning and maintenance of your artifacts just using a bunch of Powershell scripting. What is interesting to notice is that with the remote PMP provisioning engine, you can also easily do maintenance on the go, because under recover the engine will take care of Delta handling.

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So whenever there will be an update on a template, you can simply apply the template again onto a Target site and the engine will do the Delta handling and will apply the Delta changes to the Target site. Upgrading the information architecture to the latest release that you defined. Let's say that let me move to the demo environment and let me show you how to use these functionalities in practice.

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This is an old SharePoint at the model solution in which we have some artifacts, the provisioned through the package of the solution. Specifically here you can see the feature that is going to be deployed through the add-in model solution and, as you can see, there are custom Fields like, for example, a customer code field, a customer in a field and a customer type field which are used by a customer content type and the customer content type itself is then used in a customer's list where we have the schema of the list.

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The feature element to create, at least as a list template and then the instance of the customer list. So now, let's see how we can do the same with SharePoint framework as the first step. So let me switch to visual studio code, and here we have a SharePoint framework solution in which an under the SharePoint folder asset, subfolder I, have a schema and an element.xml files in the elements.xml file.

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I have the definition of the same fields we had before in the SharePoint editing model. So we have the customer code field. We have the customary made field and the customer type field, it's like, as they were in the sharepointed model solution. Then we have the definition of the content type for the customer with the field references and then we have the list instance. Now.

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One of the biggest differences is that, right now in this SharePoint framework solution, we are going to provision these artifacts into the site where we are going to install the SharePoint framework solution, while in the add-in model solution, the artifacts were deployed in the upside and not in the host side. So now, when I have such a feature, XML file- and this schema XML file for the list instance of customers.

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We can then have those item referenced in the package in the SharePoint framework package, so that if we create with gulp bundle, that's the ship and gulp package solution dash dash ship the sptkg file of our solution, which is this this one.

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We can then go to the uh app catalog of our tenant and in the manage app section of our thing, and we can upload like I already, did the SharePoint framework package into the app catalog and we can enable it so that if we go into a Target site, we can go to site contents and we can click on new app from here.

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We can see the package, the spp EG package that I just showed you and I just created, and we can add it to the Target site collection in which we are, it will take a while and once it it will be ready. We can go back to the site contents and we can see that when it will be done, we will have the list of customers properly provisioned in this target site collection.

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So let me try to refresh this view just for the sake of saving some time and precisely you can see that now, I have the list of customers and the list of customers is based on a content type which I can find. If I will go to the site settings in the site, content types I will be able to find the customer that I just provisioned using the spfx solution.

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Here it is a customer with the custom Fields, so this is really a powerful way of doing the provisioning, but when we do provisioning using the feature framework, we need to face the fact that the maintenance of the provisional artifact is not always that easy. In fact, when you want to later on update your data structure, there are some options to do maintenance, but there are no plenty of options to do proper maintenance of artifacts and that's. Why that's? Why?

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Usually, you should rely on the remote provisioning pattern and eventually rely on the PMP provisioning engine in order to have the handling of the Delta changes and of the updates to the Target artifacts. So let me show you a provisioning template late, that I created using the PMP provisioning engine that we can use to apply our logic and, first of all, in order to create that template.

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You simply need to have a site where you already created your data structure so like, for example, this one in which I have created a customer list and as like as the one we provisioned with the SharePoint framework. We have in the collection of content types of my site, a content type called customer which I Define, for example, using the web browser and in which I defined a referenced few custom columns which are defined right here in the site, Columns of my site.

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So if you want to generate a template, starting from this list and content type and columns, you can simply use the PNP provisioning engine and PMP Powershell to connect to a Target site, the one where you define eventually with the browser, the artifacts you want to extract and then you can use the get PMP site template command letter, PMP Powershell.

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The output will be an XML file on your file system and, for example, you can extract the list of customers and you want to extract the artifacts using the address for Fields, so set columns the content, types and the lists so at the very end. By executing these two common length, you will have an XML file with the template of the customer list and with the content type of customer and with the custom field data for the customer.

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This is the XML extracted by the get PMP site template. As you can see here, we have a bunch of site Fields, where we have the customer type, the customer code and the customer email, and you can most likely recognize that this is still the same XML we used to see before in the add-in model and in the SharePoint framework solution.

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Then we have the content, type definition and again this XML looks really like the other one and we have the field drives for the fields with the find, and then we have the list instance of customers with the bind into the content type of the customer, with eventually any custom views and with the field references.

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So now, if we use a Target site like, for example, this one which I just created, we can apply the template to this target site. So let me show you the Powershell syntax. You still need to connect to the Target. This could be the URL of the target site you want to use, and then you have to invoke the PMP site template providing the path of the XML file you want to use. So let's connect first of all and run the first line of this script.

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So right click and we can run the selection, it will connect to the Target environment, and then we can invoke the PMP side template providing the XML file that we want to apply so again. Right click run selection, it will take a while and it will provision remotely all of the artifacts to the Target side. So we will end up having the content type, decide, columns referenced by the content, type and release definition and the list instance the provisioning is now complete.

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So we can move back to the side and we can see that by refreshing the site contents on the site. We can see that we have a list of customers still with the same fields and still in the site. We have the same content type and send columns that we have seen that before now.

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The interesting part of the story right now is that we can eventually do maintenance, so we can change the XML template by adding new, Fields or new stuff, and we will be able to apply the template as many times as we need it onto the Target and dpmp provisioning engine will take care of processing the Delta changes and on updating the target environment with the new changes and with the new fields and with the new artifacts.

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Here you can find additional links about the topics that we covered and, like always thank you for watching this video foreign.