SPSCLT

Thank you SPS Charlotte!

theChrisKent Column Formatting, SharePoint, SharePoint Saturday, SPFx, Web Parts , , , , , ,

This past weekend I was pleased to speak at SharePoint Saturday Charlotte. It was an awesome time and is one of the best SPS events out there. I had a great time presenting both Getting Started with the SharePoint Framework (SPFx) and Office 365 List Formatting (Slides can be found below).

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Photo courtesy of John Warner (@kingfumaster)

Both sessions were full of people asking great questions and actively participating. Presenting at these events can be a lot of work and requires not just the travel and the weekend time, but often many many hours of prep. Unfortunately, not every event feels worth it, but the attendees at SPS Charlotte were genuinely interested and engaged and I felt like I was able to both teach and encourage them to do awesome stuff.

Having spoken to several attendees (of not just my sessions) the overall sentiment was very positive. I wasn’t the only one amazed that these SharePoint Saturdays are FREE. The quality of speakers, sponsors, and attendees all put together by fantastic organizers is super impressive. If you missed it this year, be sure to correct that mistake next August!

P.S. – Charlotte has public electric scooters that are super cheap to ride. I rode all over downtown after the event and even went 4 miles on one the next day on my way to the airport. Even if you don’t use SharePoint, you gotta get to Charlotte just to feel the wind in your hair, the jealous stares of the walking pedestrians, and the unbridled feeling of freedom while traveling at 8 mph on a lime green scooter.

Resources

Join me at SharePoint Saturday Charlotte on August 11th!

theChrisKent SharePoint, SharePoint Saturday , , , , ,

I will be presenting Getting Started with the SharePoint Framework (SPFx) and O365 List Formatting on Saturday, August 11th 2018 in Charlotte as part of SPSCLT!

SPSCLTvan

Last year’s event was awesome! Don’t miss this opportunity for free training with keynotes by Bill Baer, Brian Alderman, AND Naomi Moneypenny (Not to mention all the other great speakers)!

I’ll be presenting Getting Started with the SharePoint Framework (SPFx) at 10 am. This session will provide an overview of all your customization options and focus on where the SharePoint Framework fits in that ecosystem. You’ll leave this session knowing what the SharePoint Framework is, what it can do, when to use it, and how to get there. I’ll also provide you a bunch of tips and tricks to get you going right away.

Then I’ll be presenting O365 List Formatting at 11:15 am. We’ll cover Column Formatting and take a look at the soon to be released View formatting. We’ll talk about both the power and flexibility of this approach along with some of the limitations. I’ll share the basics of list formatting, tips and tricks, and tools and resources available to enable you to get started immediately (including a demo of Column Formatter 2.0).

I’m really excited to return to SPS Charlotte. Great attendees, great speakers, and great SWAG all at a FREE event – don’t miss it!

Thank You SPS Charlotte!

theChrisKent SharePoint , , ,

This weekend I had the honor of speaking at SharePoint Saturday Charlotte. Great attendance, great speakers, great sponsors, and great organizers! I had a fantastic time and I heard a lot of very positive feedback from attendees. SPSCLT 2017 was a huge success and I’m grateful I got to be a part of it.

SPSCLT17 Speakers
SPS CLT 2017 Speakers at TopGolf

Here’s a video of me hitting a golf ball for maybe the third time in my life. Behold my glory:

My Session

I presented Understanding SharePoint Framework Extensions. You can find the slides and a link to the samples demonstrated below. Here’s the outline:

  • SharePoint Development: A Brief History
  • Modern Pages
  • An Introduction to the SharePoint Framework
    • Client-side Web Parts
    • Tool Comparison
    • The SharePoint Workbench
    • Key npm and Gulp Tasks
    • Hello World Demo
  • SPFx Extensions: Extending Modern Pages
    • Types of SPFx Extensions
    • Current Extension Limitations
    • SPFx Extension Demos
  • SharePoint Patterns & Practices
    • What’s in PnP (Selective Highlights)
    • Staying Up to Date with PnP

Demo Troubles

Prior to SPS I noticed that there were some changes in my developer tenant that required some adjustments of the List Driven Placeholders sample. Specifically, the placeholders seemed to be switching from PageHeader to Top and from PageFooter to Bottom. This was pretty easy to work around, but I reached out via the issues list since I was nervous other changes were on their way.

Vesa reached out immediately and let me know I was “in slightly dangerous waters” and suggested I take screenshots just in case. I followed his advice (glad I did!) and even included his response in the slides as my official disclaimer, haha.

Needless to say, I was a little nervous and checked the demos constantly including 30 minutes before my session. Everything was working! However, during the actual session I received a lot of errors. I remember saying that I thought there might be some errors but that I had expected them on the site not during my gulp serve command. Perhaps I should’ve listened to myself.

Unfortunately, I let confirmation bias and the nerves of speaking overrule my troubleshooting skills. I assumed the dreaded breaking changes had gotten me! In reality, I hadn’t stopped my last gulp serve command from showing the hello world web part. A really simple and (normally) obvious mistake.

Fortunately, I was able to show the screenshots as Vesa had suggested and things worked out fine. I regret that I gave the impression that SPFx Extensions were temporarily broken. I’m also sorry my audience didn’t get to see the samples in their full glory (screenshots work, but aren’t as cool as seeing it actually do the magic).

Resources

You can find my slides here: Understanding SPFx Extensions – SPSCLT17

Many of these slides are original but several have been adapted from other sources (mostly Ignite).

Samples Demoed:

 

Despite my demo hiccup, things still went really well. It was a great day for the SharePoint community and the SPSCLT organizers should be very proud. Thanks Charlotte – see you next year!

Join me at Charlotte SharePoint Saturday on August 26th!

theChrisKent SharePoint, SharePoint Saturday , , , ,

I will be presenting Understanding SharePoint Framework Extensions on Saturday, August 26th, 2017 in Charlotte, NC as part of SPS Charlotte!

I’m sure you’ll all attend just for my session – but stay for everything else. Just look at this lineup!

SPSCLT

Andrew Connell will be delivering the keynote, Where are We and Where are We Going?

My session is at 11:15 am and will focus is on understanding how the SharePoint Framework (SPFx) and the Extensions fit within the historical and modern approaches to SharePoint development. The goal is for attendees to know what SPFx is and when to use it, how the extensions fit in the framework, and to know where to go to get additional details. This session is perfect for power users, managers, and developers new to SPFx.

After my session, stick around for the unofficial “Part 2” at 2:15 pm, Andrew Connell’s Modern UI Extensions with the SharePoint Framework – Command Sets, Application, and Field Customizers where he’ll be providing additional depth, details, and demos.

After attending these 2 sessions you should have everything you need to dive into SPFx extensions just in time for the upcoming Release Candidate 1 and General Availability coming later this year!