General question about C# and Sharepoint Portal Server

[Alex]

Hi everyone,

We recently installed Windows Server 2003 and Sharepoint Portal Server,
and after a few days of using it and scouring the web for ways to pull
data from MS SQL within SPS, I'm finding myself looking at C# as a
possible solution. Some comments and questions though...

First let me say I'm coming from an extensive ColdFusion and MS SQL
background, so from a CF/MSSQL standpoint I know exactly how to do this
-- but with Sharepoint Portal I'm finding it's not that simple. Many
folks said to retrieve data from MS SQL and pull it into SPS I need to
use C#, but after looking at sample code I feel like I'm back in the
early 90's programming in Boreland C++ 3.5 for DOS! I guess ColdFusion
has spoiled me because to throw a SQL statement at MS SQL and show the
output on the web is like 10 lines of code, and very clean code at
that. Does anyone have experience doing this with SPS? Is C# the way
to go? If so, any starting point you can suggest?

I've already posted a similar message on the SPS Developer group, and
the couple of replies I had were to use C#, which is why I'm here. I'd
love to keep everything on the SPS server to take advantage of the
Active Directory features, but pulling data from databases is vital for
us.

As for SPS, I assumed it would have a simple, outta the box method of
pulling data from MS SQL, but I guess I was wrong. It's nothing more
then an overpriced content manage/document management system, both of
which I already have via open source and custom-written software in
ColdFusion... we just hoped Sharepoint would do all this with
integration into our active directory network.

Sorry for getting on a soap box, but with the money we spent on SPS I'd
think it'd have more features then what it has. Other then the Active
Directory integration, there's plenty of opensource apps that do the
exact same thing, and better at it from what i've seen. Without the DB
integration it'll make a good messageboard or Intranet, but nothing
more. Back to Cold Fusion for all the real work.

Thanks for any comments or suggestions ---

Sam Alex

[Raymond Yuen]

Hi Alex,

If you would like to pull data from MSSQL with minimum number of codes, you
can use FrontPage to open your web-part page and insert a "Data View". What
you have to do is to create a database connection, construct you query and
define the XSLT to render your output. Actually, it doesn't require C#.
However, with this method, your web-part page will be unghosted and hard to
maintain (in my own point of view only).

Raymond

"Alex" wrote:

Hi everyone,

We recently installed Windows Server 2003 and Sharepoint Portal Server,
and after a few days of using it and scouring the web for ways to pull
data from MS SQL within SPS, I'm finding myself looking at C# as a
possible solution. Some comments and questions though...

First let me say I'm coming from an extensive ColdFusion and MS SQL
background, so from a CF/MSSQL standpoint I know exactly how to do this
-- but with Sharepoint Portal I'm finding it's not that simple. Many
folks said to retrieve data from MS SQL and pull it into SPS I need to
use C#, but after looking at sample code I feel like I'm back in the
early 90's programming in Boreland C++ 3.5 for DOS! I guess ColdFusion
has spoiled me because to throw a SQL statement at MS SQL and show the
output on the web is like 10 lines of code, and very clean code at
that. Does anyone have experience doing this with SPS? Is C# the way
to go? If so, any starting point you can suggest?

I've already posted a similar message on the SPS Developer group, and
the couple of replies I had were to use C#, which is why I'm here. I'd
love to keep everything on the SPS server to take advantage of the
Active Directory features, but pulling data from databases is vital for
us.

As for SPS, I assumed it would have a simple, outta the box method of
pulling data from MS SQL, but I guess I was wrong. It's nothing more
then an overpriced content manage/document management system, both of
which I already have via open source and custom-written software in
ColdFusion... we just hoped Sharepoint would do all this with
integration into our active directory network.

Sorry for getting on a soap box, but with the money we spent on SPS I'd
think it'd have more features then what it has. Other then the Active
Directory integration, there's plenty of opensource apps that do the
exact same thing, and better at it from what i've seen. Without the DB
integration it'll make a good messageboard or Intranet, but nothing
more. Back to Cold Fusion for all the real work.

Thanks for any comments or suggestions ---

Sam Alex

[Sam ALex]

Hi Raymond,

Thanks for the suggestion, but I guess I'm too oldschool... I like to
code things by hand and forego tools like Frontpage. If I learn the
ASP.Net code by hand then I'll have better control over it. Besides, I
don't have Frontpage, and with what we've spent on SPS and books thus
far I doubt they'll spend the bucks for it.

Thanks though --

Sam Alex
"Raymond Yuen" wrote:

Hi Alex,

If you would like to pull data from MSSQL with minimum number of codes, youcan use FrontPage to open your web-part page and insert a "Data View". Whatyou have to do is to create a database connection, construct you query anddefine the XSLT to render your output. Actually, it doesn't require C#.However, with this method, your web-part page will be unghosted and hard tomaintain (in my own point of view only).

Raymond

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