SharePoint discussion board upgrade: which way to go?

The Macaw Discussion Board, a reworked version of the SharePoint discussion board, works quite well, but it is not really the way I would like to have a SharePoint discussion board to be implemented. I don’t like the technical implementation. It is built on top of the existing discussion board functionality. I converted all list views to data views and did extensive modifications to the XSLT code in the data views. Due to the restrictions of the XSLT in a data view web part there are absolutely no possibilities for code reuse or centralized localization. See the conclusion of my MSDN for more information on those restrictions. Although the usability of the discussion board is good, it is not the way it could look in the new era of Rich Internet Applications. I want it to be slick, smooth, single-page UI, maintainable, configurable, localizable…a rewrite is dawning.

And now my biggest issue! Technology! Which technology should I use. Should it be Atlas, Ajax.Net, Backbase, Flash 8, OpenLaszlo, or one of the other RIA technologies that are available?

One of the most important things is the availability of good controls (or widgets as some others call them). I don’t want to be stuck with the standard HTML controls. Those are so ‘90s. Modern controls are needed like at least a hood tree control and resize controls.

Flash and OpenLaszlo

I’m not really a Flash developer. I really love their approach however: a complete, small and accepted platform running in any browser that provides a really rich user experience. I did some adventures with Flash MX2004 pro in the past. I wasn’t impressed by the quality and stability of the controls in their component framework 2.0. I don’t seem to be the only one as you can read at the ActionStep home page, and as you can see at  http://www.osflash.org where everyone seems to restart on a new control library to replace the Flash component framework. I have no idea yet if Flash 8 made any progression in this matter, I will dive into this soon. Another problem I have with the Flash development environment is that I’m a developer, and still can’t really get used to the Flash way of development. Maybe that is the reason I like the approach taken by OpenLaszlo. OpenLaszlo applications are written in XML and Javascript. The OpenLaszlo server then compiles the XML and Javascript into .swf files, which run in the Flash player. I’m currently downloading the system and will soon have a look at it. It looks really promising!

Backbase

Another interesting technology is Backbase. It is a javascript solution for Rich Internet Applications that runs on most browsers. They have a powerful set of controls available and it all looks really powerful and smooth. There is full support for single page web based user interfaces. Extra data can be retrieved on the fly, it uses ajax technologies. The biggest advantage is that it does not depend on any third party plug-ins like Flash. one of my biggest problems with is is that although there is a community version available for non-commercial applications, an implementation of the new version of the discussion board running within an organization will require a commercial license. This will make it more difficult to get people using the new version of the discussion board.

Ajax.Net

In the .Net world everyone is talking about Ajax.Net and Atlas. Ajax.Net is a powerful ajax library written by Michael Schwarz that integrates ASP.NET development with client side ajax techniques. It is available today, it works with the .Net 1.1 framework. I must say that I don’t have any experience with the library yet, but as far as I can see right now is that the library focuses on the client-server communication, not on providing a full-fledged widget set. Development in that direction is on it’s way in the community.

Atlas

Atlas is the code name for the ajax library Microsoft is working on. We are a Microsoft house, so although other systems might be better or may be further, we will finally end up doing Atlas development. For now however, Atlas does not seem to be the best approach for SharePoint development. With Service pack 2 for WSS there is the possibility to do ASP.NET 2.0 development within SharePoint context. Jan Thielens is working on hosting ASP.NET 2.0 web parts into the current version of SharePoint through “Son of SmartPart”. Problem will be that not many companies will move over to the .NET 2.0 framework on their SharePoint servers yet. The demands for the extra functionality will be too high. Another issue is that no information came out yet on the support of the .Net 2.0 framework for SharePoint Portal Server. I didn’t see a service pack for SPS yet.

Conclusion

Do I have a conclusion? Not yet actually! There are many possibilities to investigate and I hope to get feedback from you on what you think what would be the best direction to take. There are probably many things I overlooked. My guess on best approach in order of best bet are currently as follows:

1. OpenLaszlo (Flash as runtime)
2. Flash 8 (Flash as runtime)
3. Backbase (Standard browser support)
4. Ajax.Net (Standard browser support, use of ASP.NET 1.1 at server side)
5. Atlas (Standard browser support, use of ASP.NET 2.0 at server side)

 

 

10 Comments

  • What about Installing Community Server, and writing webparts that wrap some of their controls ? This would provide rich functionality without much owrk.

  • Don't use Flash for a discussion board. Text heavy work is not its strength. If you insist on Flash, definitely go with an mxml type thing - Flex if you can afford it, I guess Lazlo if you can't. I'm personally keeping my eyes on Xamlon and like products. Trying to create applications using the Flash authoring tool is a big big job.



    I don't have any experience with Backbase. Looks fancy, but personally I'm not interested in dropping the bucks.



    I think Ajax.net rocks. Super easy if you already know dhtml, since suddenly any serverside method becomes transparently available client side. Atlas seems like more learning off the start, but this will likely be a standard you could use a lot in the future.



    Would love to hear what you come up with. Sharepoint discussion board blows. I think we are going to move to Community Server ourselves .

  • Serge, there will be no SP2 for SharePoint Portal Server. It is only for WSS.

  • @Dylan: you seem to have experience wih flash, I had a quick look at your site. mxml seems a good way to go, but way to expensive. Maybe the Flash 8.5 version, where an mxml application can be precompiled would be a solution, especially when the price tag is a lot lower. I don't think that XAML will be a possibility for the comming time, it will take at least two years before the first people are using XAML... and many more years before it is wide spread within companies.



    Laszlo needs a server component if you want to do web services... even in SOLO mode. I DON'T want server components!! Still not sure about the best way to go...

  • @Patrick: but is it possible to use WSS SP2 on a portal server? I will look into that!

  • I would say: AJAX.Net and then an "upgrade" to ATLAS.

    But remember: Don't forget an "multilanguage approach"!

  • Hello Serge

    I´m really glad to hear that you are looking in to the discussion board - we are a major danish educational institution, and are in desperate need for a mutch better forum in sharepoint. We are currently trying to research the webpart market for 3.rd party expansions etc. But no luck until now - we would really like to see (And pay for..)



    - A improved board with multilanguage support:

    - Swyro (see what you are replying on..),

    - Read/unread marking of each posting.

    - History: who has read a posting.. and when..



    Do you have any of these features in your design considerations?

  • Hi René, those are some of the requirements I'm looking into, also on your request;-)

  • 427424.. Great! :)

  • 427424.. Not so bad :)

Comments have been disabled for this content.