19 May 2012

Business Connectivity Services (BCS)

Brett Lonsdale – Lightning Tools@brettlonsdale #SPSJHB

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• Brett Lonsdale, MCTS, MCSD, MCT– Email

brett@lightningtools.com – Blog

www.lightningtools.com/blog– Twitter

@brettlonsdale@lightningtools

– LinkedInhttp://www.linkedin.com/in/brettlonsdale

About Me

Author of

Agenda

Putting BCS into use

SharePoint Foundations SharePoint Server

The ServicesClient Services Server Services

Business Connectivity Services IntroductionWhat is BCS? How does it Help?

Office 2010

SharePoint Workspace InfoPath Word Outlook

SharePoint Server

External Lists

Enterprise Search

External Bus field

TypeWeb Parts User

Profiles

What is BCS?

BDC Client Runtime BDC Cache Offline

Operations ECT BDC Runtime Security Solution

Packaging

Out of the Box

UI

CRM SAP Siebel LOB

SPD

VS

What’s new?

• Entities become External Content Types– Now more than just a schema– ECT’s describe behavior

• WCF and .NET Assembly Connectors• External Lists• Client Runtime• Read/Write• Access consumes BCS• Tools

Terminology

• External Content Type – Table/View etc• Finder Method – Returns multiple

columns/rows• Specific Finder – Displays a row• Action – URL and Parameters• Association – Join (Relationship)

Problems solved by BCS

• Islands of data into 1 application

Finance

Human Resources

IT

Weekly Issue Tracking Meeting

Extranet Collaboration

Site

External Lists

• Treat External Data like SharePoint Lists• Limitations include:– Workflow– RSS Feed– Item Level Permissions– Datasheet View

Business Data Web Parts

• Business Data Connectivity Web Parts– Business Data List– Related List– Item Builder– Data View Web Part

External Data Column

• Enforces consistent meta data• Document Information Panel• Quick Parts

Search

• Search External Data and SharePoint• Content Sources• Search Scope

User Profile Import

• Audience Targeting• People Search• My Sites

Client Capabilities

• SharePoint Workspace• Outlook• Office Business Parts (OBPs)– List of Items– Single Item

• Word• Access

SharePoint Workspace

• External Data available offline in the client

Outlook 2010

• Office Types– Posts– Events– Contacts– Tasks

• Sync 2-Way

Office Quick Parts

• Meta Data available throughout Word Documents

InfoPath

• Customize External Lists• External Data lookup

Putting BCS into use

SharePoint Foundations SharePoint Server

The ServicesClient Services Server Services

Business Connectivity Services IntroductionWhat is BCS? How does it Help?

SharePoint DesignerSharePoint Designer– No code solution– Create External Content Types– Configure the connection to the

Datasource– Define Methods– Simple Associations

Visual Studio 2010 ProVisual Studio– Code solution – Mashups of Datasources– Complex Associations– Output a .NET Assembly

Putting BCS into use

SharePoint Foundations SharePoint Server

The ServicesClient Services Server Services

Business Connectivity Services IntroductionWhat is BCS? How does it Help?

@LightningTools@BrettLonsdale