Integrate SharePoint Document Library into ASP.NET

Question

I'm looking to take advantage of SharePoint's document management features for an intranet portal. Portal users, find SharePont rather cumbersome so I would like to build most of the site in ASP.NET, and integrate SharePoint document libraries so that i don't have to create a document management system.
How can I do this?

Answer 1

In my honest opinion it sounds like you are trying to reinvent the wheel. If users are finding it cumbersome it is generally do to lack of understanding or incorrect implementation and training.

However if you do want to integrate into SharePoint, you can reference the full SharePoint API Library. It is .Net based and allows you to access any aspect of SharePoint in code. You need to reference the Microsoft.SharePoint assembly to access these classes. You will need to setup a development environment for this, since you can't develop for SharePoint without having it installed. The detailed documentation on the namespace starts here

From personal experience we had much more success implement a solid SharePoint structure, with training, and also building the SharePoint portal the same way we would have built a website. Users now insist on having applications in SharePoint.

Answer 2

Basically, you can set up and administer your document library (or libraries) through the standard SharePoint pages, but you build your own ASP.NET site for users which will access the information in the document library. This site will use either the SharePoint object model or the SharePoint web services to retrieve, manipulate and store documents in your document libraries.

Generally the rule is that if you are deploying your ASP.NET site onto the same server as your SharePoint instance, then use the Object Model; if you are deploying to a separate web server, use the Web Services.

Some of the common issues for SharePoint development, and how to avoid them can be found here:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb687949.aspx

The “Working with Folders and Lists” section will be particularly relevant to what you are doing.

Answer 3

Use an IFrame :)

Seriously.. you'll have to work within the context of SharePoint or you will find yourself rebuilding SharePoint. This excludes building it as a regular ASP.NET app. But it is not that far off. Why not adapt the way SharePoint works to how your users like to work? It was made to be changed and appended.. within limits.