NODEJS

If you’ve been working with SharePoint Framework (SPFx) for any length of time, you know the drill: look up the Node.js version compatibility, install the right LTS version, manually install Yeoman, the SPFx generator, and the correct task runner (Gulp or Heft, depending on the version). For modern SPFx versions, this might take 5 minutes if you know what you’re doing. For older versions or platform-specific deployments like SharePoint 2019 or Subscription Edition? Much longer.

What if I told you there’s a way to do all of this in under a minute, completely automated, for any SPFx version—past, present, or future?

Updated for SPFx v1.21.1

With the release of SPFx v1.22.0, Microsoft has moved the default build toolchain from Gulp to Heft. This article provides a quick start guide to setting up a new SPFx development environment using Heft as the toolchain. If you are new to SPFx or just want to set up a new environment, this guide will walk you through the necessary steps.

It’s been a while since I posted, but with SPFx v1.22.0 due out in the next couple of weeks, I decided to make a final update to this article on how to get started with SPFx using the Gulp toolchain. In case you haven’t heard, v1.22.0 will no longer use Gulp as it is being replaced with Heft. The main reason for this change is that the Gulp toolchain has been very difficult to keep up-to-date, and the internal engineering teams at Microsoft switched to Heft a while back. Since they are actively maintaining Heft for their own use, we will now benefit from that work.

Expect a companion post soon on getting started with SPFx using the Heft toolchain.

DEPRECATED: This article has been updated. Please see the latest version at SharePoint Framework (SPFx) Quick Start (Gulp toolchain for SPFx v1.21.0 and earlier)

This article left in place for historical reference.

I recently started a training course with the amazing Andrew Connell through his company Voitanos. The subject for this course is Microsoft Teams Development. This is an area I have wanted expand my professional expertise in for a while, so I am very excited about the course. We are using the Teams Toolkit to develop all of the project types available in MS Teams. Our first project is an app to be surfaced as a personal tab and since we want to build a modern UI, we are using the Tab option for “React with Fluent UI.”

updated from 2022-01-22

I am thrilled to announce I was selected to speak at this year’s Microsoft 365 Conference in Las Vegas on April 30th-May 5. This is always one of the premier conferences, with a large supporting cast from Microsoft and the MVP community. I am really looking forward to connecting with attendees and learning how they are using Microsoft technology to make the world better.

As I came to update this post with my latest banner (that includes a code for $100 off at registration,) I decided to have some fun and see what BingGPT had to say about the event and my participation. Here are the results, straight from BingGPT!