Things to be aware of when considering using Connect for SharePoint
All things mentioned in this blog post applies to the 2.0 CMS5 R2 version. I haven’t checked if the same issues exist in newer versions so it can be a good thing verifying that this isn’t the case if one of the things below could be an issue.
All things are also related to the file integration which is the only functionality we used in this particular case.
- You can only have one VPP that uses Connect for SharePoint.
This is no biggie but having only one VPP and a large folder structure could get messy. - Possible problem with not all files are visible to the editors.
It’s important to now that the EPiServer filemanager uses the SharePoint views object limit (default 100) when displaying files and folders. Uploading documents beyond that limit will not be visible to the editors. - Misc problems
We have experienced problems with errors when trying to replace files, slow loading and other small annoying things that we never had with a normal versioning provider. - No permanent links
Last but not least we found out the hard way that the links are not permanent. The links are internally stored as normal paths just like a native provider.
If the customer doesn’t have a lot of files in Sharepoint already I would really think twice before choosing SharePoint as a document store in combination with EPiServer.
In an upcoming post I will write a guide on how to move a SharePoint VPP to an versioning VPP.
Sep 21, 2012
Hi Per.
Thanks for sharing this. Could you, please, clarify a couple of things:
1. Only one VPP: what exactly prevents you from having several of those? It should be possible to have as many as you like.
2. Not all files are visible: this is a known issue - only first 100 files are visible in a folder. In the latest version this was increased to 1000 files per folder. Please, contact EPiServer support if you need a hotfix for this.
3. Misc problems: well, I think the latest version has less of those problems. Please, contact the EPiServer support, maybe those problems are solvable.
4. No permanent links: what exactly isn’t working for you? No links are stored in Connect of SharePoint VPP, all files and folders paths are provided as is from the SharePoint side.
Hi
1. It just doesn't work to have more than one VPP. If you do they aren't displayed in the filemanager.
Maybe it's been fixed for this particular versions and newer ones but what the EPi support couldn't help us with that at the time.
2. I haven't read anything about this being a known problem. At the time we had a dialogue with EPiServer support and no one has mentioned anything about a hotfix.
3. That the links is stored as is from the SharePoint side is the problem. The editors can't change a document name etc without breaking all links to that document. Using a versioningprovider VPP the editors can do this.
I'm not saying that it is an error just something to be aware of. If you have both a SharePoint VPP and a versioningprovider VPP things can get confusing for the editors.
Regarding multiple Connect for SharePoint VPP’s - please, make sure you have unique names assigned for virtualName attribute for each VPP, this might be the reason why you can’t see more than one provider in the file manager.
One other thing that people should be aware of it that if you are planning to publish SharePoint intranet content in public site (example EPiServer) it's required to have SharePoint FIS (For Internet Sites) license and it's quite expensive. That's really strange license rule. I don't know if it's legal but it exists.