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CTSC: PDK for Microsoft .NET

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In late December SAP published the new Portal Development Kit for Microsoft .NET (PDK for Microsoft .NET) version 2.0 on sdn.sap.com. For those of you unfamiliar with the PDK for Microsoft .NET, here is a short overview of its functionality and main purpose.

The PDK for Microsoft .NET enables developers to build SAP Enterprise Portal components (so-called iViews) using Visual Studio 2003 and .NET. The PDK for Microsoft .NET contains a design-time environment and a runtime environment.

  • The design-time environment is an Add-In for Visual Studio 2003 that provides a comprehensive set of tools for development, deployment and debugging of portal components for the SAP Enterprise Portal. Features include a SAP Portal Application template in Visual Studio 2003, the connection to SAP Enterprise Portals through the Visual Studio Server Explorer, access to portal services, and a list of SAP .NET controls to build user interfaces consistent with the look and feel of the portal or access to the SAP back-end systems via the SAP Connector for .NET.
  • The runtime environment is comprised of the portal runtime for .NET and the Java-.NET interoperability components.

Since its first presentation at SAP TechEd 2003 by Shai Agassi (SAP) and Eric Rudder (Microsoft) a lot of projects have been realized using the full power of Microsoft Visual Studio and the .NET Framework in order to develop iViews for the SAP Enterprise Portal.

The latest version of the PDK delivers a set of new features including:

  • Enhanced Administration Tools
  • Portal Page Designer
  • Portal Style Designer
  • Object-Based Navigation
  • Enhanced APIs
  • New and Enhanced SAP Netweaver .NET Controls
  • Enhanced Packaging and Deployment

For a detailed overview about the PDK for Microsoft .NET and the new features please see https://www.microsoft-sap.com/technology.aspx#s-412 or https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/servlet/prt/portal/prtroot/docs/library/uuid/7f232d6c-0801-0010-1c8a-b6fe24594769.

The PDK for Microsoft .NET 2.0 at the moment only supports Visual Studio 2003, but SAP will soon release a version of the PDK that supports Visual Studio 2005.

If you are already using the PDK for Microsoft .NET it would be great to get some feedback on your experiences. You can send us a mail to ctsc@microsoft.com!  

 

- Juergen