Create a Custom Business Application
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You, as a solution developer, can build a custom business application and package it as a solution. There are several ways that you can create a custom business application.
Create an Application by Building on an Existing Application
The easiest method to create a custom business application is to edit an existing Office Live Small Business application. If you want to maintain the original version of the application, you can add a copy of the application to edit.
You can edit business applications by using the tools provided with Office Live Small Business, or by using Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer 2007. For more information, see Customize an Application with SharePoint Designer.
To add a copy of an application to an account
On the Office Live Home page, at the top, click More, and then click Business Applications.
On the Business Applications Home page, on the left navigation bar, click Add Application.
On the Add Applications page, click Document Manager or Team Workspace, and then click OK.
In the dialog box, type a name and URL for your new application, and then click OK. The application is added to the Business Applications left navigation bar.
Create an Application from a SharePoint template
We recommend that you start with a business application when creating a custom application. You can, however, choose to build your application using a Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 template. If you do this, there are some limitations on the use of these templates that you should be aware of.
In Windows SharePoint Services you can define a site by using a template or a site definition. Templates are created through the user interface or through the object model, and are stored in the database. Site definitions consist of multiple files on a front-end Web server that contain XML tags that define a template for a site. Site definitions and the object model are not accessible to Office Live Small Business developers.
You can create a custom application in your Office Live Small Business account by uploading SharePoint Services templates (.stp files). However, the following SharePoint templates are not supported by Office Live Small Business:
Templates created for the beta version of Office Live Small Business.
Templates created using Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 2.0.
Templates with regional settings of one locale cannot be added to an application with a different locale setting.
Additionally, sites that you create and save as a template by using the Windows SharePoint Services interface may encounter problems when they are uploaded to Office Live Small Business, because these sites do not support Office Live Small Business navigation features.
Server-side programs that use the Windows SharePoint Services object model will not work when uploaded to an Office Live Small Business account. However, you can use Windows SharePoint Services Web services and Remote Procedure Call (RPC) methods to work with them remotely. To learn more about how you can use RPC calls with Web services, see the code sample titled Property Value Estimator Code Sample.
To upload a SharePoint template
On the Office Live Small Business Home page, at the top, click Web Site.
In Page Manager, on the actions bar, click Design Site, and then click Install solution.
In the Install Solution dialog box, click Browse, find the SharePoint template file (.stp) on your computer, and then click Open.
Click OK.
See Also
Other Resources
Working with Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Web Services