Hey there my SharePoint enthusiasts! Some exciting news recently hit the wire, the long-awaited release of the SP Starter Kit V3 was merged to the main branch of the PnP SP Starter Kit open source project, and is now readily available for free! This powerful toolset was designed to accelerate your SharePoint development and provisioning journey, with the release of v3 continuing this effort. I recently had the opportunity to present a quick overview of the v3 update on the May 18th, 2023 Viva Connections & SharePoint Framework Community Call.
Let’s dive in and explore what the SP Starter Kit v3 has in store for us!
Updated Development Patterns
Quite a bit here. We updated all components to SPFx 1.16.1 and PnPjs 3.11, as well as updated references to PnP SPFx React components and PnP SPFx Property controls, and UI components were updated to FluentUI. We upgraded and normalized Microsoft Graph components to the Microsoft Graph Toolkit V2.9.0. We further attempted to normalize coding approaches across the different SPFx components. We also updated the appropriate webparts to be readily available as Teams apps.
Upgrade path
For those of you upgrading, if you had installed v2 already, the upgrade path is straight forward. I suggest using the starterkit-spfx-only.pnp provisioning template, which will simply update your sppkgs. All of the component id’s were reused, enabling a smooth update.
For those of you upgrading from v1, that will be more challenging as v1 used one large sppkg that included all components. This means an install of v3 will create all new sppkgs with similar webpart names. Currently there is no automated path to upgrade from v1 to v3 as you will need to replace all webpart instances throughout your webpages either manually or using PowerShell or you preferred automation tool.
SharePoint on-prem support removed
We decided to remove legacy SharePoint on-prem support. SharePoint on-prem’s restrictions were causing confusion thus we deprecated support. You can still find SharePoint on-prem efforts within the Starter Kit via the v2 branch – https://github.com/pnp/sp-starter-kit/tree/v2.
General aims of the project
The SP Starter Kit continues to be a go-to resource for obtaining a compressive open-source SharePoint custom provisioning solution that includes site, hub, term set, mega-menu creation, and more, along with 16 SPFx webparts, 5 SPFx extensions, a SPFx library component, and 2 PnP provisioning templates. All with the underlying code and extensive documentation to make any change you and your organization require.
This project depends on the power of collaboration and the strength of the SharePoint community. The SP Starter Kit v3 is accompanied by comprehensive documentation, code samples, and step-by-step tutorials to assist you in getting started quickly. Moreover, a vibrant community of SharePoint developers is ready to provide support via the issues list, answer questions, and share valuable insights, helping as best they can to facilitate your success of the way.
My favorite features
This project is full of great features. My favorites include:
- The provisioning template examples are amazing, though the ability to see under the hood and make the templates your own is key. You can see the underlying provisioning templates within the /source/templates folder.
There is also detailed documentation available to rebuild your .pnp provisioning template, and it’s easy. Two PS commandlets and you have your own custom provisioning template. Learn more. - There are so many webparts and other SPFx solutions included within this project. Moreover, they are pre-bundled and packaged, making installation a breeze. Within each project folder found in ./sources, check out the ./sharepoint/solution folder, i.e. https://github.com/pnp/sp-starter-kit/tree/master/source/react-links/sharepoint/solution.
- Documentation is reasonably robust, which is very helpful to understand how to use the project, and more importantly how to use the project as the base for your own custom provisioning solution. Primary places to investigate: ./documentation, ./provisioning, ./source, and the project root.
Final thoughts
The SP Starter Kit continues to be a game-changer for SharePoint developers, with v3 continuing this tread. The project equips you with the tools and resources to accelerate your path to create exceptional SharePoint solutions. Within the project upgraded solutions and approach, along with its existing examples, modern development patterns, extensibility options, and strong community support, this kit is a must-have in your SharePoint development arsenal.
Visit the official GitHub repository at https://github.com/pnp/sp-starter-kit to get your hands on the SP Starter Kit V3 and embark on a journey of unparalleled SharePoint development.
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