I was browsing today and ran across this little nugget http://www.codeplex.com/spdevexplorer. I am still testing and have found it cannot edit all SharePoint types, but hey...



This allows for editing of SharePoint content and structure from within visual studio. Although SharePoint designer is not 100% bad, it leaves a lot to be desired.


Check it out for yourself.

When developing for SharePoint you may find the urge to install these tools from Microsoft. Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Tools: Visual Studio 2005 Extensions Unfortunately, have a look at the requirements to use these tools.

System Requirements

• Windows Server 2003
• Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 (Basic installation only), or any product built on Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, such as Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007
• Visual Studio 2005 (Standard Edition, Professional Edition, or Team System)

I personally think this is a flaw in Microsoft's thinking to develop a toolset that has such requirements as many organizations do not allow for developer machines with this setup. Also, the Microsoft recommendation to set up a virtual machine with these requirements is not the optimum development environment. So, I started the trek to make these tools to work on a XP or Vista development installation. After about an hour of searching and thinking I ran across this blog post Martin Vollmer's Blog.


Update: Found this quick hack too. http://blogs.msdn.com/jannemattila/archive/2007/08/16/how-to-install-windows-sharepoint-services-3-0-tools-to-xp-or-vista.aspx