Creating a SharePoint App in Visual Studio 2013: A Comprehensive Step-by-Step Guide

Are you ready to take your SharePoint capabilities to the next level? With Visual Studio 2013, you can create a custom SharePoint app that will provide your users with additional functionality and business processes. Follow our guide below for a comprehensive step-by-step process.

Setting up the Environment

Before we can dive into creating a SharePoint app in Visual Studio, we need to make sure that our development environment is set up correctly. Follow these steps:

1. Install Visual Studio 2013: If you don’t already have Visual Studio 2013 installed, make sure to download it from the Microsoft website. Be sure to enable the SharePoint developer tools during installation.
2. Install SharePoint 2013: Install SharePoint 2013 onto your development machine by downloading the SharePoint Foundation 2013 installation package from the Microsoft website.
3. Install SharePoint online and Office 365 developer tools: Download and install the Office 365 developer tools from the Visual Studio Marketplace.

Creating a SharePoint App Project

Once you have your environment set up, we can begin creating our SharePoint app project. Follow these steps:

1. Open Visual Studio 2013 and click File > New Project.
2. In the New Project dialog box, select SharePoint > App for SharePoint. Enter the name of the project and the location where you want to save the project.
3. In the SharePoint Customization Wizard dialog box, select the type of app you want to create. For instance, you can select SharePoint-hosted app, Provider-hosted app, or Autohosted app.
4. Click Finish to create the project.

Deploying the SharePoint App

Now that we have our app project created, we need to deploy it to our SharePoint server. Follow these steps:

1. Right-click the project in the Solution Explorer and select Deploy.
2. In the Deploy Solution dialog box, select the SharePoint site where you want to deploy the app.
3. Click OK to deploy the app.

Testing the SharePoint App

We’re almost done! Now, we need to test our SharePoint app to ensure that everything is working correctly. Follow these steps:

1. Open a web browser and navigate to the SharePoint site where the app was deployed.
2. Click on the app icon to launch the app.
3. Provide the necessary information in the app and test its functionality.
4. If the app works correctly, you can further customize and enhance it according to your requirements.

Conclusion

Congratulations, you have successfully created and deployed your own SharePoint app using Visual Studio 2013! Remember to always test your app to ensure that everything is working correctly, and customize it according to your requirements.