SPServices

SPServices is a jQuery library which abstracts SharePoint's Web Services and makes them easier to use. It also includes functions which use the various Web Service operations to provide more useful (and cool) capabilities. It works entirely client side and requires no server install.

SPServices is primarily hosted on Codeplex, with this repository mirroring most of the downloads there.

##This is a work in progress. It's a port of SPServices from Codeplex to GitHub, with a rewrite along the way.## Until otherwise announced, this is not a fully functional version of SPServices. When complete, this version will be:

• SPServices 2.0
• AMD-enabled using RequireJS
• Converted from a monolithic file to modules
• Enabled to take advantage of SharePoint's REST APIs - where available - for internal calls to get list data in the value-added functions

Progress Report

• 2015-12-06 Began adding modules back in to build up a "full build" of existing SPService functionality.
• 2015-12-05 Initial tests using QUnit are in place. Instructions below.
• 2015-12-01 The monolithic SPServices file is not broken out into modules, one per major function.
• 2016-01-04 SPServices 2.0 is now building and operational - pre-alpha.

For full documentation, please visit http://spservices.codeplex.com/documentation

Contribute

Would you like to contribute to the next generation of SPServices?

• Test the "pre-alpha" builds of SPServices 2.0. If you're familiar enough with the library to drop builds into your test environments, that would be a great help. I've tested using the same lists and pages I always use, but more real-world testing would be good. Report any issues you find using GitHub issues.
• Write some tests. I've started writing tests with QUnit, but I've only scratched the surface. Writing good tests here is difficult, as we have to be sitting on top of SharePoint; in greenfield development, we can test anywhere. You'll find some instructions for how to use the existing tests on the GitHub pages.
• Migrate the documentation from Codeplex to GitHub - Since Codeplex is falling apart, there's no reason to leave the documentation there, either. There are a few dozen pages (I can't actually count the pages on Codeplex easily) of documentation, and it's probably easiest just to move the over to GitHub manually.
• Move the discussions off Codeplex - This one is hardest, I think. IMO, one of the big values to SPServices is the historical discussions about how to use it. But those discussions have covered many other things as well, and I'd hate to lose any of it. I'm not sure how to go about this, so if anyone has some experience moving forums like this, I'm all ears.
• Propose improvements - I ask the community for suggestions all the time, but I don't get a lot of them. If you've solved some gnarly SharePoint UI problem and would be willing to submit your code or just wish that someone would fix the darn _____, then let me know in the GitHub issues. Consider the issues our own UserVoice for SPServices.

Development

Setup Environment

1. Fork this repository and checkout the source

2. From the root of the project, run:

   npm install

   This will install all of the necessary dependencies

Run a build

1. run:

   grunt

   This will build SPServices and output the results to the build folder. During development, these are the files that should be used for testing (i.e. copy to SharePoint and link to them).

Develop and Watch

A grunt target called watch is available for linting code as files are changed and saved. To use it, simply run:

grunt watch

This will start a job that watches the sources files as they are saved and runs the linting tool to ensure they are clean of issues.

Deploy to a SharePoint Folder

For development, just copy the entire src and build folders (after running grunt) to a SharePoint Document Library folder and click on the src/dev.aspx file. SPServices will be loaded using AMD (require.js). The page will display multiple ways to load SPServices (via requireJS, jQuery built library or jQuery built library minimized).

A build target has been created to facilitate this task - called deploy. In order to use it, you must first set the deployLocation in the me.build.json file that is automatically created at the root of this project when grunt is run. The deploy location could be a locally mapped drive to the desired SharePoint folder or a network path. Example for an O365 tennat:

//YourTenantNameHere.sharepoint.com@SSL/DavWWWRoot/sites/dev/Shared Documents/SPServices-dev

Note: When using a network path, you may receive an error on first attempt to deploy. This is likely because Windows is unable to authenticate with the SharePoint server. To resolve the issue, use the network path in Windows Explorer to access it directly and enter the appropriate credentials if prompted.

To deploy using grunt, run:

grunt deploy

Unit Tests

Unit test cases are written under the test folder using QUnit. Tests will run in the dev.aspx above.

Currently the tests require a real SharePoint server. The tests will create and delete some test data to validate basic core calls.