In our SharePoint 2013 blog, we’ll be delivering content for all manner of SharePoint disciplines, so for this post we’re going to jump over to the developer world. First, we should clarify a new term that’s been introduced to the ecosystem in SharePoint 2013: Apps. Apps are, well … everything. A list is an App, a Web Part is an App, and Sandbox Solutions are Apps. Apps now introduce a new deployment architecture which allows you to host assemblies and resource files in the Cloud, on-premises, or within a hybrid of the two, creating a very powerful wealth of options for SharePoint solution developers.

In this post, I will discuss how you can begin creating Apps for the SharePoint 2013 Preview using Visual Studio 2012 RC. Independently, Visual Studio 2012 RC is unable to create Apps for SharePoint 2013 out-of-the-box, but you can create projects for Office and SharePoint 2010. To develop for SharePoint 2013, you just need to install another set of tools called “Microsoft Office Developer Tools for Visual Studio 2012 RC Preview.” The Microsoft Office Developer Tools for Visual 2012 RC Preview is an add-in for the Visual Studio 2012 RC Preview that enables developers to create, build, debug, run and publish apps and solutions for Office and SharePoint 2013.

For your convenience, here are the links to download Visual Studio and the associated developer tools:

1. Visual Studio 2012 RC – Preview
2. Microsoft Office Developer Tools for Visual Studio 2012 – Preview

Happy Developing!

Click Install to see the list of Microsoft products or third-party application software which will be installed on your computer:

Click I Accept if you accept the conditions to install these applications, or you can download and install each of them individually as shown in the following list:

• Windows Identity Foundation SDK
• SharePoint Client Components
• Workflow Tools 1.0 Beta for Visual Studio 12
• Microsoft Visual Tools for Office 2012 Design Time
• Microsoft Visual Studio Tools for Applications 2012 – Preview

Then, open your Visual Studio 2012 RC and make sure that you have an option to create Apps and solutions for Office and SharePoint 2013 (File -> New Project):

That’s all there is to it. I hope you find this article helpful.

See Also:

• What’s new in SharePoint development tools in Visual Studio 2012
• Develop SharePoint 2013 workflows using Visual Studio
• How to Add an App from the SharePoint Store to Your SharePoint 2013 Site