What an exciting couple of weeks it's been for Microsoft. In case you missed it, early last week, Microsoft made available the Beta release of Office 2013 which includes—and what we here at Bamboo are most excited about—SharePoint 2013! SharePoint 2013 provides a wealth of new features as well as new architecture, making this release the best one yet. One such new feature is the introduction of Apps. OK, OK, Apps in general aren't an entirely new concept as they include the DNA of Web Parts, but Apps also include a new architecture—formerly known as Sandbox Solutions—which users can deploy without any server-side installation requirements. If you're a developer, you're probably already groaning at even the mere mention of Sandbox Solutions, since when the concept was introduced with SharePoint 2010, you were extremely limited in terms of development options. With SharePoint 2013, however, that changes completely with thanks to Azure. To support and promote the new Apps, Microsoft is hosting a new storefront called the Office Store, which allows companies to promote their Sandbox Solutions, er, I mean their Apps. To see the full range of available apps, jump over to the Microsoft Office Preview, then click Store (Beta) at the top of the page. This is a collection of Apps that has been reviewed and approved by Microsoft's SharePoint team, and guess what? Bamboo has just had our first App approved, and it's now available. Based on the overwhelmingly popular World Clock & Weather Web Part, bringing enhanced weather and current time functionality to SharePoint 2013 for cities around the world.
By way of example, here is a snapshot of what it looks like when you display four Locations in a Single App instance:
The World Clock & Weather App provides a variety of features including:
- An unlimited number of locations available for display within the App.
- Unique icons to depict current weather conditions for each location. (Sunny, rainy, cloudy, windy, clear, cloudy, etc.)
- Accurate temperature readings, displayed in either Celsius or Fahrenheit measurements.
- Quick access to 5-day weather forecasts for each selected location.
- A simple interface to add, remove, and configure each selected location.
If you're lucky enough to already have the SharePoint 2013 Beta deployed, go ahead and jump over to the Installation and Configuration of World Clock & Weather App instructions for additional details on how to retrieve and configure this App! If you are in need of assistance, check out the Support Forum.
