Sharepoint SDK and Best Practices

Microsoft recently announced the ship of both the online MSDN Library and the downloadable SDK.

Download the MOSS SDK 1.4
Download the WSS SDK 1.4

The August 2008 update is version 1.4 and reflects feature enhancements that were part of the recent Infrastructure Update. For more information on SharePoint Products and Technologies updates, you can start here on TechNet.

Which SDK do I need to download?
If you are only writing code that utilizes the Windows SharePoint Services platform, you can download the WSS SDK. However, if you want the superset of all documentation and samples, you should install the MOSS SDK, and then you’ll get all the platform and technology information as well. You don’t need to download both, but you will need to uninstall all previous versions.
Note The SDK 1.4 downloads are full releases that include all previous tools and documentation.
What’s New in this release?
The SDK updates in 1.4 include:
Custom Federated Search Web Part with a Credentials UI (also available at MSDN Code Gallery)
Federated Search SQL Server Connector (also available at MSDN Code Gallery)
Federated Search HTML to RSS Connector (also available at MSDN Code Gallery)
Federated Search Virtual Earth Map Connector (also available at MSDN Code Gallery)
Updated documentation files, including updated, offline versions of MSDN Library Technical Articles and Developer Guides

To find out more about what's new in the documentation, check the following links:
What’s New in the MOSS SDK 1.4 Documentation
What’s New in the WSS SDK 1.4 Documentation

Lots of new documentation for Records Management APIs.
Microsoft.Office.RecordsManagement.Holds
Microsoft.Office.RecordsManagement.InformationPolicy
Microsoft.Office.RecordsManagement.PolicyFeatures
Microsoft.Office.RecordsManagement.RecordsRepository
Microsoft.Office.RecordsManagement.Reporting
Microsoft.Office.RecordsManagement.SearchAndProcess

While you’re updating your SharePoint development tools…
You can also update the Visual Studio Extensions for SharePoint Services. Here is the link to the installer: VSeWSS 1.2. The extensions were updated on 7/1/2008 and now work with Visual Studio 2008!
Don’t forget to download the user’s guide: version 1.1

Recently, Microsoft released the Infrastructure Update that provides fixes and even a new set of Search Federation features. They also announced support for Virtualization technology like Hyper-V and SQL Server 2008. In addition, they announced the availability of the SharePoint Administration Toolkit 2.0 which provides functionality to run highly available and geographically dispersed SharePoint deployments.

Today, Microsoft announced the SharePoint Best Practices Series. These consumable and actionable guidelines are based on real-world experience from Microsoft Consulting Services (MCS) and the product team. They are aimed to help SharePoint developers and administrators avoid some of the common SharePoint deployment pitfalls and keep their SharePoint environments available and performing well. The SharePoint Customer Team, part of the core product team dedicated to providing real-world feedback inwardly and outwardly, has put this guidance together working with a number of teams within Microsoft.

The SharePoint Best Practices Resource Center on TechNet highlights the different best practices for IT Professionals and Developers and helps you navigate through the resources. IT Professional topics include Operational Excellence, Team Collaboration Sites, Publishing Portals, Search and My Sites. Developer topics include Common Coding Issues, Using Disposable Objects, Search SQL Syntax Queries and Customization Best Practices. We will continue updating and publishing new Best Practices based on real-world experience.