Chapter 9. Service Application Framework

Previous chapters looked at how web sites and applications are represented within the SharePoint architecture. We’ve made use of various services such as the Managed Metadata Service but one thing we haven’t looked at in depth is how these services fit into the overall architecture of the SharePoint platform. As with most things in SharePoint, a standard framework is in place for provisioning and using services within a farm: the Service Application Framework. This chapter examines how the framework hangs together. We’ll create a simple custom service to illustrate the implications for us as software developers.