Game Changer - Cross Platform PnP Framework and PowerShell Preview Releases

Tears of Joy!  

I am not ashamed to admit it, I cried a tear of joy when I saw the recent preview release of the PnP Framework and PnP Powershell today!  

crying happy
I am crying because I am happy!

I confess, I am a macOS user who has longed to never have to fire up a VM to code some C# for SharePoint or run PnP PowerShell again.  But this is not just the sound of a macOS user rejoicing about being able to run PowerShell PnP commands again.  No, this is something that is much bigger. In fact, IMO this is a game changer!    

pnp pre- release image
PnPPowerShell Pre-Release

While using the PnP Site Core and PowerShell cmdlets have been a mainstay of SharePoint and Microsoft 365 customization, management and governance, there was a coupling to the .NET Framework that curtailed some avenues of development and customization, or even cut them off completely.  Until now.

Game Changer!

The coming release of the PnP Framework and PnP PowerShell a whole new world opens up to enable providing even more value to businesses and clients.  Of course I am happy that I no longer have to fire up a VM to run some PnP PowerShell cmdlets, but I am even more excited about the new types of solutions that these releases will enable.  Just think about scaling some operations for provisioning, data collection, migrating content, integrations with Power Platform, serverless, and much more.  With the Windows dependency gone, this release will be a game changer!

Some things that immediately jump to mind:

  • A more functional programing style that aligns with .NET Core configuration, dependency injection and more.  
  • Much better support for ASP.NET Core, Blazor (Server and WASM)
  • Support for the use of PnP in Azure Functions v3 (.NET Core or PowerShell),
  • Using the PnP SDK's in Docker containers (hello Kubernetes, KEDA, and much more - this one is crazy exciting!)
  • A whole new breed of Microsoft 365 customizations with IoT (see the Raspberry  PI sample)  

For details from the PnP PowerShell Godfather himself , see Erwin van Hunen's blog post about the preview release.

This is a really big deal and will enable whole host of new and exciting opportunities for Microsoft 365 developers, partners and ISV's.  Can't wait to dig in myself and to see what solutions others build with these new capabilities. Thanks to the PnP Core Team and everyone contributing to these releases!  #SharingIsCaring

What do you think? Let me know in the comments below or Tweet at me!

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My name is Pete Skelly. I write this blog. I am the VP of Technology at ThreeWill, LLC in Alpharetta, GA.

Tags:
powershell pnp office365 m365dev azure
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