In this chapter you learned about the SharePoint application platform and simple SharePoint programming techniques. You learned about the SharePoint virtual file system and how to integrate custom WCF endpoints into SharePoint by implementing a specialized virtual path provider. You learned how to write and deploy WCF services that take advantage of the SharePoint site context and how to deploy WCF services in the virtualized LAYOUTS directory.

Next, you learned how to write a basic Web Part and how to include AJAX controls in a Web Part by rendering a placeholder and JavaScript template that is initialized in AJAX page initialization code.

By now, we’ve covered complex AJAX programming techniques in ASP.NET and in SharePoint and have programmed AJAX components using XSLT and custom rendering methods. At this point you should be able to create complex APIs with simple WCF endpoints, and complex AJAX applications written with very simple AJAX code. There’s no need to create complex JavaScript code to implement most AJAX applications; most applications can be built with a very simple framework and multiple XSLT view components.