State of SharePoint Client Side Development | July 2021

In this post, I'll give you an update on where we are with popular frameworks and tools developers use in the client-side SharePoint development world.

By Last Updated: December 7, 2024 3 minutes read

Photo by kazuend on Unsplash

Thankfully the only fireworks we’ve seen are in the skies this summer and not in SPFx! Photo by kazuend on Unsplash

It’s summer 2021 and time to check in on the State of SharePoint Client-Side Development! There hasn’t been too much activity since my last installment of this series back in April 2021. Regardless, in this post I’ll give you an update on where we are with popular frameworks and tools developers use in the client-side SharePoint development world.

Many of the things I’ll cover were recently touched on in the most recent Microsoft PnP SharePoint Framework & Client Side Development Special Interest Group (SIG) meeting, held on July 1, 2021. You can watch the recording of that meeting below:

SharePoint Framework (v1.12.1)

The current published version of the SharePoint Framework (SPFx) is v1.12.1, released back in late April 2021. You can learn more about this release from our blog post SharePoint Framework v1.12.1 - What’s in the latest Update of SPFx?. To get the full details on this release, see SPFx Docs: v1.12.1 Release notes. There are some additional changes detailed in the release notes that you’ll need to apply if you’re deploying to your own Azure CDNs.

PnPJS (v2.6.0)

This JavaScript library is a popular SDK abstraction layer on top of the SharePoint REST API for server-side & client-side JavaScript based solutions.

In the latest release, v2.6.0 (out on June 11, 2021), consisted of a bug fix & added a few features, including:

  • Fixed:
    • Microsoft Graph: Fixed a missing import statement for a newly added module for Outlook
  • Added:
    • Microsoft Graph: Implements the findRooms endpoint
    • SharePoint: Added the ability to use the site collection app catalogs
    • SharePoint: Added four new methods to working with the ClientSidePagen object

The next release, v2.7.0, is scheduled to release in just a few days, on July 9, 2021.

PnP SPFx Generator (v1.16.0)

The most current version of the PnP SPFx generator, a replacement for the Microsoft provided Yeoman generator, yo @microsoft/sharepoint. No releases or updates since v1.16 on January 11, 2021 which was covered in my last update.

PnP React Controls (v3.2.1)

This is a community-based suite of reusable controls that you can use in your SPFx React-based solutions.

These guys have been busy since we last checked in with them back in April 2021 and version 3.0.0! Since then, they’ve had 186 commits touching nearly 220 files! There are just too many things on their changelog to mention here. But as a teaser, they’ve added 10 new controls, fixed 15 things and made a number of enhancements.

PnP Property Controls (v3.2.0)

Like it’s sibling project above, these reusable controls can be used in SPFx web part property panes. And, like it’s sibling, they’ve been quite busy since we last checked in. In addition to adding support for the SharePoint Framework v1.12.1, you’ll find enhancements in the PropertyFieldColumnPicker & PropertyFieldColorPicker controls as well as a bunch of fixes.

Their latest release also featured adding support for Sergei’s fast-serve productivity tool for SPFx developers!

This project is a collection of multiple web parts that enable users to implement customizable search-based solutions. In the most recent release, they added Swedish & French language support, and fixed numerous things that you can see from the v4.2.3 release notes.