Definitive guide for developers: SharePoint Framework for SharePoint Server SE

These days, all of Microsoft's updates about the SPFx, or community content have one thing in common: they ignore SharePoint Server SE. Not this post!

by Andrew Connell
Last updated September 21, 2024
14 minutes read

Overview

Let’s first start by setting expectations what you’ll find in this post.

  • Limiting this to SharePoint Framework features. There very well may be features you argue that are related to the SPFx, but if it isn’t a SPFx feature, I’m not covering it.
  • Limiting this to tools you need to create, run, & maintain SharePoint Framework projects.
  • Limiting this to the developer audience. I’m not going to go through the process of how to install & configure your SharePoint Server deployment with the necessary things to support apps which is required to host & deploy SharePoint app packages ( *.sppkg).

Universal truths for SPFx solutions on all SharePoint Server (on-premises) deployments

Before we look at the specifics of SharePoint Server SE, I want to cover some universal truths that apply to all versions of SharePoint Server with respect to the SPFx.

Setup & configure SharePoint Server to host apps

The SPFx relies on the existing support SharePoint has for apps. Much of the investments Microsoft made in SharePoint Server 2013 to support the add-in model, originally called the app model, are used to deploy SPFx solutions. Most notably is the tenant app catalog.

Use the following links to ensure your SharePoint Server is configured to host apps. This is a required prerequisite for deploy SPFx solutions to your on-prem SharePoint Server deployments.

Microsoft has no plans to update SPFx for SharePoint Server

In the following section I’ll explain exactly what version(s) of the SPFx are supported in each SharePoint Server version. However, one thing is universally true across all of them.

Microsoft has no plans to update the SPFx deployments on SharePoint Server.

Debunked: any SPFx generator can create on-prem projects

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(Full details available in original text)

What versions of SharePoint Framework are supported on SharePoint Server SE

The initial release of SharePoint Server SE supports the SharePoint Framework v1.4.1 and all prior releases.

This means you can use any of the following SharePoint Framework releases in your SharePoint Server SE environment:

Notable SPFx capabilities available in SharePoint Server SE

The following native SPFx capabilities are supported are available in SharePoint Server SE deployments:

(... more content and guidance)

My dev environment recommendation for SharePoint Server SE

To create SPFx v1.4.1 projects for SharePoint Server SE:

  • Node.js LTS v8
  • Gulp-CLI v2.3.0
  • Yeoman generator for the SharePoint Framework v1.10.0
npm install gulp-cli@2.3.0 yo@3.1.1 @microsoft/generator-sharepoint@1.10.0 --global

Now you’re good to go to create SharePoint Framework projects for SharePoint Server SE!