microsoft launches new tools for teams developers
Microsoft Enhances Teams Platform for Developers
During today’s virtual Build conference, Microsoft unveiled a suite of new features, tools, and services designed to facilitate integration between developer services and Teams, its collaborative platform positioned as a competitor to Slack. With Teams currently boasting approximately 145 million daily active users, Microsoft clearly envisions the platform as a central hub for employee productivity.
Consequently, the company is actively encouraging third-party developers to extend their services directly within the Teams environment. To support this initiative, Microsoft is introducing a range of new tools aimed at simplifying the development process and enabling the creation of innovative user experiences.
Introducing the Microsoft Teams Toolkit
A key announcement is the release of the enhanced Microsoft Teams Toolkit for both Visual Studio and Visual Studio Code. This toolkit is intended to streamline and accelerate application development, leveraging the extensive capabilities of the Microsoft technology stack.
“This empowers developers to construct applications more efficiently and rapidly – and to develop highly sophisticated applications utilizing the comprehensive Microsoft ecosystem,” explained Archana Saseetharan, Group Program Manager at Microsoft. “The updated toolkit provides developers with increased flexibility, allowing us to cater to their preferred development environments.”
The toolkit provides compatibility with popular tools and frameworks including React, SharePoint, and .NET. Recent updates include integration with Azure Functions, the SharePoint Framework, and simplified integration with the Microsoft Graph.
Microsoft is also simplifying the implementation of authorization workflows within Teams applications. Saseetharan noted that login experiences are critical for user engagement, and streamlining this process is a priority. “Single sign-on is something we are heavily prioritizing to reduce user drop-off.”
New Developer Portal for Streamlined Management
Alongside the toolkit, Microsoft launched a new Developer Portal for Microsoft Teams. This portal centralizes app registration and configuration, offering developers a unified management experience.
Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) will also be able to utilize the portal to offer their applications for direct purchase within the Teams platform.
Expanding Capabilities for Collaborative Experiences
Further enhancements include tools for building real-time, multi-user applications, such as collaborative whiteboards and project management boards. A new meeting event API allows developers to create workflows triggered by meeting events, like start and end times.
New features for Teams Together mode will also enable developers to design custom collaborative experiences.
With 145 million daily active users, Microsoft aims to position Teams as a compelling platform for developers seeking to reach a large and engaged audience.
A Unified Platform for Collaborative Apps
“Teams is fostering a new category of applications known as collaborative apps,” stated Karan Nigam, Director of Product Marketing for Teams at Microsoft. “We are uniquely positioned to enrich the collaboration space – delivering substantial innovation to extensibility, simplifying development with the toolkit update, and providing a single point of access with the developer portal for complete lifecycle management.”
Nigam emphasized that this unified approach streamlines the development process, eliminating the need for developers to navigate multiple platforms and systems.