Is it possible to have external provider-hosted app work with SharePoint Lists effectively?

Question

I have been learning about SharePoint and Provider-Hosted Apps recently. Based on some videos and tutorials, I have seen most having a site with a SPHostURL. I was able to recreate that as well.

Then heard displaying multiple apps in an iFrame. (See image)

When clicking on a hyperlink to the app, the app displays into the iFrame. The right side has the SharePoint calendar, or other client side lists that the Provider-Hosted app can communicate with,e.g. selecting dates, looking up contact details, notes.

For example if one app is a project tracker, then setting a deadline in the app shows in the SharePoint calendar.

Is this method easily possible and is it effectively?

What is the best approach for Provider Hosted Apps?

Answer 1

I'm not going to answer your question as stated, but provide an alternate approach to your entire solution.

Provider hosted apps - how can I phrase this appropriately? Well, they suck. They are a nightmare to deploy, they impose additional maintenance overhead, they are difficult to style properly, and they are ungodly slow. On top of that they provide very little value that can't just be achieved by just dropping some JavaScript on the page. The only possible reason I can think of that would justify the effort would be if you had to integrate some external system while maintaining the security context of the current user. But even then there are better ways to handle it (Azure AD secured web API perhaps).

In most cases you'd be better off creating a page with web part zones laid out the way you want and use script editors and JavaScript to build out your solutions.

Hope this helps.